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

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

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

I ♥ Dargle Because ...

I ♥ Dargle

Hi, I’m Carol Fynn from Tillietudlum Guest Farm in Dargle.

Dargle IS BEST KNOWN FOR rolling green hills in sum­mer, snow in winter, wild flowers, crys­tal clear springs and rivers, abund­ant bird­life and peace!
GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN with your trophy trout catch from Elands Dam on the farm or with our beau­ti­ful Nguni cattle.
THE BEST scenic PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN while walk­ing through the herds of Eland or cap­tur­ing the magical and abund­ant bird­life.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO walk or ride around the farm.
WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO spend a day on the Midlands Meander pop­ping in to the many craft shops and farms on the way — it's more than just the Dargle as it incor­por­ates Curry's Post, Lidgetton, Nottingham Road; all part of our Midlands Meander fam­ily. Continued

Jaxx Restaurant in Hilton – A review

Jaxx Restaurant

The beau­ti­ful and quaint vil­lage of Hilton in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands is home to a num­ber of fine eat­er­ies, many of which have been around for quite some time. A recent visit to village’s pop­u­lar Quarry shop­ping centre, how­ever, revealed the pres­ence of Jaxx Restaurant, an obvi­ous ‘new kid on the block’.

Not want­ing to pass up the oppor­tun­ity to try some­thing new I decided to sit down and enjoy an impromptu lunch and, a few quibbles aside, I was rather happy with my find­ings. The Jaxx menu is quite var­ied with break­fast offer­ings includ­ing a selec­tion of omelettes and tra­di­tional fare such as bacon and eggs on toast while health­ier options are avail­able for those keep­ing a strict eye on their waistlines.

I quite enjoy my cooked break­fasts, some­times reques­ted them even in the after­noon, but with Jaxx strictly adher­ing to their policy of “break­fasts served until 11am only” I had to look else­where on the menu for sat­is­fac­tion. Not being par­tic­u­larly hungry I decided to settle for a roast beef, pickled onion and Dijon mayo sand­wich with French fries which, at just R35, seemed like a decent bet. Continued

I ♥ Balgowan Because ...

I ♥ Balgowan

Hi, I’m Rosemarie from Enniskerry Self Catering in Balgowan.

Balgowan IS BEST KNOWN FOR its scenic beauty and friendly people.
GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT ... well actu­ally any­where in the area, because the scenery is your back­ground and it's amaz­ing.
THE BEST PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN any­where you choose.
WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO take a lazy stroll up to the crest just before the dairy farm or pop into Peter's Gate Herbs for a cup of cof­fee and a chat.
WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO pop down to Piggly Wiggly and have scones and the best cap­puccino in front of a log fire.
I THINK THE BEST TIME OF YEAR TO VISIT IS April and May, BECAUSE the worst of the heat is over and the col­ours in the Midlands are spec­tac­u­lar with the chan­ging sea­sons. Continued

The Eshayamoya train ride in Creighton — a review

Eshayamoya Train ride

When my friend Sarah con­tac­ted me recently invit­ing me to join her and a couple of oth­ers for a train ride in the beau­ti­ful coun­tryside of the Southern Natal Midlands, I jumped at the oppor­tun­ity. Although I had driven along a sec­tion of the route once pre­vi­ously, I was nev­er­the­less look­ing for­ward to the trip know­ing that I could never tire of scenery that is prob­ably among the most pic­tur­esque to be viewed anywhere.

Beautiful moun­tains and rolling hills provided a breath­tak­ing back­drop for the bright morn­ing sun­shine, uplift­ing my spir­its with each passing second. The small farm­ing com­munity of Creighton was our des­tin­a­tion and although the 135km drive from Pietermaritzburg was undoubtedly scenic – it was by no means plain sail­ing. Continued

Delish-Dish family restaurant and pub – A review

Delish-Dish in Howick

While driv­ing through the small town of Howick in the Natal Midlands recently I spot­ted an eat­ery that I had not pre­vi­ously been aware of, the Delish-Dish fam­ily res­taur­ant and pub. Not usu­ally the spon­tan­eous type (I gen­er­ally prefer to plan even the smal­lest of out­ings at least a few days in advance) my curi­os­ity nev­er­the­less got the bet­ter of me and I pulled over to take a closer look.

Intrigued by the rather rus­tic look of the place I decided to treat myself to a rather impromptu mid-afternoon lunch des­pite not know­ing what I would encounter. My host­ess for the after­noon was Shay, a rather bub­bly young woman who seemed most enthu­si­astic about her job – always an import­ant trait for suc­cess in any pro­fes­sion but espe­cially so in the hos­pit­al­ity industry. Continued

Jewel Of India – An exquisite dining experience

Jewel Of India

The rel­at­ively newly estab­lished Invesco Centre in Pietermaritzburg boasts a num­ber of top qual­ity res­taur­ants all offer­ing their own unique brand of cuisine. One of those res­taur­ants, The Jewel of India, was my latest port of call on my travels through KwaZulu-Natal, and what an amaz­ing exper­i­ence it proved to be.

My good friend Mary-Anne and my mom accom­pan­ied me for this review and they both agreed that The Jewel of India was quite pos­sibly the most exclus­ive res­taur­ant they had ever had the pleas­ure of din­ing at. The expens­ive décor and the smart attire of both staff mem­bers and pat­rons served notice that this was an upmar­ket estab­lish­ment, in fact so much so that I almost felt out of place among all the glitz and glam­our. Continued

Nottingham Road — Photographs

Nottingham Road, one of my favour­ite places in South Africa is a quaint farm­ing vil­lage in the heart of the Natal Midlands in KwaZulu Natal.  Surrounded by spec­tac­u­lar scenery; think green rolling hills, snow capped moun­tains in the winter (actu­ally Notties has been known to have a sub­stan­tial amount of snow dur­ing the winter!), fly fish­ing dams, fields filled with graz­ing cattle and trees turn­ing col­our dur­ing the autumn it truly is a beau­ti­ful part of the coun­try.  As part of the hugely pop­u­lar Midlands Meander it offers a wide vari­ety of gor­geous shops, res­taur­ants and sunny spots for cof­fee and cake! Don’t for­get to stop for a beer at the Nottingham Road Brewing Co and of course if you are in Notties then a visit to the infam­ous Notties Hotel is a must … just don’t wear a tie! Continued

Heavenly Hilton — Photographs

Hilton, a pretty, misty vil­lage with an English coun­try feel is loc­ated at the start of the very pop­u­lar Midlands Meander. The streets are tree-lined and it’s the per­fect place to live dur­ing the sum­mer months with tem­per­at­ures nor­mally a good five degrees cooler than Pietermaritzburg in the val­ley below. The vil­lage was some won­der­ful examples of Tudor-style archi­tec­ture – the recently ren­ov­ated Protea Hilton Hotel is test­a­ment to that. Old Main Brewery (formerly Crossways) is loc­ated oppos­ite one of the two sets of traffic lights in the vil­lage and is a Hilton insti­tu­tion and a great place to meet loc­als while La Popote serves a deli­cious lunch. On clear days res­id­ents are treated to views of the majestic Drakensberg which is a short dis­tance away. Continued

The Junction restaurant and coffee shop — A review

The Junction

Established in 2000 and situ­ated in Nottingham Road in the heart of the spec­tac­u­lar KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, The Junction res­taur­ant and cof­fee shop is the per­fect place for fam­il­ies to enjoy a great tast­ing meal out in the coun­try. Strangely enough I had never eaten there before until friends Mary-Anne, Peta-Anne and I decided that a visit was long overdue.

For those of you who have never vis­ited this part of the world before, you have been miss­ing out on some­thing spe­cial. Whether in winter or sum­mer the scenery is always spec­tac­u­lar and the revital­ising clean, crisp air is a wel­come change from the chok­ing smog so com­monly found in our cit­ies today. Continued