Cape Town Lights Up in preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup!
Cape Town Soccer Stadium Lights Up
V & A Waterfront and Cape Town Soccer Stadium
Cape Town Soccer Stadium from the Suburbs
If anyone had any doubts about the soccer stadium in Green Point, Cape Town, now may just be the time to reconsider. Being a Cape Townian I’m very patriotic. I must say that out of all the soccer stadiums I’ve seen being prepared for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, this is my favorite. Well done Cape Town.
Credits to: http://6000.co.za/2009/10/23/light-up-light-up/
We speak to Le Franschhoek’s Executive Chef, Darren Robberts who says that he absolutely hates chefs that brag about who they have cooked for. He also doesn’t want to mention that he was Val Kilmer’s personal chef for 7 months, has cooked for Brad Pitt, and in his days as butler he has served formally every single member of the British Royal family. “Nelson Mandela once told me I should stop dropping names,” says Darren. Diya asks him a few questions.
Darren has worked in the UK, Vienna, in his native Australia, and at our own Fancourt Hotel where he managed 70 chefs and ran 17 kitchens. The man obviously needs nerves of steel and a fine sense of humour.
Diya: What sets La Verger Restaurant apart from other Restaurants that you have run?
Darren: Certainly the position and beautiful setting of Le Verger. The individual glass houses and the views across the valley filled with orchards and vineyards make it almost the perfect location.
Diya: What expertise have you introduced to Relais Gourmand?
Darren: The previous menu was lacking direction. It was a bit of a hotchpotch of dishes thrown together without too much thought. I believe the new menu now has a bit of depth.
Diya: What is the inspiration behind your menu?
Darren: Our menu is still in its infant stages, and each day we fine tune it with new platings and pairings. As usual, once I feel we have perfected the menu, we will then change it. It keeps the gastronomical juices flowing and stops one from becoming to stagnant. Ideally my menus follow trends from my home country, and reflect the Pacific Rim fusion I was trained in. However I love the idea of modern African Fusion.
Diya: What are some of the more unusual dishes that you have prepared in South Africa?
Darren: In my first restaurant in Johannesburg we took a couple of taxi rank specials and tried to ‘Sandtonise’ them. Traditional Taxi terms like “walkie talkies”, which are the feet and heads of the lambs, were replaced with fore quarter shanks and lamb tongues, with a spiced up pap cake. It wasn’t a great seller but made for a good talking point. The liver from a freshly culled impala was exceptionally good on the open fire one morning after a game expedition on the farm.
Diya: What uniquely South African ingredients do you particularly enjoy working with?
Darren: There is no better place in the world to work with game meat.
Diya: Chef’s are known for their practical jokes in the kitchen. Please share one of your favourite anecdotes with us.
Darren: We were making blood pudding one night and realised how similar pig’s blood was to human blood. A trainee chef lay down on the floor in the kitchen, a knife was placed in a potato behind his head, and the blood was splattered all over the floor. Cameras flashed and the suckers were called in to assist. It was amazing and hysterically funny to see everybody’s reaction and how they handled the joke. Some of the old house keeping ladies became quite violent and dished out a bit of corporal punishment to the poor guy on the floor.
A visit to Le Franschhoek Hotel feels like being let in on a most exquisite secret. The Cape Dutch style buildings are nestled in-between vineyards and an orchard; giving it a French chateau feeling. The menu at the fine dining restaurant, Relais Gourmand, has been created by executive chef Darren Roberts and it’s a fusion of African dishes with Pacific Rim style cuisine. Le Verger is an outdoors restaurant that consists of individual glass conservatories scattered across the property. The sun streams in from all angles and it is spectacular to behold. Unfortunately Le Verger is closed for winter until end August. However, on my visit it is one of those crisp, sunny and wind still winter afternoons, and the staff made way for me to order from their fine dining menu at Le Verger restaurant.
The chef has a taste for complex fusions and a blend of exotic tastes. The starter portion of bishop stilton with roasted baby beetroot and Serrano ham salad with a decadent Champagne and walnut dressing is rich and simply melts into mouth. For mains I had the grilled lobster tails with an oxtail tortellini, roasted bubble and squeak, baby onions and crustacean oil. This is an indulgent and decadent winter dish. The portions are not large, but because of the complex ingredients, it is very filling and I had to decline dessert. It is a special treat is to sip on a wine that has been harvested from the adjoining wine farm; there aren’t too many restaurants in the world that can boast this service. Le Verger is the perfect venue for a long, lazy al fresco lunch during the sun drenched summer months.
Show: Nando’s Cape Town Comedy Festival
Director: Paul Griffiths
Starring: Kira Soltanovich, Loyiso Gola, Michael Mittermeier, Angelo Tsarouchas, Ahmed Ahmed, Dean Edwards and Simon Clayton.
A Greek-Canadian, a Russian-American, an Egyptian, a New Yorker and a Gautenger are just some of the funny men and women that are raking in the laughs at this year’s Cape Town Comedy Festival.
Angelo Tsarouchas is the larger-than-life Greek-Canadian host that uses his ample girth to poke fun at himself and other obese people. Mutlitple-award winning Tsarouchas has an American one hour show named Bigger is Better, and he jokes that in America he is actually perceived as quite slim, even athletic. Well he actually isn’t, and though he’s intercultural observations are quite sharp and even funny, one can’t help but feel quite concerned for his well-being, and that of the audience members in the front rows.
Loyiso Gola for President!
At this festival the limelight certainly belongs to the black boys and one white girl. Our own Loyiso Gola has a refreshing way of looking at the world and his observational commentary has quite a sting to it. From Gugulethu, he asks the audience if they know where it is. Before they can answer he hollers, ‘You - insert lots of expletives here - should know where it is since you, - more vicious swearing - put us there!’ At this point it is good to note that there really is a lot of swearing during the show. It works. Rather than coming across as vulgar, demented and a cheap ploy to get a reaction, most of the comedians effectively use it as expressive punctuation in their jokes. Gola makes some unsavoury comments about the very unfortunate Caster Semanye saga and parts of the audience giggle shyly; others are shocked into silence. Following Gola, the British Simon Clayton, makes a similar scathing remark about Semanye and the audience hiss and boo at him. On cue Clayton says, “Oh it’s fine if one of your own makes fun of her, but not a foreigner, eh.” - followed by embarrassed laughter.
Kira Soltanovich was born in the former Soviet Union and raised in San Francisco. Her brand of female immigrant humour is intelligent, vulgar and very funny. Her good looks and eloquence is a boon. She plays a leery female, does a little mini-pole dance that looks like a cat scratching its bum against a pole, and she shares an evocative slice of Russian culture.
Then of course there is the German comedian, which in itself is very funny. It’s not often we find funny Germans on our shores. Michael Mittermeier, who has performed with U2 and has had more than 3000 solo performances since 1987, accurately picks up on some of our typical South African traits. His skit involving a Mexican pot smoking cockroach that lives in Woodstock and is immune to insect repellent is hilarious. His strong German accent comes across as very camp and it is enough to make you giggle uncontrollably.
The Russian-American, Kira Soltanovich
Loyiso Gola’s comic brilliance is a reason for even the most sceptic South Africans to feel very patriotic. Catch Gola on his one man tour across the country named, Gola for President. Can you imagine what South Africa would be like with a comedian for president?
Hurry - the Comedy Festival only runs until 4 October at Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre, before moving to Durban! Tickets are from R120 - R150.00. Discounts are available for block bookings. Book online through Computicket.
