Monthly Archives: April 2012

Sunset dinner @ The Bungalow

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Last Sunday, Bjorn and I got treated to an amazing dinner spread at the gorgeous Bungalow in Clifton.

Some might remember this location as the old La Med – a regular student / Sunday afternoon party jol which I frequented regularly back in my early Cape Town days.  But now it has been transformed into a sophisticated drinking, eating and socialising spot but with the same kick ass view and fresh beach air.  The restaurant is split into 3 sections.  You can opt to sit outside to soak up some sun, or you can sit kind of semi-outside in a more relaxed dining area with a beach cottage feel and lit up cocktail bar:

In more of a fancy mood?  No problem, chek out their formal dining area inside:

Loved the chill out couch tables on the outer edges...

Drinks wise, we thought we’d get into the beach spirit (even though it was sadly a very chilly night) witih some cocktails.  A must have on their cocktail menu is without a doubt their Piña colada (R45):

This baby rocked

Then for starters, Bjorn opted for the beef carpaccio (R80) while I got the intriguing Namibian crab claw tempura (R100)…

That beef carpaccio was absolutely beautiful.  But then again, it’s pretty hard to stuff that dish up if you’ve sourced great ingredients.  My crab tempura was interesting.  I loved the fluffiness of the crab meat (crab is not something I’ve ever really tried before), but I thought the presentation could have been better, especially seeing as this is their most expensive starter.

Bjorn was verrrrry hungry and also got a little sushi snack to tie him over while we waited for our mains.  It was good as far as sushi goes, fresh ingredients and nice sticky rice.  Loved the fact that they give you a decent amount of wasabi & ginger.  (Absolutely hate restaurants who skimp on those ;) )

Tuna california roll (65)

Then for mains we were both in a heavy carnivore mood – so I got the Madagascar style sirloin with roasted veggies as my side (R100):

And Bjorn got the Venison of the day (which was Kudu) with some crispy thin fries as his side (R160):

Mine was good.  But that Kudu steak of Bjorn’s was out of this  world.  I had serious food envy and ended up begging for little bites from his plate (he wasn’t happy about this by any means… hehe… but he’s a good boyfriend… aaaaah).  AND after trying to be all healthy with my roasted veggies, I also ended up stealing most of his chips. :)

By the time we got to dessert, we were absolutely stuffed.  So we opted to share the Crème brûlée (R45).  But just look how pretty it was!

And it tasted just as good as it looked...

All ‘n all, we had a really great evening at The Bungalow.  Yes – I do think the food is a bit pricey.  But the service was very good, the place is beautiful and for that Kudu steak, Piña colada & Crème brûlée, they get the following Miss K Kiss-o-Meter rating from me:

Just a tip:  Really try get there before the sun sets.  There’s something just so incredibly cool about dining while watching a beautiful sunset…  it’s important to stop & enjoy these little pleasures in life, isn’t it? ;)

xxx

Adeus por agora

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Meaning “bye for now” in Portuguese, the official language of Mozambique and my hideaway for the next 8 days and 7 nights!

Yes, I managed to book that holiday at that beautiful place I told you about in the My soul is here right now post, and I’m sooooo excited to be taking a little break with lots of sunshine, swimming, eating and chillaxing…

BUT I’ve been a very busy girl and l’ve lined up lots of posts to keep you from avoiding work while I’m away.   You’re welcome. ;)

For now I leave you with my pick for best Cyanide & Happiness comic from the past week:
xxx

Things I’ve recently learnt about being a “lefty”

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So the lady who sits across from me at work was telling me about this little research project her daughter’s school is running.  They’re making them do all kinds of tests to see whether left handed girls are brighter than right handed girls…  I was like: “What?  That’s so stupid, I can already answer that… damn straight they are!”  (You see, I’m a left handed person, otherwise known as a “lefty” myself.  So of course I should know. ;) )

Then she forwarded on all this info that was circulated to the kids and their parents which contains all these random findings around left handed people.  Some (OK most) are quite funny… so I just had to share.  Here we go:

Scientific left handed facts:
(Well they seemed to have taken this from the following site: http://leftyfretz.com/25-facts-about-left-handed-people/ – so not sure how legit or “scientific” it really is….)

  • Make up between 5% and 10% of the population (depending on who you ask)
    - So what they’re saying here is that I’m special!
  • More likely to have allergies
    - OK that one’s true for me…
  • More prone to migraines
    - And this one…
  • More likely to be insomniacs
    - And I do have issues with sleeping quite regularly… but this still proves nothing…
  • Use the right side of the brain the most
    - Ja ja ja…
  • Three times more likely to become alcoholics – the right side of the brain has a lower tolerance to alcohol!
    - Haha, this one is classic.  I might as well drink away then!
  • More likely to be on extreme poles of the intelligence scale
    - I don’t like to brag, but I am like totally a genius you know. ;)
  • Tend to reach puberty 4 to 5 months later than right handers
    - I was a “late bloomer” for sure.
  • More likely to suffer stuttering and dyslexia
    - Sjoe, luckily I skipped out on those two.
  • Twice as likely to be a man
    - This is actually quite funny.  In my family, my dad is left handed as well as one of my brothers.
  • Better at 3D perception and thinking
    - K, I’ll look into that.
  • Better at multi-tasking
    - Oh yeah baby, I rock out tasks like it’s nobody’s business!
  • Live on average 9 years less than right handed people
    - Bummer.  But hey, at least I’ll be slightly hotter when I die, right?
  • 39% more likely to be homosexual
    - Hmmmmmmm… I’ll have to break this to the BF, then again he might like the idea. hehe.

Then there’s another article (from the same site:  http://leftyfretz.com/why-are-people-left-handed/) about all these theories around why people are left handed…  it’s quite bizarre and clearly not scientifically proven in any way.  But a good laugh nonetheless.

They go on about everything from a lack of the so called “right handed gene” to prenatal trauma and this creepy “vanishing twin” theory which suggests that left handed people were actually part of identical twin foetuses, but then the right handed foetus failed to develop early on and was reabsorbed by the mother’s body.  Geeze, I hope that’s not the case… that is just plain crazy.

Anyhoo, after reading all this stuff I feel chuffed at my awesomeness, yet very stressed out about my early death and various health issues and definitely in need of a BIG glass of wine. :)

xxx

Taste of Cape Town rocked (as usual)

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This past Sunday, my friend Joe and I took up the Taste of Cape Town chow down challenge and came out grinning from ear to ear.  Even though every year I complain about this event working out to be way too expensive, I always return… why? Cause it’s just plain awesome. :)

R80 got you an entry ticket and a free tasting glass.  Then you had to buy “crowns” – the Taste of CT currency which gets you yummy food, drinks and treats.   Crowns set you back R120 for 24 or R60 for 12 = so that worked out to R5 per crown.  Your average main taster plate was about 6 – 8 crowns  (that’s R30 – R40), with starters and desserts being around the 4 – 5 crown range.  But trust me, you burn through those crowns faster than lightning.   One booklet of 24 is never enough.  You always end up at least needing another 12 (as a minimum).

OK, so let me kick off with some of the restaurants featured at this year’s event…

My prize for “best of show” would definitely go to the Signal restaurant at the Cape Grace.  Their 3 course offering was absolute perfection.

From left to right above you have:

  • Grilled prawn, green risotto with a spiced mango foam
  • Sous-vide ostrich, spiced gooseberry pickle, almond crumble
  • Hazelnut dacquoise, cardamon caramel, Nyangbo ganache & banana ice cream

I’m now totally set on saving up to have a big splurge dinner there (hopefully soon).  They’re a bit pricey, but if these little samples are anything to go by, it will be worth every single cent.

The runner-up restaurant for me would be  Il Leone.  They had quite a different take – nothing too fancy, just hearty Italian style dishes bursting with flavour.

From left to right above:

  • Vitello porcini veal escalopes topped with fresh porcini mushrooms
  • Penne with porcini mushrooms

We first tried the veal and then did a bit of a walk about, but it was just too good, so we went back to try their prawn pasta dish.  Sadly they had already sold out of that one, but they replaced it with a beautifully simple penne dish which still rocked my world.

Other places we tried but weren’t that impressed was first the Savour restaurant at the 15 On Orange hotel.  We tried their “star anise-spiced duck breast with fennel mousse and plum jelly, served with candied fennel, toasted almonds and an aniseed reduction”:

From that impressive description I was expecting a burst of flavours.  But even though there were so many interesting elements on that plate, it just tasted terribly bland.   A huge disappointment.

The 2nd was the Taj Hotel offerings.  I had read online the night before that this was a “must try”  – so based on that, we decided to give all 4 their dishes a bash.

From left to right above:

  • Cottage cheese fritters with tamarind chutney
  • Pounded lamb kebabs with yoghurt centre & mint chutney
  • Spicy battered fish with Bishop’s weed
  • Crispy calamari with chilli pepper and Dijonnaise

The first 3 was from their Bombay Brasserie restaurant and the calamari was from their Mint restaurant.  I found the Bombay dishes very average.  I enjoyed the calamari, it was very very crispy which I kinda liked, but Joe didn’t like it that much.  I must admit that if you ate a bigger plate of it, the roof of your mouth would probably have been raw. ;)

Joe was also really drawn to the “meat stand” where he picked up some super sticky & messy pork ribs:

I only tried one piece and I had sauce all over my face… but they were pretty damn tasty, I have to admit.

On the drinking front, I spotted my little friend, Mr Fluffy, and I immediately knew that I would finally be able to try the much talked about Swartskaap from Hermanuspietersfontein!  And I can honestly say that it is a truly beautiful red wine…  Very happy I got to sample it.  I also tried their flagship Arnoldus wine which was very smooth & enjoyable as well.  Don’t remember who Mr Fluffy is?  Well let me refresh your memory:

Ta da!!!

Other interesting new drink options included JimmyJagga, a new wine cooler product from KWV which comes in 3 flavours: white wine lemon, rosé melon and red wine plum.

And also this super potent very berry cocktail whipped up by the guys from Gordon’s Gin:

Sjoe… after that one we needed a little “nap time” on the grass.  We chose the back of the Jagermeister truck (of course… haha).

After a bit of chill time, we figured some sugar was needed to kick-start our systems again.  Luckily we stumbled upon Sugar Coated Raindrops and their evil cupcakes:

Mine was rose & lemon and Joe’s was a classic vanilla. So yum!

Other things I quite fancied was Falksalt‘s Red chilli & Citron salt flakes:

The spicy kick-in-the-nuts gem that is Garlic Man’s Garlic sauce (which can be purchased at most Fruit & Veg stores):
And then these beautiful luxury gift sets from the eat.art range by Kalk Bay Foods:

From top to bottom: Salts from all over the world, a selection of fine teas & lots of yummy spices.  With mother’s day coming up, I think this is the perfect gift for the woman who gave you life people…  maybe get all 3.

So yeah – it was a very successful day.  We ate, we drank, we laughed and we left with pot bellies!

This is seriously such a great way to see what Cape Town has to offer.  You’re exposed to restaurants and products which you would likely not have tried otherwise and I think that’s really cool.  I just wish they would waive or reduce the entrance fee… that gives you more money to spend on crowns. :)

Can’t wait for next year…

xxx

Let’s take it outside… with Converse

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Last Fri night I attended my 2nd Converse party.  And get this, it was for FREE. :)   The first party was back in December of last year and it was a block party in and around Assembly.  You can check out my post about that one here – it was one awesome event.  For that party I also scored free tickets via Webtickets.  So this time round, I was lucky enough to get a heads up email from Webtickets again which told me that I needed to hurry up to get my hands on only 3500 free tickets to their “Let’s take it outside” event.  I wasted no time to insure I wasn’t going to miss out on another incredible night.

The action went down in Founders Garden which is kinda behind the Artscape in town and where the Zip Zap circus is based.  This space was totally transformed for the evening to make it a weird and wonderful playground for the lucky few who snapped up tickets…

As we entered, the first thing we walked into was this awesome chilll spot scattered with vintage looking lamp shades of all things.  It was really cool.  The idea was that you’d just pull up a spot on the grass under a lamp shade and catch up with a mate for a bit.  Luv it.

Then we moved on to check out the 3 stages.  The main stage was home to some top local bands, like Holiday Murray, Beatenberg and Desmond & the Tutus – who totally killed it on stage.

The 2nd stage was called the Star Chevron stage and here you could shake your body to some crazy drum & base, Rugga, Ska or BreakBeat beats.  OK – I dunno what most of that means – all I know is that I really liked it! ;)

Stage number 3 was the Jack Purcell stage where you could enjoy some funky hip-hop & kwaito…

So they seriously had everybody’s music tastes all covered.  Then if you needed to take a break from the music for a bit, you had lots of options like sumo wrestling:

And mechanical bull riding:

And if you happened to get hungry, they had you covered with the tastiest boerie rolls with all the trimmings and some of the freshest, bestest popcorn I’ve had in ages.  Yum!

Really to me this felt like a mini music festival, kinda like a one night only Rocking the Daisies or something – but without the long drive and camping mission.  Seriously, very very cool indeed.

A huge thanks to Converse for putting together yet another kick ass event.  I’m really looking forward to the next one.  Here’s hoping they make this a regular thing.  And remember guys, keep an eye out for those free tickets.  My tip would be to make sure you’re registered on Webtickets.

xxx

My online shopping addiction makes it’s way to the UK

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A few weeks ago I decided to try a purchase from UK based store, New Look.  Their clothing’s a not really great, it looks quite cheap & ill-fitting BUT they have really nice shoes & bags.  Two of my favourite things in the world! :)

One really awesome perk is that they do FREE delivery worldwide for orders over £55.  Sweeeeeet.  I decided to test the waters with a small purchase, so I got two easy priced bags & some pretty undies.  According to their website my order was suppose to arrive within 5 – 7 working days, which seemed pretty good as my orders from Forever21.com in the US usually take about the same amount of time to arrive.  But then to my surprise, my order status changed to “dispatched” practically overnight… this got me very excited…

Sadly that excitement faded as each day passed… and eventually the days turned into weeks… and then by last week I had kinda prepared myself for my order never ever arriving.  I decided to email them to find out whether they could tell me where my parcel was as the tracking feature on the website wasn’t working with my tracking number.  This is when they told me that they actually can’t track international orders.  Interesting news as they certainly don’t explain that part on their Delivery & Returns help pages.  They told me that if my order hadn’t arrived by 20 Apr, I could proceed to officially log a request for them to find out what happened to it.  At that point I thought to myself… “Gawd, it’s been almost 4 weeks, I bet you someone from the SA postal service is already wearing my damn underwear!!!” ;)

Then on “D-day” I finally got a notice from the post office about an international parcel ready for collection.  Talk about cutting it fine.  I rushed over there and had to pay R15 to have the parcel released, but I wasn’t asked to pay any custom duties.  I couldn’t believe my luck as one would normally expect to be nailed with about 45% import tax (and that’s certainly what I had prepared myself for), but seems I was a very very lucky girl.  I’m not sure if they just decided to let the first order slide, or maybe the way it was packaged made sure it didn’t raise any eyebrows…  I mean, it did arrive in a bloody black bag! haha.  Check it out:

This parcel screams "this person has no money!"

I was a bit worried about what state my things would be in, but everything was cool.   Here’s my zig zag weave oversized clutch which I got for £12.99:

And then my black & white colour block satchel with a mock crock feel (£19.99):

And lastly my cute undies which were between £4.99 and £5.99 each:

Size wise, the UK is the same as SA. So if you're a size 8 here, you'll be a size 8 there. Easy peasy.

The undies aren’t the worlds best quality – I would say they’re kinda on par with Mr Price’s underwear.  So I wouldn’t say they were the best deal (pound to rand exchange rate sits at about 12.66 at the moment).  But I LOVE my two bags.

Oh and boys, they have a mens section as well.  I did a quick browse through their mens shoes & accessories section and they have some really nice things there.  Items which caught my eye included these funky Gola sneakers for £34.99:

And these fold over shoes which are on sale for only £15!

Perfect for winter guys...

Oh and my absolute favourite, check out this awesome moustache print wallet for £6.99:

Seriously, how cool is that?

So will I order from New Look again?  Yeah, it’s likely.  It loses big points on the instant gratification scale, but at least next time I’ll be prepared for the long wait.

I’m a bit sad that we’re now pretty much right into cold, miserable winter weather… cause I’ve kinda fallen in love with these babies:

Colour block strappy sandals - £19.99

But I guess it’s totally acceptable to be really prepared for next summer waaaaay ahead of time, right?

xxx

Amusing search engine terms – part 4

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Right, it’s time once again to have a bit of a laugh at people’s strange Google habits.  These are some “gems” that by some weird luck have directed people to my blog over the past few months:

  • “neon pink two piece in cape town“
    - Ooooh… I feel a BAD fashion moment coming on…
  • “dance like noone is watching quotes tattoos“
    - And with this one I feel a bad life choice coming on…
  • “ballerinas who had to quit because their boobs got too bigs“
    - Well, there’s always Teazers I guess.  ;)
  • “chicken flavoured lube“
    - Now I know I did a post about bacon flavoured lube a while back, which might seem like a strange product to some, but weirdly I was quite comfortable with it myself.  Probably cause I really love the smell of bacon.  But chicken flavoured lube!?  I’m totally judging on that one.
  • “my that’s a lovely shade of bitch you’re wearing ecards“
    - Because let’s face it, that card works well for soooo many occasions.
  • “young boys wearing sapphire colored speedos“
    - Say it with me: SUPER DODGY!!!
  • “I hate lindt“
    - Well then we can never be friends… Plus, why would you even Google something like this?  Was this person hoping there would be some kind of support group or club or something…  very very strange.
  • “hefty black asses in cape town“
    - I actually decided to Google this one myself.  I just couldn’t believe that this truly came up with my blog as a result.  Turns out I come up at nr 2!  Basically I’ve used the words “hefty”, “black” and “ass” in various totally unrelated posts and that seems to be good enough for Google to link that seach term to me.  All I’m thinking is that the guy who entered that search must have been helluva disappointed when he came through to my blog. hahahahahaha.

OK, that’s it for now.  Hope everyone’s having a great weekend! :)

xxx

Dunkley square adventures

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Last Friday eve I headed over to good old Dunkley Square, between Barnet & Wandel St in Gardens, for a surprise birthday party for an old friend (and nooooooo, that’s not a dig at his age… although it would’ve been a good one ;) ).

The first stop for the evening was lovely Greek eatery, Maria’s.  Now Maria’s has actually been around for yonks, in fact I vaguely remember going there for dinner once during my early Cape Town years.  I recall it being not much to look at, but the food was well priced & tasty.  I now hear that it was closed for about a two year period and then re-opened with a new, fresh look towards the beginning of 2011.

I must say, I absolutely love the new look.  Beautiful fairy lights in the trees outside.  Very cosy inside.  An easy, welcoming space with large windows and neutral, yet warm colours.  It kinda felt like we had stepped out of Cape Town and into a little European street cafe.

I loved the fact that they serve your wine in pretty glass tumblers – apparently that’s just the way they would do it over in Greece.  And then these LED candles had me totally fascinated:

So kitch it's cool or a major decor no-no? Not really sure to be honest... but I kinda liked them, just a little.

Now the birthday boy is one of those people who already has everything.  So buying for him is a tough job.  Thank goodness for Big Blue – your one-stop shop for anything cool, weird & fun.  Part of his gift was this “Maybe you touched your genitals” hand sanitiser which had everyone practically in tears:

Well... maybe you did? :)

Could you imagine whipping that out at the office with a straight face and asking your colleagues whether they maybe wanted to clean their hands?  Awkward…

After the big S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E!!!, which was a very successful one btw thanks to his girlfriend’s amazing planning skills, we got stuck into some mezes.  Items like fried halloumi, tiropitakia, spanakopita, keftethes served with tzatziki and more:

All so incredibly yum! I was really blown away by these mezes. Especially that fried halloumi. Mmmmmm.

For mains we got to choose from a selection of seafood & lamb dishes.  I went for the patagonian calamari, while the folks around me went for the beer battered hake & slow roasted Karoo lamb:

Apologies, I didn't really take note of prices as we had all paid a set price per person which covered you for food & drinks.

I’m not gonna lie, after those amazing mezes I was a bit underwhelmed by the mains.  It wasn’t bad by any means, I just expected the flavours to pop more.  It might have been partly due to us being such a big group – we filled the entire place, so trying to get that much food out at the same time can be quite challenging.

But you know, there’s really a lot to be said for a place that manages to create such a warm, welcoming atmosphere ensuring that everyone’s having an absolute blast.  The food to me was a bit of a sideline cause I was having such a great time…

How do you like my new super cheese collage feature huh? Impressed much? ;)

Theeeeen, the grand finale…dessert time!  And what does every birthday boy want?  A car cake of course!

Ta da bitches...

Gillian, our party planner, told me that dealing with Maria’s to put this party together was a really pleasant experience.  She says the owners were lovely and very accommodating and I can personally vouch for their friendly service.  So if you are looking for a venue for a party or private function, give them a call on 021 461 3333.

When Maria’s started closing up, we walked a solid 10 meters to Roxy’s Cafe, which is situated on the same side as Maria’s, but on the other end of the square.  It’s quite an interesting little spot with comic books all over the walls, an toy boxes (of all things) on the ceiling…

Hmmmm.... OK OK, it's weird.... but I think I like it...

I liked the chilled vibe at Roxy’s.  It’s a cool spot to have a few drinks and a laugh without having to deal with long queues to get in, scary bouncers and being squeezed in like sardines.  That definitely gets bonus points in my book.

They also have this cute old typewriter on display, which actually still works.  We decided to do a “This is Karisa on tik” photo…

OK I'll admit... it was way funnier at the time... you have to get the Afrikaans connection and all... but hey, everyone knows wine fuelled ideas always sound way more brilliant in the moment. haha.

Best thing of all, Dunkey Square is almost right on my doorstep.  So when I ran out of steam (yes, that sometimes happens, just sometimes) my tipsy butt was only like 5min away from my comfy bed.  Fantastic!

All ‘n all it was a very successful night out & about with some great friends.  And that’s exactly what Friday nights should be all about. :)

xxx

Exploring the Winchester Mansions hotel

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Every summer I find myself driving along the Sea Point promenade and past the beautiful Winchester Mansions Hotel… thinking to myself “geeze, I should really check that place out… it looks so damn pretty…”

But for some reason I just never made a plan, until recently that is.  It was a nice sunny day, something that’s becoming a rare commodity here in Cape Town as the winter weather is creeping in, and my friend Joe and I decided we should go and check it out for a spot of lunch.

We settled in on the stoep area, I guess cause this is where you always see people chillin’ when you drive by, so seemed to us that this was the main dining area.  When we were given menus however the front of the menu said “Bar Menu”.  So we asked the waitress whether this was the correct place to have lunch and she said yes.  We figured, oh well, let’s just go with it then…

The bar menu has options including burgers, wraps, sandwiches, nachos, tapas style items and then a wide variety of sweet treats.   I opted for the Traditional Flammkuchen – crispy thin french pizza with bacon, onions and seasoned sour cream (R32):

And Joe got the Samosa and Springroll Plate served with a coriander creme fraiche (R48):

Both meals were very tasty, but my Flammkuchen definitely won the prize for best choice of the day.  Being seated at the front of such a iconic Cape Dutch building, we figured the best way to finish off our meal in style was with the Winchester’s Famous Scones daahlings (R24 for 2 and served with cheese, jam & cream):

Man, doesn't that look just soooooo good?

Scones… so so simple, but boy isn’t it just one of the most soul fulfilling treats around? ;)

In the back of my mind, something kept bugging me though.  A few people had told me about the amazing breakfasts that they do at the Mansions, but I had not seen any breakfast options there.  So Joe and I decided to go do some exploring after lunch.

First we checked out the impressive bar area.  The perfect spot for a few after work drinks, or even a private function I would say.

Loved all the rich fabrics and shiny trimmings...

And then boys, I'm sure the first thing you noticed in this pic was the TV playing sports. hehe

We then sneakily followed some guests into the main hotel area and got to check out the pool (which is very nice btw), the formal lunch/dinner dining room (also pretty sweet) and the formal lounge for their guests (super fancy):

Then, finally, we stumbled upon what seemed like the holy grail of chill spots at this hotel… the garden courtyard!

Seriously, how pretty is that?

This is where you can enjoy those amazing breakfasts I had heard about.  They do a la carte breakfast options ranging from R42 to R65.  Or you can go for the continental buffet for R95.  Or just stop messing about and go all out for the full breakfast buffet at R120 (served between 7:30am and 10:30am).  I’m guessing there would be a lot of starving & stretching before that one and your look for the day would definitely involve stretchy pants.

I’m dead keen to go back with a big group of mates to take up that challenge.  So for now, I’m going to reserve my Miss K Kiss-o-Meter rating untill I get to go back and get the full chow down experience.   Who’s with me? :)

xxx

36boutiques.com – the highs and lows

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As part of my continued exploration into the world of online clothing shopping, I decided to try out another local site called 36boutiques.com.

The site offers a really nice selection of ladies clothing, shoes, bags and other accessories – all from local designers and with options to suit different budgets.  Being someone who likes to support “local is lekker” when I can, I was excited to give them a bash.  I also loved the idea of having all these different designers on your “virtual doorstep” as it exposes you to things you probably wouldn’t come across during your normal shopping routine.

I placed my order on Mon, 26 Mar – buying a pair of shoes, a dress & a scarf.  I was lucky enough to make it for the last day of a 20% of everything promotion that they were running, so I got a pretty cool saving as well. :)

The site is very user friendly.  They have clear images of each product, from every angle, to make sure you get a good feel for quality, etc. The search function is easy to use & very accurate.  The checkout & payment process is very simple, and before you finalise your purchase your cart info includes selected sizes (something I was missing with my Zando experience), colour & quantitiy so you can double check before your final confirmation.  Like Zando, they also offer free Delivery & Returns (within 7 days of delivery).  And then you get a prety nice confirmation email just a few minutes later with all your order details.  Great experience I thought.

My order then arrived the Friday morning, so that was safely within their 3-7 business day promise.  This did come as a big surprise however as I did not receive an email update to say my order was being dispatched, neither did I get a call to ask whether I’ll be around for the delivery.   Luckily I was and luckily the excitement around my package was great enough for me to forget about that oversight.  You see my order came beautifully packaged, with scented paper and all!  It felt like Christmas morning… but way better…

Every item was individually wrapped and as I opened them slowly, all the ladies in my office congregated around my desk. (I think the whiff of the scented paper was just too good to ignore ;) )  Here are my 3 items all unwrapped:

Animal printed Scarf from Just Cruizin (R290); Colour block dress from Adam & Eve (R399); T-Bar Jane shoes from Wild Alice (R399)

I just have to show you a close up of the shoes.  I love them soooo much!

I couldn’t wait to take it all home and try everything on.  The shoes & scarf were absolute perfection, but sadly the dress just looked way too big on me.  As it was already a size small (the smallest size on the website), I knew I would have to send that item back for a refund. :(

So the following Mon, 2 Apr – I tried to call them to arrange for a return order.  I couldn’t get through on their call center number, so I decided to pop them an email on the support email address provided by them.  Mon passed and I got no reply.  My gut already told me at that point that things were going to take a dip…

The next day I decided to call them again.  This time I got through to a lady who said she would process the return request and send me the return order form shortly.  Tue passed and no form arrived.   I then called in again the next day to follow up.  I was given some story about them having lots of return orders to process and they were therefore running a bit behind schedule.   She did however mention they had like “8 or 9 to process” and I still thought to myself, geeze… that doesn’t sound like a lot to get through.   Wed passed – still no form.   On Thu I called in again, this time they told me they were experiencing system issues.   Thu passed – again no form.

Then we were onto the Easter weekend and I knew nothing would happen.  But the Tue after I continued my attempt to get this sorted.  Again I battled to get through on their call centre line, so I decided to give the email route another bash.  This time round I was lucky enough that someone actually picked up my email.  And she called me back within 10min and promised I would have my return form by COB that day.  I thought wow, finally we’re getting somewhere!  The form did in fact arrive as she had promised.  Then the next day they sent someone out to come & collect the dress.  The next problem was that it then took 2 days for them to “check the garment” before they would approve the refund.  Another week had therefore passed…  still with no conclusion… painful to say the least.

Yesterday I was finally asked to provide my credit card details so they could get the refund payment going.  I was told that I’d get a confirmation once the refund payment had been made… I’m still waiting…  but hey, I live in hope that this will be resolved before my next birthday… which is in December… ;)

I asked them how long a refund process normally takes and they said 4 working days.   Mine is now on 9 working days and counting and I am not impressed.  My initial excitement about this site is now totally forgotten and I seriously doubt I will purchase something again.   It might be safer to just stick to shoes & accessories as the risk of incorrect sizing is lower.

It’s sad really… because the experience was amazing up until they dropped the ball on the refund.   I’m interested though,  is there anybody else out there who’s also purchased from 36boutiques and had to do a return?  What were your thoughts?  Would love to know if this was an isolated case of bad luck.

xxx