Restaurant - Petit Caveau, Century City

03 September 2014 - this is a lovely restaurant and a quite a hidden gem. Did not realise just how big the place is. Had a couple of meetings here and it was a great, quiet venue. Lovely ambiance.

FOOD - Ordered their tapas, which was quite delicious, however drenched in garlic! I love garlic, but not when there are meetings that I need to go to.

DRINKS - had tea

SERVICE - fair, server was quite attentive

VALUE FOR MONEY - the tapas was R160, fair

PARKING - there is parking right in front, but can get pricey if you park there for a couple of hours.

RECOMMENDABLE - quite a nice option for meetings at Century City, 7/10

Book review Fat Genes to Skinny Jeans, Santie Pretorius

What a fabulous name! This easy read is all about Santie Pretorius' journey of losing 105 kgs, and going from fat to fit. I did not know all that much about gastric bypass surgery except the horror stories I've seen on television, it was fascinating to read about such a success story and it being someone that I actually knew! (so definitely no urban legend). What a personal journey, love the photos shared and how Santie's smile just gets bigger and bigger as she sheds the kgs!  I really like the approach by the clinic of having a whole team - surgeon, dietician, psychologist, sports physiotherapist that works together.

Restaurant - Dario's, Hout Bay

This is one of the other places in Hout Bay that I would love to love, sadly I don't. This morning we decided to break from routine and go down there for breakfast. There were a lot of families, i.e. A LOT of children. 

FOOD - they have eggs Benedict which was incredibly tasting, you can either have it on an English muffin or rye bread. I wanted muffins, but they were out. The rye option was fine. You can also choose between bacon, ham or spinach. Bacon for me thanks! 

Mark had the 'Fontana di Trevi' full breakfast and says it was average, nothing special. The bacon and eggs (for both) were cooked perfectly. 

However, we waited almost 30 minutes for the food to be served. This is just too long to wait. 

DRINKS - Capaccino Grande. Nice smooth coffee. 

SERVICE - there are a lot of hands on deck to take orders and clear tables. The wait for food to arrive was just too long. 

VALUE FOR MONEY - very good value, both dished R68. 

RECOMENDABLE: I find it too cliquey.  6/10

Book Review: The Rabbit in the Thorn Tree, Arthur Goldstuck

Another fun book in between all the business books. An easy read about all the different urban legends in South Africa in the '80's and '90's. 

Some are quite light hearted and others just crazy! I like Arthur's writing style; each section's ending leads to the next section and the new section referring back to the previous section, the 'golden thread' not really seen all that often anymore, but in fact how it should be done. 

I think we have considerably less urban legends these days thanks to technology and easy access to information. 

Recommendable 6/10

Book Review: A Book of English Idioms - V. H Collins

My mom is always encouraging us to speak idiomatic Afrikaans - quite a challenge! So I decided to do the same with English, and was delighted to find "A Book of English Idioms, by V H Collins" at a local charity shop.

It is fascinating to read about all the different idioms and where they come from, some even dating back to the 1500's! I just wish I could remember them better!

Interestingly there are a large number of idioms around 'squares'; I was intrigued as our logo has three of them, so was keen to learn more - here is what they have to say about squares:

...Squareness, in its usual meaning of 'four equal sided-ness, suggests regularity. A figurative extension of this is correctness, straightness, rightness... 



It is all square. It has been arranged so as to be fair to all sides.

I loved this, as it resonates so well with our reputation management building blocks and looking after reputations. "Correctness, straightness, rightness...all summed into one word - integrity, is what managing reputations is all about.  It is also so representative of our Repudometer®, where we focus specifically on the balance of all the dimensions within the organisation.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but will have to re-read it to remember all the wonderful expressions.

Restaurant - Outspan, Kalk Bay

I have often walked past this little restaurant and not really given it another thought. I honestly thought that it was a 'dingy dive' with plastic chairs.

Someone then told me that it was on of their favourite spots when visiting Cape Town, so I was intrigued and made a point of visiting it.

What a pleasant surprise. Not a plastic chair in sight! Tastefully decorated with white furniture and blue accents, and a great view of the sea. The fish is 'braai'ed' outside.


I had run a 10km race in the morning, so I WAS HUNGRY!

FOOD - I was told that their Tuna was the best, unfortunately they did not have any on the particular day. My friend and I then shared the Angelfish and Yellow-Tail, both are served with chips and a salad. I preferred the Angelfish, deliciously delicate and juicy, I found the other one a bit dry, but my friend found it the other way round.

DRINKS - I had a glass of dry white wine, as far as house wines go it was tasty.

SERVICE - good and efficient.

VALUE FOR MONEY - I found it quite pricey, each dish was R120.00

RECOMMENDABLE - yes, I will most likely go back there as I did like the atmosphere, and keen to try their Tuna. 7/10

Restaurant - Fourno's, OR Tambo Airport

After a whirlwind trip to Gauteng,  I had one last meeting at OR Tambo before heading back to Cape Town. I had just enough time to grab lunch before the meeting started.

Usually I end up at Mugg & Bean at the airport, but it is usually quite jam-packed and noisy and not great for meetings. I then saw that there was a whole food court area (!) - (I usually just rush past it and have never really noticed it before). 

My stop was at Fourno's. 

FOOD - I opted for a pancake with a poached egg, ham, mushroom and onions; I think it was on the breakfast menu, but it did the trick for lunch. IT WAS DELICIOUS! There were TWO crepes served!

DRINKS - Sparkling water, so nothing too exciting.

SERVICE - Very friendly and efficient.

VALUE FOR MONEY - These two amazing crepes only cost R25! Definitely very good value for money.

RECOMMENDABLE - Yes! 8/10