Relax with Dax

SA does not have any restaurants in the top 50, but on the extended top 100 list we have the same 2 that we had last year, Tasting Room (up from 57 to 53) and Test Kitchen (up from 74 to 61). A nice additional accolade this year is that Test Kitchen was voted The [...]

The inaugural Eat Out DSTV Food Network Conference took place this year, and I was lucky enough to be invited to attend it. Being the first one, we didn’t know what to expect. It was held at the Westin Cape Town on the Saturday before the Eat Out DSTV Food Network Top Ten Awards which took [...]

When I came off my strict diet for the Sleek Geek challenge, I found myself picking up some weight again. I put back on 3 of the 13kgs I lost. While I was contemplating my options for halting the slide back to my original weight, I received a call from iHealth Meals. They wanted to [...]

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you’ll know that I’m very anti imported olive oil. Not just because of the food miles, but because Europe dumps their poor quality product on us and we don’t know any better. Our South African olive oil is of far superior quality and well worth the small price [...]

In November last year I posted the results of the Christian Eedes Chardonnay Report. Now the results of the Christian Eedes Cabernet Sauvignon Report are available. Selected from 60 highly acclaimed cabernet sauvignons, these are the cream of the crop: FIVE STARS De Trafford 2009 Cellar price: R230 Delaire Reserve 2009 Not yet released Graham [...]

This year South Africa continues it’s slide down and off the World’s top restaurants list. Last year we had 3 in the top 100 with 1 (Le Quartier Francaise) being in the top 50. This year we have only 2 in the top 100, Le Quartier Francaise at position 57 and for the first time, [...]

I need to share this video with you because it’s really awesome. It reminds me of one of the first X Factors when that cellphone salesman who looks unimpressive suddenly starts singing awesome Opera and everyone falls off their chairs. Same sort of vibe here. I love these sorts of videos. But I also want [...]

We can’t all be Masterchefs, but thanks to Nomu I got the chance to be a HalfArsed-a Chef along with a bunch of other fun quasi celebrities. We had great fun competing against each other in the various challenges. Certainly the normal rules of cooking did not apply and as for the unwritten rules of [...]

I entered the Moneysmart Budget Challenge which started this week and ends on Monday. If I win, my selected charity will receive R10 000! The idea is to budget how you will spend your R1500 allocation over a week. Points are awarded for staying within your budget and also for social media engagement. So readers, [...]

There’s been  quite a lot of movement on the restaurant scene lately, so I thought I would update you. If you know if any other happenings that I haven’t listed, please leave a comment below. I’m not sure what the deal is with Kloof Street, but all of the following restaurants are on that street… [...]

I remember attending a presentation by an ex record company executive a while back. Two things struck me, one was that he made perfect sense (probably because what he said agreed with my personal view on the music industry), the other was that record companies with highly paid directors could not see the future and [...]

I recently judged the value component of the Top 100 SA Wine Lists competition. You may have seen my previous post with my thoughts on the competition in general. I’m not going to repeat myself, but now that the competition is over I will say that I’m happy with the way it was run and [...]

I am a judge for the value segment of the Top 100 Wine List Awards this year, the first year of the competition. I’m quite excited about this competition because, unlike most other competitions in the wine industry, it’s very transparent. You can go onto the website and download the judging criteria to see how [...]

The Paul Cluver amphitheatre is probably one of the coolest music venues in Cape Town and its surrounds. If you haven’t been yet, you really need to make a plan to experience it. You can read more about it in my review of the Parlotones concert there. This season’s lineup has been released and the [...]

The change in mindset toward drinking and driving these days is very evident. Whether the motivation is a desire to be responsible, or just a fear of getting caught, people are thinking twice before driving after a few drinks. I’ve been trying to avoid driving even if I’ve had one drink. I find it’s a [...]