Sign seen in toilets of Dock of the Bay restaurant, Gordons Bay
08 February 2018
07 February 2018
Fizz 'n' Burger at The House of J C Le Roux
Finding Spier restaurant closed we drove up to Devon Valley and sparkling wine specialist The House of J C Le Roux.
It was a hot day and so we sat in the air-conditioned inside, rather than the deck we've sat in the past. There was a good view over the car park and valley to the distant mountains
The place was very quiet, with just one car in the car park and one other table occupied at 13:30 but more people came later.
Champagne flutes were on each table and asking for a sparkling wine was insufficient since the wine list had 16 with just two token still wines as guests.
Joan selected the J C le Roux MCC Brut, a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay made by the Method Cap Classique, i.e. traditional method of secondary fermentation on the final bottle.
It was delicious Champagne quality wine. To eat we chose the hamburgers without the bacon, cheese and avocado (?) toppings, but with a green salad.
Sweet bread and individually wrapped in waxed paper sticks of butter came first.
The burger was excellent, thick and meaty with a crumbly home made texture and the chips were the tops, made from fresh potato, hand cut and fried just right and drained free of fat. That tasted wonderful.
Service was attentive and just right. It was an experience to repeat.
Afterwards we wandered down a glass walled corridor they grandly call their auditorium. It looks into the cellar where a riddling rack sits in front of a line of gyro pallets, then there is the glycol bath for freezing the bottle necks when removing the lees and the bottling line. Nothing was happening in the cellar at the time.
Two large flat screen TVs were telling the story of making sparkling wine but the soundtracks cancelled each other out and what we heard was at a very superficial level.
It was a hot day and so we sat in the air-conditioned inside, rather than the deck we've sat in the past. There was a good view over the car park and valley to the distant mountains
The place was very quiet, with just one car in the car park and one other table occupied at 13:30 but more people came later.
Champagne flutes were on each table and asking for a sparkling wine was insufficient since the wine list had 16 with just two token still wines as guests.
Joan selected the J C le Roux MCC Brut, a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay made by the Method Cap Classique, i.e. traditional method of secondary fermentation on the final bottle.
It was delicious Champagne quality wine. To eat we chose the hamburgers without the bacon, cheese and avocado (?) toppings, but with a green salad.
Sweet bread and individually wrapped in waxed paper sticks of butter came first.
The burger was excellent, thick and meaty with a crumbly home made texture and the chips were the tops, made from fresh potato, hand cut and fried just right and drained free of fat. That tasted wonderful.
Service was attentive and just right. It was an experience to repeat.
Afterwards we wandered down a glass walled corridor they grandly call their auditorium. It looks into the cellar where a riddling rack sits in front of a line of gyro pallets, then there is the glycol bath for freezing the bottle necks when removing the lees and the bottling line. Nothing was happening in the cellar at the time.
Two large flat screen TVs were telling the story of making sparkling wine but the soundtracks cancelled each other out and what we heard was at a very superficial level.
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| Joan in the frame |
06 February 2018
Desalination Pipes Installed
On Sunday this inlet pipe was in the harbour car park. Monday it had gone.
Midweek the harbour was clear of pipes, ships and inflatables.
One of the workman told me they had been using Gordons Bay old harbour to assemble the pipeline.
At the weekend the water inlet pipe had been delivered, and that had gone on Monday, taken out to sea by one of the ships moored in the harbour. I'd seen two of the pipes being attached to each other on Monday and being pulled out by an inflatable. They were working into the dark and we could see the lights of the two rig ships all night in the bay.
So, the water inlet is around 800 metres off the coast, the sea water pumped through 800m of pipe to Monwabisi Beach, by the township of Khaeyitsha where it will be processed to create 7 million litres of drinking water every day which will be pumped using underground pipes via a reservoir for Cape Town.
This is the first of 7 such projects and is a month ahead of schedule. They now just need to test the pipe and sea water extraction is working OK and if so the drinking water should come 'on stream' (as it were) in March.
But locals say, compared to the daily water demand in greater Cape Town, what the desalination plants will deliver will be a 'drop in the ocean'. Others forecast the rains will come and make the whole exercise redundant.
We'll see.
05 February 2018
Back to Ocean Basket
Second time to Ocean Basket this trip, which is a pleasant walk on the sand around the curve of Gordon's Bay to the new harbour.
We sat outside this time and Joan had her favourite ofsix King Prawns with chips (R179 same as last year but favourable exchange rate equates it to a pound less at £10.85) with a Village Salad.
I had cajun (i.e. blackened) kingklip and chips and Village Salad and we shared a bottle of delicious Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2017 (R144).
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We sat outside this time and Joan had her favourite ofsix King Prawns with chips (R179 same as last year but favourable exchange rate equates it to a pound less at £10.85) with a Village Salad.
I had cajun (i.e. blackened) kingklip and chips and Village Salad and we shared a bottle of delicious Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2017 (R144).
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| View from our table over new harbour |
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| View from our table over harbour breakwater and False Bay to Hottentot Hollands mountains. Ship in bay is laying desalination pipes |
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02 February 2018
Gordons Bay Desalination Pipeline
Taken today.
They're constructing a 80 metre pipe at Gordons Bay old harbour to bring in sea water to a desalination plant. It's supposed to be live in March producing drinking quality water......
There are about half a dozen workers there, a couple of divers, forklift truck driver, supervisor and a couple on the pipe in the background. Not a lot of urgency and I would lay money its not going to be live by March this year.
It's not clear to me where the desalination plant will be located, newspaper reports suggest it will be at Harmony Park resort which is 4 km along the coast from Gordons Bay harbour (?)
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01 February 2018
50 Litres of Water from Today
From today,1 February, our limit from the public water supply falls to 50 litres per person per day.
There's the expectation that water will completely run out on 12 April -- Day Zero -- leaving people to collect a 25L ration from tankers or standpipes.
I find it hard to visualise 50 litres, but that equates to flushing the toilet just five times. The 50 litres is not just for that, but also bathing, washing clothes, drinking, cooking and everything.
We only flush the loo when necessary. We don't let any water go down sink plugholes and scoop water we use to wash, dishwash and teeth clean from sink into a bucket which we pour down loo after No. 1s.
Instead of boiling veg we're buying ready prepared veg that is microwaved in its bag. We're buying ready meals that can be microwaved and are eating them out of their containers to save washing plates.
In the big Pick'n'Pay supermarket several people were buying huge plastic drums to store water.
So far restaurant washrooms bathrooms are as normal; I don't know if they've their own water supply. I understand hotels are not washing towels and linen with the usual frequency and have removed plugs from baths.
On arrival we tried buying bottled water at the supermarket but people are stockpiling and shelves were emptied of larger containers, however we managed to get enough drinking water for a few days.
Then yesterday Woolworths had a pallet of boxes containing 4 five-litre containers. There were 5 or 6 remaining and we grabbed one. Very heavy and difficult to get into shopping trolley.
.
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| Sign in our bathroom |
There's the expectation that water will completely run out on 12 April -- Day Zero -- leaving people to collect a 25L ration from tankers or standpipes.
I find it hard to visualise 50 litres, but that equates to flushing the toilet just five times. The 50 litres is not just for that, but also bathing, washing clothes, drinking, cooking and everything.
We only flush the loo when necessary. We don't let any water go down sink plugholes and scoop water we use to wash, dishwash and teeth clean from sink into a bucket which we pour down loo after No. 1s.
Instead of boiling veg we're buying ready prepared veg that is microwaved in its bag. We're buying ready meals that can be microwaved and are eating them out of their containers to save washing plates.
In the big Pick'n'Pay supermarket several people were buying huge plastic drums to store water.
So far restaurant washrooms bathrooms are as normal; I don't know if they've their own water supply. I understand hotels are not washing towels and linen with the usual frequency and have removed plugs from baths.
On arrival we tried buying bottled water at the supermarket but people are stockpiling and shelves were emptied of larger containers, however we managed to get enough drinking water for a few days.
Then yesterday Woolworths had a pallet of boxes containing 4 five-litre containers. There were 5 or 6 remaining and we grabbed one. Very heavy and difficult to get into shopping trolley.
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Marine Hotel, Hermanus
Another tradition is to drive from Gordons Bay on the dramatic coastal road to lunch at The Marine Hotel perched on Hermanus's cliffs overlooking Walker Bay. The restaurant has a new name - Origins - but some of the old dishes remain.
Richmans (always one word) Fish and Chips, taken from hotel owner Liz McGrath's cookbook has lost its title and the chips no longer come in a Hermanus Times paper cone, but the chips are mega crispy and so is the hake's craft beer batter.
Joan had Grilled LM prawns on fragrant rice with chilli jam, and a bottle of Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc 2017 from the vineyard just a few miles down the road is a perfect match.
It's overcast in Hermanus with a brisk breeze, but these trees on the pavement cheer us with their colourful plate-sized flowers.
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