Table of contents for Issue 3 2022 in Cape Etc

NEW TO TASTE AUTHENTICITY AND TRADITION ARE DRIVING THE CITY’S NEWEST CHEFFING IMPULSES LORRAINE KEARNEY STRIDES INTO THE BRASSERIE AT THE BAILEY, CAPE TOWN'S LATEST TEMPLE OF FINE-DINING CLASSIC FRENCH CUISINE. LEAVING - DEEPLY SATISFIED, MANY DISHES AND A FULL-BLOWN DESSERT LATER - PROVED LESS STRIDENT It's a bit on the pricey side. The Brasserie at The Bailey. But then again, if the food is really good, you don’t mind so much the extra rands you’re spending on the meal. And the food is really good. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, there is the building. Built in 1862, it’s lived a few lives, and the heritage has been retained especially in the first floor Brasserie. You walk off the street into the Cafe Bailey patisserie and Champagne…

SINCE IT OPENED AT THE WHARFSIDE MAKERS LANDING FOOD HUB IN DECEMBER 2020. CHEF MMABATHO MOLEFE'S EMAZULWINI RESTAURANT HAS BEEN MAKING NAVES, WRITES BIANCA COLEMAN MARKET GRAZE CAPETONIANS HAVE A LOVE OF BROWSING FOOD STALLS AND GRAZING ON THE HOOF. NOWADAYS THERE ARE MARKETS ACROSS THE PENINSULA CATERING TO EVERY POSSIBLE CULINARY WHIM In her restaurant, reopening on 10 November after a hearty redesign, Mmabatho Molefe recreates food memories from her childhood in KZN. What sets her food apart is that it has transformed home cooking to a fine dining tasting menu, combining technique with nostalgia. Mmabatho has poured heart and soul into her establishment. She says there’s no strategy in the way she runs Emazulwini. ‘It’s purely trial and error with a bit more error. ’ Begin with umbila…

YOUNG & FREE FROM OUTDOORSY FARMYARD FUN-IN-THESUN JAUNTS TO INDOOR PURSUITS FOR WHEN THE WEATHER REFUSES TO PLAY ALONG… ACROBRANCH Take to the trees with these three adventure courses combining zip lines, moving planks, Tarzan swings, rope bridges and more. From R150.1 Hout Bay Main Road, Constantia Nek 086 999 0369 acrobranch.co.za ALPACA LOOM An interactive up-close-and-personal experience awaits at the alpaca petting zoo. If they've any energy left after, they can let loose on the jungle gym while parents park off at the coffee shop and browse the goods woven from alpaca wool. Entry free; tours from R70 for children Suid-agter Paarl Road, Southern Paarl, 084 793 3666 alpacas.co.za BE.UP PARK Younger ones can explore the children's maze and have fun in the trampoline zone, while older children and…

The suburb of De Waterkant, adjacent to Green Point and on the seaward side of the CBD, is undoubtedly the hippest in town. It is also one of the oldest parts of the city, its earliest homes dating back to 1790. Until 1966, when the city was re-zoned, it was a part of Bo Kaap, and its connection to the Cape Malay quarter is evident in the colourful, beautifully restored houses, which were once owned by freed slaves. A few hundred years ago the buildings of De Waterkant were at the very edge of Table Bay. Waterkant Street, Sea Street and Jetty Street speak of a time before the beaches and the ocean were pushed back to make place for buildings. Today, these streets are so far inland that their…

COUNTRY ESCAPE THOUGH CAPETONIANS ARE NOTORIOUSLY AVERSE TO TRIPS TOO FAR FROM HOME, SOME RURAL GETAWAYS ARE WORTH THE EFFORT ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE'S WINE AND SUNSHINE AND AN EPIC VIEW TO BEHOLD Describing the R320 as ‘the road from Hermanus to Caledon' is a bit boring. Instead, say: ‘It’s the road that runs through the Hemel-enAarde Valley’. The name means Heaven and Earth in old Dutch and Afrikaans, its romance and reference implicit. Travellers today will agree with a Moravian missionary who visited in 1899 and noted… ‘so high are the hills which closely embrace the valley all round, that they seem to touch the sky and you cannot see anything but heaven and Earth’. The beauty is self-evident but Hemel-en-Aarde is more than just a pretty face. It’s a…

ETC DREAM BIG OR STAY HOME. WE BRING YOU INSPIRATION FOR YOUR NEXT TRIP, THIS TIME GOING UNDER THE SKIN OF SA'S LARGEST PRIVATE GAME RESERVE, HOME OF OUR COUNTRY'S DREAMIEST DINING EXPERIENCE Something powerful that you notice once you settle down and pay attention is the sound the Kalahari makes. It sines. There are creatures - cicada-like somethings - constantly doing a high pitch routine; it is as though the air itself is vibrating, alive. Then, as if on cue, a herd of roan antelope, with their pretty, clown-like faces, might amble into view, entering stage right in single file, pausing as they go, cautious, ever watchful. You’ll notice, too, the birds, bees, butterflies. A riot of airborne activity. And on the ground, too, and on the walls and…

CHECK-IN WORLD'S APART Step into a world of nostalgia and whimsy at the top of Bo Kaap Fashion designer turned serial hotelier Gail Behr had a flair for the theatrical, for putting vintage sofas alongside chunks of old doorway, framing delightful artworks and juxtaposing them alongside - perhaps an antique telephone. It was Gail who, in Plettenberg Bay, started The Grand, a small, bohemian-inspired hotel with beds so high you needed a little ladder to climb into them. Given that it’s the 21st century, what could be more like sleeping on a movie set? Gail passed away in 2022, a great sadness to anyone who knew her flair for the outrageous, her spirit of adventure, her sassy spirit and love of bringing a bohemian twist where others might be satisfied with…

CITY CLASSICS FROM ROMAN PASTA ROYALTY TO CAPE TOWN'S FAVOURITE FOOD STRIP ALL HAIL THE PASTA Bad news: if you're wanting mama's pasta, you came to the wrong place. Good news: mama could learn a thing or two from Scala Should they even be giving Michelin stars to 27-year-olds? Well, in the case of Luciano Monosilio, they did. And now the hotshot Roman chef (in his late-30s by now) has brought his unique pasta philosophy to Cape Town. The venue is Scala - the word means stairs and is a reference to both the stairs you descend to get into this black-walled beauty of a restaurant, and a reference to La Scala, the famous opera theatre in Milan. Because, you see, the whole restaurant is set up like a culinary…