Trying out the Saints burger

Posted on by
5

As I’ve been continuing on in my journey to find the best burgers in Cape Town, I recently got some tip offs about a relatively new spot called Saints Burger Joint.  So this past Sat my friend Joe and I decided to head over there to give it a bash.

Saints is located at 84 Kloof St, just above Camp St on your right in a Victorian beauty that’s been given a funky new look.  We got there around 1:45pm and it was quite empty, but I’m guessing it’s more of an evening spot.

I loved the edgy rocker slash biker decor.  It’s something different to your usual Kloof St vibe.  Dark walls, red accents, pics of famous rockers on the walls…

Rockabilly style table tops…

And even a skull with snakes on the ceiling…

All reinforcing the message that this burger joint certainly aint for “sissies”.  :)

Now their menu actually has lots of options – hearty breakfasts, a good selection of salads, flatbreads, snacks and then also some sweet treats.  But we were there for one thing and one thing only: the burgers.

A really cool feature on the menu is that you can choose to either build your own burger from scratch (choosing the meat, bun, type of cheese, sauce & other extras) or you can select one of their very well thought out burger options.  I went for the custom burger option, selecting a beef patty, white sesame Kaiser bun, white cheddar, caramelized red onions & a soy ginger garlic and mayo sauce with sweet potato chips as my side.

Boom! Mine worked out to R82 in total.

Joe opted for the “Heartbreaker” (R85) – Chargrilled ground beef burger, served open on ciabatta roll, topped with white cheddar, grilled brown mushrooms and a creamy pepper sauce.  And get this, he got to choose TWO sides.

So he went for fat chips & a simple tomato salad.

These pictures really don’t do the size of the burgers that much justice.  Apologies.  But trust me they are big, like big enough for a man sized appetite.  Oh yeah.

Joe and I considered various factors before settling on our official Miss K Kiss-o-Meter rating for the Saints burger… quality of ingredients, flavour, size, creativity, side options and such… and in the end we decided to give it:

That’s a pretty solid burger score, not quite the top marks I awarded the Dog’s Bollocks burger, but definitely a burger to add to your “must try” list.  The only thing I would have preferred was if the patty wasn’t so dense.  I enjoy a kind of rustic beef patty with a more homemade feel, but that’s really just personal preference.

Also important to note: their milkshakes are pretty good as well and they have “spiked” varieties… I didn’t go for a spiked one cause I still had to function after lunch, but they did sound temptingly evil, just the way I like it. ;)

xxx

What’s been going on at I ♥ My Laundry…

Posted on by
6

Last week I was invited by Clayton from I ♥ My Laundry (59 Buitengraght St, Heritage Square) to come and check out their very unique concept.

I told him it was actually a really cool coincidence that he contacted me cause I had driven past there just about two weeks before and saw people sitting outside sipping on some wine… I thought to myself “Hmmm… wine at a laundry?  Something’s fishy here… is this some kind of underground bar trying to masquerade as an innocent laundromat? Or some kind of top secret money laundering front?  OR…”  And just like that I totally let my imagination run wild with over the top ideas, mostly based on some great movie plots.  But I needed the low down, the skinny, the inside scoop… you know what I mean…. And this was my way in. ;)

So as the name suggests, they do in fact do laundry (including dry cleaning, dyeing,  alterations & ironing) and for this purpose they are open from 7am to 7pm every day of the week.  BUT, that’s only a small part of what’s going down at this quirky venue.  I would describe it as a little “creative hub”.  A place for sharing ideas and trying new things.

During the day I ♥ My Laundry also functions as a cafe & dim sum bar.  Something special if you’re into sweet things (like me) is their chocolate & Coca cola cupcake, seen on the right  below:

I love Cola flavoured things… so this got my attention right off the bat.

It is also a beautiful space which you can rent for private functions for only R1000.  It seats 14 people and if you need food they will even assist with setting it up by chatting to your preferred restaurant of chef and organising a pop up kitchen for the evening.

THEN every Wed eve they do “laundry parties” where they do unusual food & drink pairings.  Like for example when I was there it was caramel vodka & fudge. Yum!  The vodka was Black Moon Caramel Vodka and I thought it was deliciously smooth and not too sweet.

The fudge was from Cape Fudge (trading as The Fudge Factory).  They sell mostly at markets, but will now be selling at I ♥ My Laundry as well.  I got to sample 3 flavours:  Amarula, Cappuccino & Champagne.

The Amarula (on the left above) was my favourite.  I love fudge!

Now while you are filling your belly, you can also “feed your eyes” with some beautiful art on display.  I ♥ My Laundry also runs an art exhibition initiative where they provide a showcase area for artists & creatives.  In store at the moment they have these incredible wood carvings by a guy who calls himself Von Dee:

He’s a “green artist” which means he doesn’t cut down trees for his pieces. He uses recycled wood or pieces of wood found on beaches, etc.

There’s also some photography by Naill Molloy.  A series of images from the school he attended as a boy which is now abandoned.  I really loved how each frame tells a story.  You can totally imagine what the school was like when it was still bustling with kids…

Priced at R2000 each

I also got to chat to very talented lady, Mandi Garbman.  Mandi is a professional artist, designer & illustrator and she had various things on display.  From her paintings, this one was my favourite:

And I really loved the little owl illustration in the middle below (cause I’m like owl crazy):

I was telling her how my mom used to believe that if an owl was found on your property it meant that someone in your family would pass away. Shame hey, that’s a bad rep for such a captivating little animal…

Most recently she also started designing her own fabrics and using them to make decor items like throw pillows and such:

Love the bright colours…  And a really cool thing to note is that she can custom design fabric for you.

** For more of her stuff you can check out her website, Unwrapped.

Then… as if the laundry, cafe, dim sum, food pairing parties & art wasn’t already enough… they also have a wine club called “I ♥ My Wine”.   They basically negotiate with about 15 wineries each week, sourcing a white & red option from each, and then the wine club members get to purchase these wines at cellar door prices without having to schlep out to the winelands.  Easy peasy.

So, want to join in on the action?  Check out their website or Facebook page for more info.  And to get your name on the guest list for one of their Wed eve parties, follow them on Twitter or Linked In – they announce the parties early every Thu morning, but there are only limited seats available to each event, so only the first few people from Twitter/Linked In to respond will secure a spot.  So get in there early and keep trying. :)

A huge thanks to Clayton for letting me crash last week’s party.  I really love this concept.  It’s fresh & fun and a must see.

xxx

Knitting for a good cause

Posted on by
Reply

The guys at Me-a-Mama, makers of some pretty fashionable maternity wear (a topic I know absolutely nothing about – in fact, pregnancy is still something that very much scares the living daylights outta me… but I had a quick look at their stuff and it totally changed my perception that if you’re pregnant you’re pretty much stuck wearing bulky oversized things with no style, thus resembling a marshmallow for about 9 months. ;) ).

Anyhoo, today they launched an initiative called “knit-a-row-and-go” and their goal is to knit 1000 blankets for orphaned babies.  Seeing as we’re already heading into some seriously chilly weather, this is a cause which will make a huge impact I’m sure.

Elle yarns has already kindly donated 8000 balls of wool and 400 needles for this mammoth task and the lovely people at Knead have offered to host a series of Mad Hatter’s tea parties to launch the project.  Over and above that, Knead will also be donating tea, cupcakes and R10 coffees to the knitters for an hour at each party.

So how can you get involved?  Easy!  Either pop in at one of these Knead stores at these times:

  • 2:30pm at Knead in Palmyra Rd, Claremont, Tuesday 15 May
  • 10:30am at Knead on Kloof St, CBD, Wednesday 16 May
  • 10:30am at Knead on Surfer’s Corner, Muizenburg, Thursday 17 May

OR

A piccie from the first Mad Hatter’s party which took place earlier today at the Knead in Dean St, Claremont.

You can also knit any time throughout May and June at the “Me and You” shop @ 103 Sir Lowry Rd, Woodstock AND in all Knead bakeries in Cape Town.

The idea is that you knit what you can and then you simply pop your knitting into the provided Tubtrug for the next person to pick up and continue.  Just look out for the tubs of wool and needles.

Not only will you be doing a great thing for little people who really need it, but I’ve also heard that knitting is like totally hot right now.  So get to it folks! :)

xxx

PS.  If you want to keep track of their progress, “like” Me-a-Mama on Facebook or check out their website.

Cool Clifton sightings

Posted on by
Reply

So this weekend, everyone was talking about the Japanese fishing ship that ran aground on Clifton 1 beach in the early hours of Saturday (apparently due to some thick fog we were experiencing).

Here’s a pic from Bjorn’s Instagram stream:

Taken around 11am on Sat. As you can see it was still very misty at that point.

We actually ended up in a Clifton 1 beach facing apartment on Sat eve for a birthday party and got to watch them trying to tow the ship out.  The efforts were totally unsuccessful as they only had one tugboat and it would seem that the ship had properly gotten sucked deep into the sand ensuring that it didn’t want to budge.  As the tugboat tried to pull it out, the chains straightened & tightened and then we heard a massive bang.  It kinda sounded like a piece of the ship had broken off.  Luckily everything was cool, but the ship was still sitting pretty.  A few minutes later, it looked like they had given up.  They probably decided to go back to the drawing board, realising that they definitely needed more reinforcements. ;)

Anyhoo… that’s all exciting and stuff and all the Clifton residents are seriously pissed etc.  Big news for Cape Town.  BUT, I saw a much cooler thing on the way back to our car after the party.  Someone had cleverly changed a sign indicating that the road narrows due to some construction going on into a “Hi” sign.  Check it out:

Come on, doesn’t that just make you smile?

Yes, it’s totally silly and doesn’t quite match up to a shipwreck – I know.  But it sure did make me laugh.  And because laughter is good for the soul, I had to share.  Hopefully it has brightened up your Monday a teensy bit. :)

xxx

Zando launch @ Orphanage

Posted on by
2

On Tue eve I was lucky enough to attend the official media launch for new SA online store, Zando.

Now some of you might remember my post just over a month back about my first Zando shopping experience… (if you missed it, you can check it out here).  In that post I noted all the cool site features that I really loved, but I also noted some things that weren’t so cool.

Something I really appreciated was the fact that they actually took the time to read my post and then gave me the following feedback:

Hi Karisa,

I am the Customer Service Manager at Zando. I really appreciate your feedback, we are going to use it to improve and make our customer experience super amazing.

All departments have seen your post and are working at warp speed to make sure this does not happen again.

I hope that we do see you again, we value every customer:-)

Love and Happiness,

Liz.

How great is that?  From my experience there are very few companies that would respond this well to a bit of criticism and then even turn it into a massive positive thing.  Love it.

The chic venue for the big event was new Cape Town hot spot, Orphanage which is situated on the corner of Bree & Orphan st.  I’ve actually been dying to check this spot out because everyone’s been raving about the insane cocktails.  So that sweetened the deal even more.

First I just have to blab a bit about the venue & the drinks, then we’ll get back to what’s been cooking at Zando. :)

Orphanage has the most amazing chandelier feature that stretches the entire length of the ceiling:

I was thinking… Now how would I fit something like that into my apartment? Hmmmm…

And the bar is an elegant dark wood beauty with a lot of swagger…

As for these killer cocktails people have been raving about, I must say their menu is no run of the mill “so boring I want to stick a fork in my eye” type of menu.  It has been carefully planned out by professional mixologists to take your taste buds on a journey they’ll never forget.

The first one I tried was the “More tea, vicar?” which contains vanilla vodka, rooibos, cranberry & lemon and it served in a regte egte tea cup and saucer:

It was seriously good. And the best part is that R15 from each of these babies is donated to a Cape Town children’s home. How cool is that?

The next cocktail which tempted me with promises of cucumber sandwiches on the side was the Orphanage Martini with gin, cucumber, elderflower & mint:

Yes… you’re not seeing things… that’s real cucumber sandwiches on the side!

OK OK, enough gushing about how awesome this venue is.  You guys will just have to go check it out for yourselves and then let me know which cocktail’s your favourite.  Just two last tips: I hear the Brimstone & Fire is another “hot” little number and I also really loved their truffle fries with wasabi aioli which is from their “sharing food” (as they call it) menu.

Right, back to Zando.  Now only 3 months old, they’ve grown from offering just a handful of brands to about 200 at present!  AND they still have plans for more to come and also for them to expand their offerings from the current shoes, clothing & accessories categories to anything lifestyle related, like homeware products for example.

MD and co-founder, Eugen Petersen, was there to talk to us about the Zando brand, their commitment to kick ass service and how they want to change the way South African’s shop by taking online shopping “to the next level”.

After the formalities were done, I got to chat to their fashion editor, Megan Pascall, who turns out is a Love Affair with Cape Town reader (yay!).  Being a fashion editor naturally Megan was oozing style and I wondered immediately what beautiful things she might have hiding away in her wardrobe.

We seemed to have been psychically connected when selecting our looks for the evening… both donning a monochrome look with a sheer white blouse…

Other fabulous people on the scene were Elrico Bellingan from Luxo blog and his always fabulous from head to toe girlfriend, Ritza:
And one of my Gansbaai adventure weekend buddies, eNews reporter Tanya Nefdt:

How stunning is this lady?

Other SA celebs in attendance included Top Billing’s Jo-Anne Strauss, soccer hottie Ryan Botha, Goldfish’s Dom Peters, model Lisa Cowley, TV personality Liezel van der Westhuizen, and Dirty Skirts front man Jeremy de Tolly.

From left to right: Megan Pascall (Zando), Eugen Petersen (Zando), Liza Cowley & Jeremy de Tolly.  ** Photo by the talented Denzil Jacobs – be sure to check out his blog:  http://justforthenostalgia.wordpress.com

On our way out we were totally spoilt with goodie bags filled with treats to keep you warm during winter (mostly thanks to the extra layer of fat you’ll be sporting. hehe).

Thanks to Elrico for letting me “borrow” this piccie from his stack. xxx

A HUGE thanks to Zando & Red Carpet concepts (the PR agency who put this little shindig together).  It was a really fun evening out and a nice way to ease myself back into Cape Town life after my holiday.

Oh and just in case you were thinking “So what… just because they invited you to a fancy pants party, liquored you up and fed you, you’ve totally forgotten about all the not so cool points you hightlighted in your last post?”   Well no…  I’m not that easy… most of the time. ;)   I did some looking around on their site again and these are my findings:

  • The cart & checkout process now clearly shows your selected size at all times.  No more stress about whether you selected the right thing or not.
  • The clothing selection is way better now, with lots more options and some really nice brands.  Far from the “snooze fest” I called it last time round.

And as for the delivery drama from last time… well in my goodie bag I also got a 25% off voucher, so I’ll be putting them through their paces again soon to confirm that one.  Just have to save up some casheesh and put aside some free time to browse through all their new goodies.

xxx

My Knightsbridge Spa experience

Posted on by
4

So a while back I bought a deal from the newly relaunched Citymob (which has some awesome deals btw) for the following:

  • R199 for 4 pamper treatments and full use of spa facilities at Knightsbridge Spa in Century City.
  • The offer included an express mani, express pedi, MAX facial
    treatment, Indian Head massage and full use of the facilities which includes a heated swimming pool & jacuzzi.

It wasn’t the first time I had seen this spa offering deals on group buying sites.  I had seen them on Citymob before and also on Groupon, so I figured I should try them out.  R199 for 4 treatments was after all a pretty amazing deal and I figured it would be the perfect thing to do the day before I jetted off to Mozambique (to look all pretty & stuff on my holiday :) ).

Now the spa is a bit of a mission to find if you’re not a Century City local.  I find that area very confusing to be honest.  But basically if you’re coming from town on the N1, you turn off to Canal Walk, go past the shopping centre turn off, then turn right at a big cream building, then go over a traffic circle, then turn at another cream building, another traffic circle, about two more traffic circles and then past some more cream buildings.  Easy right? ;)   It’s on Esplanade Road, best you Google maps it for exact directions.

The building looks like this:

Surprise! It’s yet another cream building. Points to them for adding that pop of orange though. The building also has a bridge structure at the top joining two apartment pillars together.  So if you get lost, just look up for that, it’s quite big so you can’t miss it.

The spa is down one level from the building’s reception area.  The spa reception area is pretty basic with dark wood furnishings and beige & brown colours:

The pool & jacuzzi area is nice and big:

And the treatment rooms are quite “snug” but very tidy with a soft brown palette:

We kicked off with the express pedi & then the mani.  My biggest complaint here is that it was done while I was lying down on the bed.  So firstly, I couldn’t see what was going on and secondly the lighting in that room is way too dark for even my therapist to see what she was doing.

The pedi looked OK, but with the mani… let’s just say we had serious “creative differences”.  We both agreed on the basic principle that one shouldn’t paint nail varnish right into the cuticle as it might creep in under the cuticle and look weird.  BUT in her mind that meant leaving about a 2mm gap, thus exposing quite a bit of bare nail and looking like I’d only decided to pay for a 3/4 mani.  I think this diagram best depicts the issue at hand (excuse the pun. hehe):

I’m not sure whether this is a common practice.  But I’ve certainly never come across it before, so I asked her to fix it.  Instead of taking the varnish off though, she tried to fix it by going over it with a few more coats.  Needless to say the result wasn’t great, but at that point I just wanted to get on with things so I told her to leave it as is (thinking I would try to fix it up at home).

The facial & the Indian head massage was nice.  Very refreshing & relaxing.  So happiness returned to my soul after those two.  Sadly I was in a serious rush, so I didn’t have time to chill in the jacuzzi, but boy it did look pretty damn inviting.

Even though I was really annoyed with my mani, the other 3 treatments were cool.  So I still think it was a good deal for R199.  I’d say if you see them on a group buying special again, it’s fairly safe to give them a bash.  Then you can decide it it’s the kind of place you’ll go back to again if it was full price.  I probably won’t cause it’s a bit out of my way and there are a few places closer to home which I prefer…

xxx

Cheese glorious cheese! (and other good stuff)

Posted on by
2

This year’s SA Cheese Festival (at Sandringham outside Stellenbosch) was  pretty damn insane!  The sheer size of it had me totally overwhelmed… There were various large tents filled with stands where you could sample & buy goodies.  Then there were tons of freestanding stands outside serving up delicious food & wine for you to sort yourself out with a little picnic setup while listening to some live music.  There was definitely a great festival vibe and it seemed like pretty much anybody & everybody was there to experience it. :)

I found myself just standing with my mouth hanging open, dazed & confused, for quite some time before I plucked up the courage to hit the first tent.  The tents were packed with people inside, certainly great exposure for all the exhibitors involved…

Most stands had a pretty simple setup while some went the extra mile to really make their stands pop, like this Sweet Temptations one selling soft toffee treats:

Getting through just one tent really took it out of us, so we opted to get some fresh air before attempting the next one.  Walking around the massive estate, we also stumbled upon the area where parents could drop off the kiddies after consuming way too much sugar, the Carnival Park.  Brilliant idea I though:  let them run around like crazy all day, then they sleep like little angels when they get home while mommy & daddy get to enjoy some of their fabulous wine discoveries from the day. ;)

In the food court area I also had a little giggle at this logo for “Die Wors-rol” stand:

I totally understand the thinking here: How do we make boerie rolls more sexy? Hmmmm.  I would have gladly been their model though.  I looooove boerie rolls!

Now I’m not going to bore you with any more pictures of stands and such – there were just waaaaaay too many.  Instead I’m going to take you through the awesome pile of goodies I went home with.  All things I felt were just way too good to leave behind.

First up, of course some cheeses.  On the left below: Lavender infused goats cheese by Dragonfly Farm and then on the right some Foxtail goats cheese from Foxenburg:

Goats cheese was HUGE at this year’s festival.  And there were so many yummy options.  But these two were my favourites.

Some creamy, totally delicious butter from Middelpos:

Mmmmm… doesn’t real butter just rock your world?

These fresh & inventive cordials from Wilde at heart – one bottle apparently makes 7 litres of refreshing drinking heaven.  I opted for the Buchu & Rose Geranium varients, but their lemonade one was really great as well.

This “Chillout” herb & garlic infused chilli sauce from Hill Billy:

A seriously hot & spicy little number…

Also this beautiful balsamic reduction from Olyvenbosch:

I’m obsessed with balsamic reductions at the moment.

Then I didn’t know this, but Sally Williams now also does Belgian chocolate slabs with crispy nougat.  We got them as part of a “party pack” of Sally Williams treats which we got at a total steal of only R100:

Normally I’m a milk chocolate girl, but the dark chocolate one is actually my favourite out of these two.

Then I simply couldn’t resist the eucalyptus blossom honey from Busy Bee:

We even got to watch the little bees in action at their stand.  Very cool.

But I think my favourite purchase of the day had to be my new doggie, Frank!  I got him for only R35 from the SPCA stand and I love him to bits.

Say hi Frank!

I will need to send a letter to my body corporate for approval though as they have a strict pet policy. ;)   But Frank has already made himself at home and is even sleeping on the bed…

Bad doggy…

I know, I know – I really shouldn’t let him.  But who could say no to those big eyes!?

Anyhoo, I’m currently thoroughly enjoying the spoils of my SA Cheese Festival outing.  My kitchen now feels like a little gourmet deli of sorts.  Something which is really unusual for me as I normally only have Woolies ready meals and dry crackers at home.  Am I possibly getting closer to being a domestic diva?  Nah, probably not… I still can’t cook so save my life… but at least this is a tiny step in the right direction I think.

xxx