Test Kitchen, Cape Town

For our first night in Cape Town our wonderful hotel 52 De Wet organised us dinner at the incredible Test Kitchen. The restaurant has won countless awards and tables are booked up to six months in advance so if you want to go be organised and make a reservation. The restaurant is the creation of Luke Dale-Roberts who can often be found working in the kitchen and even came to our table to ensure everything was to our liking!

We took a taxi to Test Kitchen and were greeted by friendly staff who could not do enough to help us throughout our evening. Lunch and dinner is served Tuesday - Saturday and is a tasting menu. The staff will ask if you have any allergies or dislikes but we went for everything on offer. The food can be paired with wine or tea tastings or you are free to order from the extensive wine list. As we had an early start I chose a very large glass of Chenin Blanc, however, the hubby chose the more expensive wine pairing option.

The Dinner Gourmand menu begins with Test Kitchen Appetizers, these were really interesting and quite challenging on the taste buds! Definitely worth a try! The menu is then documented on the website but it includes trout ceviche, foie gras, langoustine, kingklip (this was by far the most amazing dish), duck and dessert.

Every dish is remarkably presented and absolutely delicious in taste. For a £5 supplement they were also offering a Ribeye course, which we both opted for and were thoroughly impressed with. The photos below are in the order the dishes were presented to us. As you can see we had twelve different dishes to try in total. We were also offered complementary champagne to begin with and a box of chocolates wishing us a happy first wedding anniversary from the team to take home and devour later.

The Kingklip was definitely my favourite dish and one I had never tried before. The flavours and textures were incredible. The dish was presented in a clay pot and allowed to steam at the table providing us with mouth watering smells. It was then taken away to be dished up and was well worth the tempting wait!

Test Kitchen is a culinary experience like no other. The food is amazing, the menu enables you to try a large variety of dishes, some of which I had never heard of before this experience. Everything is clever and inventive too, which ensures you are entertained throughout the meal. You will leave feeling incredibly satisfied and very full as whilst this is a tasting menu each portion is still generous. The quality of ingredients is superb and the price is expensive for South Africa but very reasonable if you compare this experience to a celebrity chef in London.

The restaurant is dark and romantic and ideal for a special occasion. The kitchen is open so you can watch the chefs work their magic. It's not huge hence the long waiting list but tables are very well spaced out and feel pretty private. I would urge anybody going to Cape Town to book this experience. I could not have thought of a better way to spend our first night in the city!

The Cape Peninsula, South Africa

Our first full day trip in Cape Town was the highly recommended tour of the Cape Peninsula. We chose to use the company Tsiba Tsiba due to their high Trip Advisor rating. We selected a group tour, which cost 1,150 ZAR per person, however, we were the only two on the trip so had a private guide for the day, which was great! We were collected at 9am and off we went.

We first took a drive along the coast and past Clifton and Camps Bay to the village of Hout Bay where we stopped to spend some time looking at the incredible view. We then journeyed along Chapman's Peak drive, which is just stunning. This is a 9km route cut into the side of the mountain with 114 curves along the rocky coastline. We then stopped to look at the view over the village of Noordhoek where we saw horses galloping along the vast stretch of beach.

Next we arrived at Cape Point Nature Reserve after briefly stopping to look at an ostrich farm! There were several families of baboons wandering around, which was great to watch for a few minutes. We had our photo taken at the Cape of Good Hope before taking the vernacular to the light house perched 248m above sea level. These are the views we were rewarded with:

After being blown away by the scenery we took an hour and a half to have a leisurely lunch at the Two Oceans restaurant. Ask for a table on the balcony (if the weather is good) as it's lovely to sit in the sun and watch the waves crash onto the rocks below where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. I chose the prawn and avocado salad with julienne vegetables and Japanese dressing for 145 ZAR whilst the hubby went for the lamb rib chops with an African yoghurt dressing for 185 ZAR. The food was delicious and the service was with a smile, I would definitely recommend this restaurant for this trip. However, ensure you book or arrive early as the restaurant filled up remarkably quickly.

After lunch we visited the African Penguin colony at Boulders Beach, which was an incredible little sight. Then we drove through Simonstown, FishHoek and Kalk Bay. We were able to stop whenever we liked to photograph the breath taking scenery. Our tour guide kindly returned us to our hotel at around 4pm in time for a swim, a shower and a sun downer!

This trip is definitely something everyone should do when visiting Cape Town. A tour guide will really bring the area to life and enable you to ask questions, however, the roads are easy enough to self drive this route if you wanted to. There is a charge to enter Boulders Bay, the Chapman's Peak drive and the Cape Point Nature Reserve but these fees were included in the price of our tour.

Shark Cage Diving, South Africa

As part of our trip to Cape Town we took part in a shark cage dive with the White Shark Diving Company. We chose to include transfers as the drive is over two hours from the centre of Cape Town. The start was also very early! We were collected promptly at 4:05am in a clean mini bus and driven with several other guests to the dive centre. On arrival we could use the toilet (one for men and one for women) and the hot showers, again one each. Tea and coffee were provided along with orange juice and water for breakfast. There was white and brown toast, breakfast muffins and fruit to snack on whilst everyone paid, filled in the forms and had the safety briefing.

Next it was time to board the boat, which is then driven into the water before a short but choppy fifteen minutes ride into the ocean. Once the boat anchors up everyone is helped into wet suits and given snorkel masks. There is bottled water and crisps on the boat too as well as one toilet. The cage is lowered into the water and the crew start throwing in the chum. It can take up to one hour to spot a shark but within ten minutes an incredible great white made an appearance.

The first eight divers were lowered into the cage where they waited. Each time a shark was sighted the crew would shout down so you could grab an underwater glance. In total the group saw five different sharks on several occasions with the largest at just over 3m long. The water is cold at around twelve degrees. The winter temperature is around eighteen degrees. However, the water is bearable due to the adrenaline of seeing the sharks. There were around twenty two divers and three observers on our boat. Each guest will get two to three turns in the cage depending on the frequency of sightings.

The crew are amazing and make you feel very safe and secure. They also film the whole experience for you to purchase on dvd at the end. The dvd is pretty pricey at 350 ZAR but is a great memory of our trip and our friends and family have loved watching it.

After the last dive everyone changes back into warm clothes. On arrival at the dive centre we were served lasagne and salad whilst watching the dvd! We were then driven back in a minibus, which included wifi so we could start sharing our experiences with others back home!

All in all this was incredible. The sharks are not interfered with or fed so this is completely sustainable. There is so much to learn about these great predators and to see one up close and in the wild is an experience words cannot describe. I urge anyone visiting this area to give this a go! It costs 1,450 ZAR per person as well as 350 ZAR per person for return transfers.

52 De Wet - Review

My husband and I have just spent a week in Cape Town! For the first three nights of our trip we chose to stay at the incredible hotel 52 De Wet located high in the hills of Bantry Bay. We were greeted by friendly and welcoming staff who took our bags whilst we went out to lunch. On our return we were handed the keys to our wonderful room. We had booked a standard room but were upgraded to a deluxe ocean view suite.

We had a huge balcony with loungers over looking the ocean. A lovely large king size bed. An en-suite bathroom with a shower, double sinks and a large corner bath tub. There was also a dressing area and seating area too. The rooms are modern in décor, spacious and incredibly clean. There was an abundance of fluffy towels, dressing gowns and slippers too. Almost all of the products you could need could be found in the rooms including bath salts! There was an English style plug as well so no need to worry about an adaptor.

The hotel has a wonderful infinity pool overlooking the ocean. There are eight loungers (one is a double) to relax, which are reasonably well spaced bearing in mind the size of the terrace. There are plenty of towels and umbrellas as well as complementary water and cake each day. There are plenty of staff around to help with any other drinks or snacks from their light menu, which includes smoked salmon bagels and a variety of sandwiches. There is even a telescope to help you explore the surrounding area.

Every evening the hotel serves sun downers. There are a choice of cocktails, wines including sparkling and beers available for each guest. You can sit on the loungers by the pool and watch the sun go down with a lovely beverage. Also included in the sun downers are canapés of olives and salmon pate. This was a wonderful complementary touch and the staff would always ask your evening plans so at this point they can book you taxi's or make restaurant reservations for you.

Breakfast time is also a treat at De Wet. There a variety of hot options, which change each day. These included avocado on toast with poached eggs, French toast with bacon and maple syrup and smoked salmon and scrambled egg on toast. There were also meats and cheeses, croissants, pan au chocolat and home made muffins as well as fruit and yoghurt. There were juices and toast to also help yourself to. The tables are well spaced out, laid out in twos and overlook the pool and onto the ocean.

There is free wifi throughout the hotel, car parking, taxi services, restaurant reservations and tour booking help. The TV's have English channels and there are dvd players in the bedrooms. The hotel offers dinners on request with 48 hours notice. The staff here cannot do enough to help you and the hotel genuinely feels like a home away from home. It's not large and corporate, it's intimate with incredible personal service.

The location is insane, the views are simply mind blowing and no where is too far. The airport is around thirty minutes away, the V&A and Old Biscuit Mill about a fifteen minutes drive. Camps Bay can be reached within ten minutes and less than a five minutes taxi are plenty of other shops, bars and restaurants. The area is quiet too so perfect for a good nights sleep.

When staying in Cape Town I would 100% recommend this hotel! We are already planning our return trip!

Club Gascon Christmas Advent Calendar!

Restaurant Club Gascon contacted me last week with a link to their online Christmas advent calendar. The concept is awesome, enter the link and each day you can click on the door to see what treat is behind it.

Chef Pascal Aussignac and the Gascon Connection Restaurant Group have teamed up with Perrier-Jouet Champagne, Martell Cognac, Lillet and Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky (all Pernod-Ricard brands) to create an interactive online Christmas Advent Calendar. Each day there will be food and drink offerings to be enjoyed at Gascon Connection in December 2015 and early 2016.

Today's treat (the 8th December) is a complementary serving of Martell Cordon Bleu with every reservation made today! Simply make the booking and you will receive a voucher for the tasting. Previous treats have included hampers, glasses of champagne when dining and cocktails such as Lillet Spritzers and Chivas Sours at restaurants within the Gascon group. One to look out for is the five course tasting menu for four people at Club Gascon and I also have my eye on tickets to a truffle celebration at Cigalon Restaurant.

Just register your details on the days which the surprises appeal to either be in with a chance of winning or to receive the offer of the day.

I absolutely love the concept, I think the idea is great and really fun for Christmas. Good luck bloggers, I hope you enjoy the offers!