Wood and Wine at Wijnhuis
Posted by ymartiny | Filed under White Stick Sips
This was White Stick Sips’ second visit to Stellies to surf the best of what the Winelands had to offer, at its own leisurely pulsating beat, with the wine list from Wijnhuis (Wine House). Oegh, then again, surfing is way too cool to use as a comparison for our very mediocre experience at an establishment with a name that promised the obvious; wine at home. It was more like being dragged to a bake sale at the church bazaar when you’d rather be watching Dawson going through another over-dramatised breakup with Katie Holmes (mmm … reminisce) while drowning in their own vocabulary-whirlpool.
Sorry, I put the hammer before the nail there … so, we drove into Stellenbosch with the moon rising behind the Helderberge and slowly breaking through a sky dusted with clouds, vineyards were being illuminated and the fresh air forced your nozzles to take in more than they could handle – a beautiful start to the evening (full stop). Read the rest of this entry »
Harold’s Harlot Wines
Posted by ymartiny | Filed under White Stick Sips
This time around the White Stick Sips decided to make their way to a bar which lies very close to home, quite literally, and to my heart: Harold’s Wine Bar. Harold Stoffel attempts to return some of the urban glitz back to what use to be one of the grandest hotels on the Atlantic Seaboard; the Ritz. Located on the underside of the belly of this white elephant, Harold and his bar have managed to become a local hotspot in an incredibly short period of time. We have two after-work waterhole options for a group of friends, which includes myself: when it comes to cheap-and-easy beer, it’s Fiesta (Happy Hour) and for wine, we have Harold’s (Happy Traffic Time). Read the rest of this entry »
Amazing Wines at maze
Posted by ymartiny | Filed under White Stick Sips
Finally!! It was the much anticipated wine-list from maze at the One & Only’s turn. Since the date was confirmed some of the Serious Shticks have been looking forward to get their toungues mincing around this list. And rightfully so as this restaurant, by reputation alone, aims to set itself apart from the best Cape Town has to offer when it comes to quality and service. After being opened for only one year, it has successfully done so.
maze is quite the culinary delight, and one would rightfully imagine so with a show kitchen where diners are encouraged to visually take part in the food preparation. On those dreary dinner ‘appointments’, the kitchen as well as so many other aspects of this functional and aesthetically pleasing restaurant, are good conversation starters. Read the rest of this entry »
Mount Nelson’s Battle of the Bubblies
Posted by ymartiny | Filed under White Stick Sips
Winston Churchill once said that the Mount Nelson was a ‘most excellent and well appointed establishment that may be thoroughly appreciated after a sea voyage’ or after work on a chilly Tuesday afternoon – this is where we found ourselves for another instalment of White Stick Sips.
What truly hits you in the guts and leaves you breathless other than the pink colonial façade, is the staff that seems to be on some exotic contraband. From the moment you enter until the time you leave you are greeted and ‘assisted’ … by everyone! Benson (Bennie) was our host for the evening and was as polite, professional and responsive as all the other cheerful cronies at the Nellie where service is a culture. Read the rest of this entry »
Grand Wines for a Grand Hotel
Posted by ymartiny | Filed under White Stick Sips
Harry Reginald was the master-mind behind the concept of creating our own exclusive blind tasting faction away from the rules set out by the Lords of Wine. We started tasting our own wines (by variety, region, blend, etc.) blindly at Chenin Wine Bar for a few months but decided to branch out and use this premise to rate and review other wine serving establishments’ wine lists, for fun for some, education for others and just plain showing off their talented senses for a select few (nothing wrong with this as I aspire to be one of them … someday).
We decided to set the bar high and selected the Westin Grand Cape Town Arabella Quays to be the kick-off venue for the official launch of the White Stick Sips ‘Road Show’. A lot of organization went into impressing the Sticks and we were offered the Westin Executive Club on the 19th floor of the Hotel. This venue has to be by far the best in terms of city and mountain views. This marriage between the Germans and Americans (Arabella & Starwood being the holding companies) resulted in one of the most recognised landmarks in Cape Town being born and one all its citizens can be proud of. Read the rest of this entry »
Five Flies and Eight Wines
Posted by ymartiny | Filed under White Stick Sips
Slip off the vibrant Long Street and you will find Five Flies Restaurant & Bar. Like the name, it sets itself apart from the ordinary and mundane. As you enter from Keerom through the historic façade, the modest entrance running into the foyer looking into the kitchen, the courtyard (which could be in the country side) and the various private dining rooms; it all contributes to the charm and uniqueness of this place. That’s me putting this horse in front of the very ‘gay’ cart. . .
We all met in the bar which felt as any bar should, like a bar. Surrounded by pictures from when Cape Town was truly a ‘town’ one could easily spent the evening here. Read the rest of this entry »
Le “nouveau” Bar à Vin – The ‘new’ Wine Bar
Posted by ymartiny | Filed under White Stick Sips
Yes! I can have a fancy heading to this review. ‘The “new” Wine Bar’ was translated on translate.google.com to get the current, French heading: Le “nouveau” Bar à Vin – Fancy right, but misleading. I know that some of my foreign contingent will not even bother to read further than the heading due to the intimidating French title that might be misunderstood or not understood at all. But for those who accidently stumble past this obelisk of confusion, will get to the average creative writing below and realise that even though it might look expensive and exclusive to a certain market, that might actually be relatively ‘accessible and affordable (cheap, like TVdionysus…)’.
Cru Café Wine Bar & Restaurant is laid-out in such a way as to cater for any of the three main lighting settings you’ll find combined in a few restaurants; the heavily lit high-turnover, semi-comfortable area, the slightly more darker corner in front of the wine shop (I love the fact that you can buy a wine you like at the place you taste it and do not have to scribble it down somewhere – you can make purchases until 20h00, that is) and finally, the ever popular umbrella-covered-outer-area-park-off, on the square. This is where we were all greeted by Fabiani-Hawaii-styled host while waiting for the rest of the WWS gang to arrive. Read the rest of this entry »
Alice’s White Stick at Mama Africa
Posted by ymartiny | Filed under White Stick Sips
I’ve been in Cape Town for almost ten years now and have never stepped foot in Mama Africa. Like with Societi Bistro, I rarely, if ever frequent ‘Tourist Hot Spots’ but do however have to recommend them to the many travelers staying over at the Hotel. The only time I do get around experiencing them is when we are invited for an ‘educational’, another benefit of working in the Hospitality Industry. Disgusting, I know … but after recent exposures, I’m definitely planning on broadening this very limited horizon.
I was a bit early, as it is just up the road from me, and our host Harry Reginald, seated me at the bar where we exchanged a couple of words before he had to dash of to prepare for the evening and welcome the others. My first thought: Shack Chic, but with taste (therefore the chic). It was authentic, not fake like in so many other places but I guess after more than 13 years, things might automatically become authentic. In this case, pieces which settled in a symphony of curiosity that could easily keep the eyes busy when stuck with an ‘unfortunate’ blind-date. Tonight however, we had quite a few seats empty which left more room for blind-date stick celebs: Chris, Jo, Sam and Allister from undertheinfluence. Read the rest of this entry »
Caviar & Blind Wine under an Oak Tree
Posted by ymartiny | Filed under White Stick Sips
This week, the panel took their sticks into the heart of Stellenbosch and we were celebrating the essence which makes this community so unique (apart from the students); its wine.
Osetra, a type of caviar but in this case a wine-bar which is gently nestled off the main road that runs through Stellenbosch and conveniently located on your way to church, or from church, whichever way you feel more inclined to or not at all, it doesn’t matter, just make sure you drop in for a hoot because it is well worth the treat. It almost felt like we were in a wine bar in Cape Town. It didn’t fit the surrounds (in a good way), almost like Cubana in the Quarter (in a bad way) but just the opposite . . . Whatever, anyway, you could see that every fitting and piece of furniture was carefully thought through and strategically placed to get the most from the space available without sacrificing functionality. All in all I loved it in terms of décor, I would however recommend that the waitresses burn those Moses-slip-ons in exchange for some decent heels which would complete their look and add to the feel of the place – for inspiration, steer your eyes to the massive screen promoting FTV … Read the rest of this entry »
Kicking it Blindly @ Societi Bistro
Posted by ymartiny | Filed under White Stick Sips
First of all, I love the layout of Societi Bistro and their unique choice in decor. As a five-star Hotel, this is one of the few restaurants in Cape Town we recommend to our guests and be associated with. It was my first time here and what a perfect introduction last night was.
The Restaurant
Separate areas break the restaurant into private sections. Each section had its own ‘society’ of patrons. Each of them was clustered with their own purpose for congregating. For us, it was to rate and review the wine list; the obelisk of Read the rest of this entry »
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