Breakfast with a view at the Westcliff in Johannesburg

On our third day in South Africa, living a TRAVELIFE, we had a very leisurely breakfast at the beautiful Westcliff hotel before checking out to catch our flight to the Sabi Sabi Game Reserve in Kruger National Park.

A sunrise balloon ride with Air to Africa over the Cradle of Mankind

Since we arrived, it had been a pretty crazy schedule of doing all kinds of stuff because we wanted to see everything possible in Johannesburg.

We’d ticked off every major sightseeing destination on our list and ate in the four restaurants we really wanted to eat in. And we’d even done a hot air balloon ride at sunrise and driven all the way to Sun City as well.

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Our 48-hour schedule could’ve probably killed a springbok — excuse the pun — but we’d had lots of fun doing it. We’d just had two very full days, and that third morning in Johannesburg was our very first relaxed moment. Finally.

Perhaps to make up for the rush of the past 48 hours, not to mention the 18-hour door-to-door travel time between Manila and Johannesburg, we spent over an hour just having a nice breakfast at Johannesburg’s grande dame of a hotel.

The elegant breakfast venue of the Westcliff

It was a sign of things to come, because after that day, I don’t think we ever sat at a breakfast table — or at any table, for that matter — for less than an hour again. All our meals after that were very, very leisurely, and we were doing at least three courses whether we were having breakfast, lunch or dinner.


And one dinner in Cape Town was eleven courses! (Test Kitchen by Chef Luke Dale Roberts, South Africa’s most famous chef…)

Everything was bloom in Johannesburg, when we were there

The weather was beautiful and we chose a table with a view of the greenery of suburban Johannesburg. Meanwhile, out in the terrace, a very long table of extremely chic-looking women had gathered for morning tea and what looked like a baby shower.

In Johannesburg, the Westcliff is everyone’s favorite destination for all the milestones in their lives, you see, so we were constantly seeing weddings, baptisms, birthdays, and baby showers going on, all over this massive and extremely picturesque property.

The locals are very proud of this hotel, as well. The Westcliff is very large and spread out, so you need to ride a van from the lobby to your room; and twice, we shared the van with some locals who were taking their overseas visitor to one of the Westcliff’s restaurants for a meal.

The Westcliff is the favorite venue for all milestones…

Yes, the Westcliff experience is considered one of the “best experiences” in Johannesburg, and that’s how proud the locals are of this hotel.

Personally, I would say don’t miss a magical experience of champagne at sunset by the infinity pool, and definitely have breakfast on the terrace of the La Belle Terrasse restaurant on a beautiful and relaxing morning.

Breakfast here is very elegant, refined and old-fashioned. I had my usual, favorite hotel breakfast, and it was a pattern that I would follow almost religiously every day in South Africa.

I always started with a plate of fruits and a pot of roobois tea, no sugar or milk.

Then I got some smoked salmon, some cheeses, and a croissant for a second course.

For the third course, I almost always had the eggs benedict, just because I love eggs benedict. And now I can write an entire discourse on the best versions of eggs benedict in South Africa, since I’ve tasted the eggs benedict in all their best hotels.

The Westcliff version of eggs benedict is a classic, which is very appropriate, considering the environment and their reputation.

Muffins for two

And when we left the restaurant, we took two bran muffins to eat on the plane, on the 70-minute flight to Sabi Sabi from Johannesburg, for the next chapter in our amazing South African adventure.

Lunch enroute to Sabi Sabi

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