Relax with Dax

I was very lucky to be invited by Franck Dangereux to enjoy his Chef’s Table at the Foodbarn. I’ve always been a fan of the Foodbarn and Franck’s cooking so this was an opportunity I was not going to miss. This 6 course lunch was paired with Nitida wines (have a look at that website, it’s [...]

There is no doubt that the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate is gaining more and more traction every year. I attended it for the first time in 2010 (review here) and wasn’t able to attend last year as I was out of town. There was a huge difference this year. In 2010, most people didn’t know what [...]

I attended many events in 2011, but this Puma event was one of the few that impressed me. The party was part of a bigger marketing campaign and brought together various elements into this function. The primary element of the marketing campaign was the Puma entry in the Volvo Ocean race. The first leg of [...]

I’ve written about the Paul Cluver amphitheatre before, click here to read all the details of the time I went to watch the Parlotones perform there. I said it was an amazing experience and it still is. Instead of repeat myself for the Prime Circle review, I thought I would try something different and do [...]

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 [...]

This is the second year for the Cape Town Festival of Beer and it’s definitely bigger and better than last year. For those who love craft beer, this is the festival for you. With over 100 beers represented and 30 or so breweries it’s the perfect opportunity to be introduced to different beers.  There is [...]

On Saturday evening I attended the first Eco-Logic awards. It was held at the ICC and overall it was a top notch event which was well attended. However, there was one fundamental problem with the award, which if they address for the next awards, it will be an event well worth attending. What did I [...]

There’s a bit of a debate going on at the moment whether organic wines are better or worse than their chemical counterparts, in terms of taste. I think that misses the point. Christian Eedes who chaired the judging panel for the Nedbank Green Wine Awards felt that the wines were typical of any selection of [...]

It’s safe to say that the Eat Out Awards is the highlight of the event calendar in Cape Town. Tickets are R1000 each but sell out well before the event and it is attended by about 350 people. I keep calling it the Food Oscars and I still think that’s a good way to describe [...]

With Wine Magazine no longer in print and all sorts of things happening in the wine industry, Christian Eedes has stepped forward and decided to try something new in compiling his list of top 10 chardonnays. If it works well we may see Christian Eedes’ top 10 of all the cultivars. Then maybe a book [...]

As you would expect, this year’s Platter’s Wine Guide is bigger than ever with over 900 producers and over 7000 wines listed. There is no other guide that is this comprehensive. I attended the launch of the new guide this week at the Vineyard hotel. The 5 star wines were all available for tasting, which [...]

The recipe for Pinotage on Tap hasn’t changed much. Last year I did a full review and linked to my previous reviews as well, but this time I’m just going to point out a few of the good and bad things. What I’ve realised about Pinotage on Tap is that it’s a really friendly event. [...]

I recently attended the Sunday Times Food Awards at the Foodcorp Innovation Centre in Black River Park. The awards are designed to recognise individuals within all areas of the food industry. There are awards for Chef of the Year, Young Chef of the Year and Stalwart of the Kitchen. As well as an award for [...]

Here’s the line up for this summer of Kirstenbosch concerts. Some really great ones there. The prices seem to have standardised at R100 except for Parlotones at R125 and a couple that are below R100. Carols by Candelight are R60 and the new year’s eve party with Prime Circle is R250. Details about how you [...]

It was interesting attending two very different beer festivals on the same weekend. I attended the craft beer festival on the Friday night (read my review here) and Oktober Bierfest on the Sunday afternoon. Many people think this is the SAB Oktober fest but actually SAB is just a sponsor. They made the village green [...]