La Vita Restaurant in Pietermaritzburg – A Review

La Vita Restaurant

La Vita res­taur­ant has had a repu­ta­tion as being one of the most upmar­ket and expens­ive eat­er­ies in Pietermaritzburg for a while now. Situated in the pop­u­lar and well-known Invesco Centre just a few kilo­metres from the CBD, La Vita spe­cial­ises in Italian cuisine and has an extens­ive selec­tion of pizza, pasta, sea­food and meat dishes to cater for almost any pal­ate. Curious sound­ing offer­ings such as Drunk Duck and Raunchy Rabbit are guar­an­teed to arouse interest and even Guineafowl is avail­able for those want­ing to try some­thing new.

Italian cuisine has a rich her­it­age, hav­ing trace­able roots as far back as the fourth cen­tury BC. La Vita strives to main­tain this her­it­age by using only impor­ted ingredi­ents, giv­ing the food an authen­tic and unmis­tak­able Italian fla­vour. My mom and I exper­i­enced this authen­ti­city first hand when we had sup­per at La Vita recently, an exper­i­ence we’ll cer­tainly remem­ber for some time. Continued

Essence Café in Pietermaritzburg — A Review

Essence Cafe

Location plays a crit­ical role in the suc­cess of any res­taur­ant and Essence Café is most cer­tainly well situ­ated at Wetherlys Centre, prob­ably the most upmar­ket loc­a­tion in the Pietermaritzburg CBD. On the day of my visit there were a num­ber of lux­ury cars, includ­ing BMW’s, Mercedes Benz’s, Audi’s and even a Porsche gra­cing the centre’s park­ing bays – unmis­tak­able proof that this venue is quickly gain­ing a repu­ta­tion as one of the best meet­ing places for local busi­ness people.

Owner Martin Maltby named the res­taur­ant ‘Essence’ because he believes the word encom­passes the ‘soul’ of the busi­ness: “Good food, good friends and excel­lence,” and he cer­tainly has devised a com­pre­hens­ive menu that caters for just about every­one. From health break­fasts such as jungle oats to tasty offer­ings like crum­pet stacks, pan­cakes, French toast, freshly baked crois­sants, Welsh rarebit and omelettes to name but a few, the early morn­ing cuisine cer­tainly soun­ded won­der­ful but hav­ing arrived just after one in the after­noon, the lunch menu was what I was most inter­ested in. Continued

I ♥ Kamberg Because ...

I ♥ Kamberg

Hi, I’m Gerhard from Qambathi Mountain Lodge in Kamberg.

Kamberg IS BEST KNOWN FOR its Bushman Rock Art, fly-fishing and breath­tak­ing moun­tain scenery.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Highmoor or on one of our game drives with Giant’s Castle in the back­ground. The views are really some­thing spe­cial with Mount Eskirne and Mount Cleopatra very dom­in­ant every­where you look.

THE BEST nature PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN by just driv­ing around Kamberg. There are so many treed lanes, wild flowers, cloud shapes and Berg views for that per­fect picture.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT the trout dams or at the Bushman Rock art which is the best pre­served in the coun­try. Continued

I ♥ Mkuze Because ...

I ♥ Mkuze

Hi, I’m Nicky Kinnell from Leopard Mountain Game Lodge in Mkuze.

Mkuze IS BEST KNOWN FOR Game Reserves and Conservation. The vil­lage of Mkuze is a mere 18km’s from the entrance gate to the Mkuze Reserve, in the shadow of the Ubombo Mountains.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the reserve — the bird and animal life is spec­tac­u­lar. There are also over 700 plant spe­cies Continued

The Karkloof Canopy Tour – An adrenaline fuelled rush through the tree tops

Karkloof Canopy Tour

The Karkloof Canopy Tour is prob­ably the most well-known out­door activ­ity in the Natal Midlands, attract­ing people from all walks of life in search of the adven­ture of a life­time. Situated amidst the beauty and green­ery of the majestic Karkloof Valley, the tour involves tra­vers­ing from one wooden plat­form to another along a pair of steel cables (with a two ton break­ing strain) sus­pen­ded high above the forest floor.

Those in the industry refer to this tra­vers­ing as ‘zip lin­ing’ because this is exactly what takes place as par­ti­cipants ‘zip’ along the cables at speeds of up to 80km/h. The Karkloof Canopy Tour has its roots in the balmy rain­forests of Costa Rica where adven­tur­ous bio­lo­gists, eager to record the diversity of animal life found at the can­opy level of the forests, devised a sys­tem of cables and plat­forms that enabled them to explore this pre­vi­ously inac­cess­ible eco­sys­tem. Continued

Rawdon’s Restaurant – Good old fashioned service and hospitality in the Midlands

Rawdons Estate

Situated in the heart of the Midlands Meander and only a five minute drive from the N3 high­way is Rawdon’s Estate, prob­ably one of the old­est hos­pit­al­ity estab­lish­ments on the Midlands. The first thing that struck me about Rawdon’s was its unique, old world charm.

Closely resem­bling an English coun­try estate of a bygone era the estab­lish­ment is fur­nished with a vari­ety of prize antiques that cre­ate an atmo­sphere of class and soph­ist­ic­a­tion. Walking through its numer­ous hall­ways and invest­ig­at­ing its many nooks and cran­nies was an abso­lute delight and I espe­cially enjoyed the count­less, anim­ated framed sketches that adorned the walls. Continued

Gunther’s – A little piece of Switzerland in the Midlands

Gunther's

I’ve never been to Switzerland, but I got the chance to exper­i­ence just a taste of what that might be like when I vis­ited Gunther’s on the Midlands Meander recently. Gunther’s is not really a res­taur­ant in the tra­di­tional sense, serving only light meals of German / Swiss saus­ages washed down with your favour­ite draft or glass of wine, but even without a formal menu it cer­tainly is a venue that has a lot to offer.

The secret to its suc­cess is the hands on approach adop­ted by owner Gunther Janz, a man who clearly has a pas­sion for the hos­pit­al­ity industry and a love for tra­di­tional German / Swiss cuisine. Born in Switzerland, Gunther moved to South Africa at a young age and quickly fell in love with its stun­ning, nat­ural beauty. He decided to stay and, together with his wife Carmen, estab­lished Gunther’s some years ago.

Billed as ‘a little piece of Switzerland in the heart of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands’ Gunther could not have picked a more beau­ti­ful spot for his beloved cre­ation. Situated high on a hill over­look­ing the per­en­ni­ally majestic Caversham Valley, Gunther’s resembles a set­ting straight out of the pages of an inter­na­tional travel cata­logue and in the winter months, where snow­fall is com­mon in the Midlands, it cer­tainly must be an awe­some sight to behold. Continued

La Popote Restaurant in Hilton – a little oasis of peace and tranquillity in the Midlands

La Popote Restaurant

The quaint little vil­lage of Hilton in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands is a pleas­ure to visit no mat­ter what time of the year. The crisp, clean air is always refresh­ing and with a num­ber of qual­ity eat­er­ies to choose from, you are almost always guar­an­teed to find the per­fect venue to tickle your taste buds.

La Popote Restaurant, situ­ated amidst the beauty and tran­quil­lity of Sue Tarr’s Summerhouse, is without a doubt one of the best eat­er­ies in the area as I found out when some friends and I popped in for Sunday lunch recently. Although more of a tea garden than a res­taur­ant, La Popote offers a range of cuisine cater­ing for most palates.

To ensure vari­ety the menu changes reg­u­larly and upon learn­ing that all meals, desserts and drinks are pre­pared on site I promptly ordered a home made ginger ale (R18). It was excep­tion­ally refresh­ing, not to sweet yet full of fla­vour and just what I needed to quench my thirst. Continued

I ♥ Shelly Beach Because ...

I ♥ Shelly Beach

Hi, I’m Karin Müller-Nedebock from Ilala Holiday Home in Shelly Beach.

Shelly Beach IS BEST KNOWN FOR its quiet hol­i­day atmo­sphere, even though you are at the centre of everything.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN bask­ing on the beach, rid­ing the waves, abseil­ing in the Gorge or white river raft­ing down the Umzimkulu River.

THE BEST sun-filled PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the Blue Flag beaches.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT the C-Bali res­taur­ant over­look­ing the sea.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO sit at he beach, watch­ing people and nature.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO shop in our shop­ping malls: Shelly Centre and The South Coast Mall are both situ­ated in Shelly Beach. Continued

Butcher Block Restaurant in Pietermaritzburg – A review

Butcher Block Restaurant

When my good friend Mary-Anne invited me to join her and her par­ents for din­ner at The Butcher Block Restaurant in Pietermaritzburg recently I didn’t hes­it­ate on tak­ing up their offer know­ing from past exper­i­ence that the food at this estab­lish­ment is gen­er­ally pretty good. Situated at the Liberty Midlands Mall, The Butcher Block finds itself in a com­pet­it­ive envir­on­ment with a num­ber of sim­il­arly themed res­taur­ants loc­ated close by.

The Butcher Block copes with this com­pet­i­tion by deliv­er­ing fast and effi­cient ser­vice and great tast­ing, afford­ably priced food in a relaxed yet uplift­ing atmo­sphere that makes you want to relive the exper­i­ence time and time again. Although essen­tially a meat and chicken lover’s para­dise The Butcher Block menu offers a wide selec­tion of starters, salads and main meals that cater for just about every pal­ate, no mat­ter how particular.

Mary-Anne opted for the chicken wrap (chicken fil­lets filled with moz­zarella cheese and herb and gar­lic but­ter wrapped in bacon and topped with a mush­room sauce) and thor­oughly enjoyed it, mainly because of the “deli­ciously tasty mush­room sauce that com­pli­men­ted the dish to per­fec­tion.” At R82 the meal was also well priced, espe­cially when you con­sider, as with all the poultry dishes on the menu, that it included a serving of fresh chips or sea­sonal veget­ables. Continued

St Ives Restaurant in the Midlands – A Review

St Ives Restaurant

St Ives Country Estate has to be one of the most attract­ive ven­ues on the Midlands Meander and quite pos­sibly one of the most well-known as well. Situated on the R103 just up the road from the Piggly Wiggly Coffee Shop, St Ives is hard to miss.

It’s a huge estate sport­ing well man­i­cured, lush green lawns and a beau­ti­ful lake mak­ing for a land­scape rivalling among the most allur­ing the region has to offer. St Ives has many attrac­tions, the most well known of which is undoubtedly its superb trout fishing.

However, indul­ging in a spot of fish­ing was not the reason for my visit. I had come to indulge my taste buds at their pop­u­lar gour­met res­taur­ant, reputed to be one of the best in the area. My good friend Mary-Anne and my mom accom­pan­ied me for the after­noon and although we all (for the most part at least) simply loved the cuisine that was on offer, we left some­what dis­ap­poin­ted with our find­ings. Continued

I ♥ Pietermaritzburg Because ...

I ♥ Pietermaritzburg

Hi, I’m Sharon Clarke from Gecko Hill in Pietermaritzburg.

Pietermaritzburg IS BEST KNOWN FOR its vibrant cul­ture, nat­ural beauty and his­tor­ical Victorian archi­tec­ture.
GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the Rosehurst Café, because of its quaint, man­i­cured Victorian garden. Situated at 239 Boom Street, the café serves deli­cious light meals for either break­fast or lunch.  They also have a shop filled with gor­geous things to take home!  The garden at Rosehurst Café was estab­lished almost 30 years ago and are some­thing to mar­vel at.
THE BEST scenic PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the National Botanical Gardens. Pietermaritzburg's Botanical Gardens were estab­lished in the 1870’s and are is famed for its avenue of plane trees which were planted in 1908. At the end of the avenue is a bell tower com­plete with a bell from the ship HMS Princess.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT Alexandra Park Cricket Oval.  The park was named after Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII and the 65 hec­tares of park­land was estab­lished in 1860. The annual Art in the Park is held here as is Cars in the Park.  The Cricket Oval and its Victorian Pavilion is a national monu­ment. Continued

John Dory’s Liberty Midlands Mall – A review

John Dory’s

Founded with the intent of mak­ing fresh fish and sea­food avail­able to the pub­lic at afford­able prices, the first John Dory’s Fish and Grill opened its doors in Durban in 1996 and quickly mush­roomed into a national brand with 26 stores in eight provinces. That sort of growth is pretty impress­ive in anyone’s books and being eager to dis­cover why John Dory’s have been so suc­cess­ful I decided to have din­ner at their Liberty Midlands Mall out­let in Pietermaritzburg recently.

I invited my good friend Mary-Anne and my mom to join me for the even­ing know­ing full well that both of them would be more than will­ing to provide an hon­est assess­ment of their culin­ary exper­i­ences. Upon enter­ing the estab­lish­ment we received a warm wel­come and were promptly shown to our table stop­ping occa­sion­ally to appre­ci­ate some of the vibrant décor, which cre­ated an almost the­at­rical ambi­ence through­out the res­taur­ant, along the way. Continued

I ♥ Pennington Because ...

I ♥ Pennington

Hi, I’m Susanne Hallett from Botha House in Pennington on the South Coast of KwaZulu Natal.

Pennington IS BEST KNOWN FOR beau­ti­ful end­less beaches, peace and tran­quil­lity, surf­ing, fish­ing, bird watch­ing and of course the Umdoni Park Golf Course and Selborne Golf Estate.

GET YOUR SUNRISE PICTURE TAKEN from your private Botha House bal­cony over­look­ing the Indian Ocean or while on a walk­ing or bird­watch­ing trip at Umdoni Park at the spec­tac­u­lar View Point.

THE BEST sun­rise PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN taken while enjoy­ing a sun­downer at Pennington main beach.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS  along the cliffs at Umdoni Point. Continued

The Calabash Café – A quaint little coffee shop in the Midlands

The Calabash Café

The Calabash Café is a quaint, little cof­fee shop situ­ated just off the busy N3 near Howick in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. I decided to pop in for Sunday lunch there recently, per­suad­ing friends Mary-Anne, Peter and Lisa to join me for what proved to be an inter­est­ing experience.

After being shown to our table we promptly ordered drinks and began to per­use the menu which con­tained just about everything you’d expect to find at a coun­try café. We had the option of choos­ing from a selec­tion of sand­wiches, bur­gers, soups, quiche’s and salads as well as a vari­ety of tra­di­tional favour­ites such as Welsh Rarebit, fish and chips, Chicken a la King and bangers and mash to men­tion but a few.

With so many options avail­able decid­ing what to have was prov­ing dif­fi­cult and so both I and Peter decided to play it safe by order­ing the Sunday roast (R60). Mary-Anne, on the other hand, opted for the chicken schnitzel, chips and salad (R45) while Lisa decided to skip mains, select­ing one of her favour­ite treats, a lemon meringue tart (R20), instead. Continued