I was very fortunate to be offered two media tickets for Taste Of Cape Town as well as being able to give away four single tickets to readers of my blog. As Taste Of Cape Town was held close to our departure to Scotland, I was unable to get a post up about the event before the weekend was over. However, I want to share with you all, how amazing this year’s event was.
Dave was meant to work late and so I decided to ask my friend Erica to join me. She already had two tickets, so she gave hers to a friend and Ted (Erica’s husband) and Lynne ambled around together while Erica and I went on a serious tasting mission. Erica is a wine expert and it was a pleasure having her with me to talk to all the wine makers.
We started off at The Westin and I must say that in my opinion, they had by far the best restaurant set up. It looked as if you were gazing out over the city, a place that is so beautiful at night. Whereas this was the best setting, Sofia’s was the best meal I had. Craig Cormack is an extremely talented chef, and subsequent to this event, Dave and I have been to eat at the restaurant for a second time. Bistro1682 once again impressed, and Erica and I are going to spend some time in the kitchen after the winter break.
While we were wandering around (the layout is a bit confusing) Erica and I saw Peter Goffe-Wood and he was more than willing to have his photo taken! I would have loved the opportunity to sit down with him and have a glass of wine and a long chat but this was not the time, nor the place.
Part of the media experience included a lot of drinking! As neither Erica nor I were driving home, this meant we could take part in the whole experience. However, try as we may, we did not get through all the drinking we could have. We enjoyed a test tube of Jägermeistier and I got a badge which you can turn on and it flashes (which I have given to a friend who enjoys all sorts of gimmicks). We were given lovely glasses at Bernini, and we purchased two Cognac glasses from the Brandy Tent.
After talking to some very interesting and wonderful people, Erica and I made our last stop 96 Winery Road. For anyone who knows me well, this is my all time favourite place to eat. I have been a part of the ‘family’ since 1974 when the original Gatrilles opened in Johannesburg. Natasha (the chef) has just had a baby and her husband was there as the babysitter. As we had not completed all the drinking ‘tasks’ for the night, I left him with my media ticket.
If you live close to Durban or Johannesburg then be sure to check when the events are being held there. It is really worth going if you want to try out new restaurants. This year, the pop up restaurant concept was introduced, and on the night we went we were lucky enough to taste food from Tokara. This is now on our list of places to eat at!
Disclosure: I was invited to attend this event. I was not asked to write a blog post about the event. This post is in line with my blogging policy.
I do like these concepts, I remember going to Taste of Chicago and it was amazing, way to many restaurants to be able to try everything you want. Love the new blog look!
thanks Ange! It is a great idea to get to a small bite to eat from a lot of places 🙂
Oh cool! We have Taste of Sydney here and I didn’t realise that there was a Cape Town version! 🙂
They seem to have them world wide now – a great franchise 🙂
Sounds like loads of tasty fun Tandy.
Your new theme is looking lovely and bright.
🙂 Mandy
thanks Mandy, I am mostly happy with the new theme 🙂
Alcohol in a test tube — I love it! Is Peter a famous chef in South Africa? Looks like a great event!
I am sure the drinks don’t count if they are not served in a ‘real’ glass! Pete is quite famous here as the Kitchen Cowboy, and even more so since the start of MasterChef SA as he is one of the judges 🙂
Your new theme looks gorgeous my friend, just like at this wonderfully reviewed restaurant 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
thank you so much CCU 🙂
Looking good! And how wonderful to be able to go to an event like this.
Thanks Tanya, it is a great event to be able to attend – you should try and go to Taste of London if you are there at the same time 🙂
I am soooo sorry I missed this!
Tandy, if you are not receiving notifications of my posts, I have seen this on Celia’s blog: “I cannot remember if I mentioned this before but if The Kitchen’s Garden has dropped off your wordpress list do press unfollow and then follow again. There has been some hiccup in the process and I don’t want you to get lost. You will be unsubscribing then resubscribing and that way you will get your email notifications of The Kitchens Garden pages the moment they are posted. ”
Try it!
Hi, I have added you to my rss reader so hopefully I will get the posts now – I have not read blogs this week as I am so far behind in everything! I am going to tidy up my wordpress reader when I have time and then start all over again 🙂
Looks like you had a great time!
I did, thanks 🙂
Glad you had so much fun.
Great review! Well done!
thanks Tok, it was a wonderful evening 🙂
Soon as you mentioned The Westin, I knew this was gonna be a good food review :). I really enjoyed this post 🙂
thanks Kay, have a super day 🙂
what is the pinky looking dish? It looks like a rice dish with beetroot.
a beetroot risotto which was sublime 🙂
ahhhhh! luv Risotto 🙂
me too 🙂
What a splendid evening you all had, Tandy. I love the idea of a test tube of alcohol…. sounds like some sort of scientific experiment. 😉 That duck and cherry pie would go down very well right now. 😉
I can use that as my excuse when I over indulge 🙂