No-vine

MBCC dinner last night and we were tempted into trying a new venue, that being Bo-Vine in Camps Bay. Alarm bells ringing at the location already, but let’s overlook that and give the place a fair chance, shall we?
Bovine, because it’s steak, Bo-Vine because it’s wine as well.

Sometimes the local marketing wizardry just makes your head explode, doesn’t it? Sheer genius.

It’s going to have to be good. Firstly, you don’t take a place on the Camps Bay strip without some degree of restaurant know-how. It’s not for sissies down there. High risk, high turnover, short leases, high reward.

And secondly, a quick glance at the menu did seem to suggest that a 300g fillet was going for R380.

Wow. It’s going to have to be spectacular to justify that.

To put you in the picture, our regular steak haunt – Picanha in Newlands – isn’t cheap, but their 300g fillet comes in at R240. So was Bo-vine going to be able to offer something special for that extra, eye-watering 60%?

Well, it has Pete Goffe-Wood, local celebrity chef and well-versed restaurateur, who was doing the rounds and chatting to all the tables about the aging processes (for the meat: we’re all aware that we’re getting older, thanks) and suggesting the best cuts of the day. And you can tell that he knows his stuff and he loves sharing his knowledge and his food.

The service was very good. The ambience was pretty good as well, for a room with one open side onto a busy road (and the beach, obviously). The Stella Artois on tap was a joy (yes, with chalices), and the chips and the onion rings both excellent. Might seem like a small thing, but when you’re having steak and chips, it’s an important thing, too.

But the meat… Well, one of our six steaks (4 x picanha, 1 x ribeye, 1 x prime rib) was rather poor, and the rest were just… really good.
But not incredible. Not spectacular. Just really good South African fare. And certainly not worth the extra mark-up added on for the tourists with their pounds and dollars.

But I can totally see the appeal for those visitors. A decent steak, a local wine and that view out over Camps Bay after a hard day’s sightseeing. Affordable, too, when you convert it back from our Toytown money to your solid home currency.

It seems unfair in a way, to put any restaurant up against our favourites. They are our favourites for a reason, and putting it simply, it’s because their food is fantastic and the overall experience is repeatedly faultless. So it’s a hard act to follow. I get that.

But sadly – despite being a good night out – for us local boys, Bo-Vine just couldn’t match up on price or quality.

So it’s just the three stars. Sorry, Pete.

Day 726 – Camps Bay

You’d never go there as a Capetonian, because it’s tourist deluxe, but we had a nice wander along the beach – which wasn’t too busy – and a lovely lunch there today. Because we too were tourists for a little while.

We’re approaching the end of a Covid-disrupted holiday season, so it wasn’t packed, but there were still a healthy number of foreign accents and languages around, enjoying the sunshine and the weak Rand.

We were too early for most of the Cape Town rich and famous post-“work” party set, although there was a noticeably loud table full of surfwear-clad 20-somethings laughing and slapping each other’s egos, every sentence beginning with “100s!” and ending in “bru” or “am I raart?”.

The beach was hot, the water was (as is traditional) very cold and once we avoided the sunglasses salesmen, (who were surprisingly respectful today), we had a pretty chilled few hours.

Two panos

I’m not a huge fan of panorama photos.
Well, I like the idea, but all too often, the actual product never really matches up to what I was hoping for (or even expecting).

Unless you’re going to plan ahead and take your own individual photos and stitch them in lightroom, it’s not going to be a great result.
That said, if you’re willing to acknowledge that you are using a mobile phone and not a DSLR, then your pano app can be fun for sharing a scene on whatsapp (or… er… a blog).

I popped the Mavic up above the early morning mist at home this morning and got this. It’s 21 images stitched together by the DJI software, but then you only get a 0.6MB image.
Still, what a shot (though I say it myself)…

One of those occasions where you really wonder if anyone would notice if you sent it up another 80m.

I didn’t. Obviously.

And then this, from Camps Bay this lunchtime. We had a spare half hour and so we grabbed a quick ice cream and a walk on the beach.

Full size here (10928 x 3520 nogal).

We’d forgotten how amazing Camps Bay can be out of season.
It was nice to be reminded.

 

UPDATE: I went back the next day and took a real panorama. You… well, you can see the difference. 🙂

Parting shot

Given that IT’S THE MIDDLE OF BLOODY WINTER!!!!!1! here in Cape Town, we thought we’d take ourselves and the kids down to Camps Bay yesterday evening and enjoy some sundowners on the sand. A million (really? – Ed.) other people were also there, snapping away with their smartphones, because it was just that sort of beautiful evening which required instagramming, facebooking and twittering.

I refrained from doing any of those thing, but don’t think you’re going to get away without seeing some sunset action.

Here’s my last shot from my phone as we left the beach:

image

And there are several more on the camera just itching to be downloaded and shared, but the camera has gone to a crocodile farm with the wife and kids today. So you’ll just have to be patient.

Still. At least you’ve got a nice view while you’re waiting.

UPDATE: Here are those photos.

Crustal evolution assistance

Ooh – incoming email:

Dear 6000,
I am a geology student from the UK and I am looking for some assistance with a project on the geology of Table Mountain. Since you mentioned this subject in a post recently
[I did? Oh yes. I did. – Ed.] and you are based in Cape Town, I wondered if you might be able to help me out.
Specifically, I am looking for a photograph showing the effect of cross-cutting faults separating multiple peaks of Table Mountain Group sandstone on an eroded granite basement together with some indication of the proximity of this phenomenon to the Western Seaboard of the Cape Peninsula.
I really hope you can help.
Best regards,
Steve Green.

Woo. Toughie. You’re asking for a lot of detail in one photo there, Steve.

Fortunately, I have scoured the 6000 miles… photo archives and found the perfect image for your project, detailing everything you require.


There you are Steve, I hope it meets your needs.