Archives for category: Design

Escape to Cape Town

March 2, 2014 //

Clifton Beach, Cape Town

I made my annual pilgrimage to Cape Town as a last minute trip this year. It is always great to escape the UK weather and given the recent rain, it was fantastic to find an opportunity to get away between my other commitments and forget the real world for a short while.

It’s not just the weather that gets me on that 12 hour flight. The first reason to go is that it feels like home from home to me and that’s all down to having the most fabulous friends there who welcome me into their place with open arms. And I realised more than ever this year that they share my outlook, my way of life and my interests. We may not see each other for a year and may not even make much contact over that year but as soon as I step over the doorstep, it is as if that year in between was yesterday. That’s the best sign of friendship I can think of.

Every year I am interested to see what is new. And this year, Cape Town is the World Design Capital following in the footsteps of cities such as Turin, Helsinki and Seoul. So my expectations of this great city were high … and it didn’t disappoint. With design front of mind, I discovered Weylandts this year. I can’t figure out why I have never been there before and was pleased to find some fabulous lights for my new home. You really can’t beat the prices with the exchange rate more than ever in my favour, and the South African designs were spot on. This multi storey warehouse of beautiful stuff is well worth visiting.

It got me thinking about just why this city is so inspiring. I think it is embedded in the fact that South Africans are just so straight up and honest. Some people find that difficult to relate to but in the retail and food world, it means that you get a very true experience that is what it needs to be without having to try too hard. And because the country is so vast and isolated from others (unlike Europe, for example) businesses just get on with doing what they want to do with creativity and purpose. Finally, there is more of a culture of support than I see in other places. When a new young someone wants to put an idea into practice, they get encouragement and help rather than a queue of people hurling cynicism or trying to knock them back. It all adds up to lots of innovation and passion that translates directly to the consumer.

The big explosion over the past two years has been in coffee which I will talk about next time. So what else is there to report back on?

Firstly – Karen Dudley. She has been fronting her Kitchen for a few years now which was the restaurant of choice for Michelle Obama when she visited Cape Town. Given Karen’s philosophy and food, you can understand why. It certainly isn’t on the usual tourist path of restaurants but it is in the trendy Woodstock area so not too far off the beaten track. In the past year, Karen has published her second cookbook “Another Week in the Kitchen” and opened The Dining Room in the adjacent building.

Trolley service!

We visited for dinner and had a lovely meal hosted by the chef herself. As with her first place, it is as if you are in Karen’s home eating whatever she has prepared that day. The decor is eclectic with mismatched cutlery, plates and funky decorations. The menu is short with starters served from a trolley, a choice of two mains and desserts. The team are incredibly attentive and Karen herself just oozes interest and joy in the food that she offers.

Cosy cafe at Schoon de Companje

Coffee roasting

Lovely produce section

Another of my favourites from last year has had a makeover. Set in Stellenbosch, Schoon de Companje is the next iteration of a great bakery and cafe that I saw last year. Now the space has expanded to include butchery, coffee roasting, wines, ice cream making and produce in addition to the bakery and cafe. The whole atmosphere is cosy and relaxed with natural wood, lovely displays and a simple menu. It’s definitely worth a trip on the way to exploring the vineyards in the area.

The other discovery was a new market at the city farm in Oranjezicht. It may be small but I can see this one growing, if you pardon the pun. The stall holders focus on local produce along with some home made delicacies. It seems there is a lot of focus on gluten free, carb free and raw foods in Cape Town at the mo and here you will find people doing a good job of making yummy healthy treats as well as a central braai for tasty lunchtime eats.

Craft brewing, hand bottled and all at the back of a spacious bar and restaurant

The final place to report back on in this post is the Taproom. Once again, this new place is to be found in the Woodstock area which is most definitely the area to discover when you are out there. Here they are hand bottling home made craft beer and serving a short menu to accompany the Devils Peak liquid. It was just a very good example of the beer fashion with production there on site and open to be seen by all who visit, not as a theme park but as a real brewers. Once again it is straight forward, simple and yummy.

Tags Cape Town, Devils Peak, Karen Dudley, Schoon de Companje, Taproom, Weylandts, World Design Capital

Categories Design, Food, Restaurants, Retail, South Africa

Tish’s dishes

December 11, 2013 //

We went to newly opened Ember Yard yesterday for lunch.

A blurry pic of the kitchen and Mr Tish at the helm

I have always been a fan of Ben Tish’s food especially at Dehesa. He keeps it simple with good ingredients and nice combinations. His courgette flowers stuffed with goat’s cheese and drizzled with honey is a dish that is truly memorable. Amazing how a small drizzle of honey can transform something.

I have seen him on Saturday Kitchen a few times and can honestly say he is one chef that leaves me wanting to make what he has presented. I replicated his pan-fried hake on the bone with Arbequina olive oil mash, surf clams, chorizo and flat parsley for Mr & Mr Jones to much applause and loved making the Chorizo-stuffed squid with sage, potatoes, peas, capers and aïoli with my niece for dinner one weekend. Both were easy to make and tasty classic combinations.

So I have to say I was excited to see what the impressive Mr Tish was going to do with his new place. As ever, it was Spanish influenced tapas, which is always a good thing but the hook for this new opening is the custom built charcoal grill. It seemed to me that the chef is, as ever, spot on with the concept as this year has to be the year of smokey flavours and simple charcoal cooking.

The interior was lovely with more vibrancy than some of the other concepts and a nice sense of Spanish colouring. I really loved the vibrant oil painting covering the main wall, copper lighting and nice mixture of tables supported by pink/red leather seating. There was a buzz in the place and the open kitchen was there for all to see. The lovely Mr Tish was also at the pass taking a hands on approach to his new place.

Anchovies served on a hot coal with a waft of sherry

The menu has may of his classic dishes plus some new ones to showcase the grill. We tried a few of the smokey centred dishes and liked some of the presentation such as these house smoked sherry cask anchovies which were served on the hot coal. The star of the show was the wood roasted gratin of root vegetables, smoked ricotta and idiazabal cream quite simply because it had a strength of smoke which other dishes were missing.

But the new thing for me, and the interesting fashion which I think will be coming through more and more is the grocery element. Just as that honey brings out the flavour of the goat’s cheese in the courgette flowers, so the chorizo ketchup literally transformed the smoked Basque beef burger. I think alternative ketchups along with other preserves that add a sweetness or heat or indeed sourness are going to be gracing more and more menus. It is the very essence upon which Asian food is based to combine sweet, salty, sour and bitter in perfect partnership but the European style doesn’t tend to pack the punch over all those elements….until now, that is.

Tags Ben Tish, Dehesa, Ember Yard, Saturday Kitchen

Categories Design, Food, Restaurants

Go West Elm

December 5, 2013 //

West Elm opened it’s first UK site today in Tottenham Court Road.

I have to admit that I have not shopped a West Elm in the US but I am a huge fan of their owners Williams Sonoma and there is clearly a standard and attention to detail that permeates the whole company.

The first thing you recognise is the difference in the staff attitude and approach. There were loads of excess teams there as you would expect on opening day but what was lovely was the interaction they had with the customer. It was one of genuine excitement to be opening here in the furniture/homewares heartland of London and also a clear understanding of soft selling.

The other element that translates so competitively from the US model is their ability to catalogue and visually merchandise. They manage to combine these two elements to create wonderful stories which are stimulating and enjoyable to shop. Every corner has something to discover and whilst some product is familiar to me, lots is new and interesting. They are also pretty competitive price wise at the mid level range with clear intro key prices as well as some at the luxury end. In support of all this is a great tone of voice that fits their brand well keeping signage and communication something simple that makes you smile.

At the centre of the shop is a living wall which is something that has been done many times before, but it is still attractive. It adds colour, vibrancy and a sense of outdoor space which helps to define a relaxed tone within. The natural wall wraps around the central staircase which leads downstairs to a more conventional home floor but with nice room sets and an ordering zone which was very efficient when I put it to the test.

The fun zone upstairs is their market area which has a funky coffee shop, a mixture of kitchenware and food plus some well thought out toiletries. Studded throughout the whole ground floor were little highlights which showed product combinations and stimulated nice ideas to enable visualisation of the product in a home environment.

It will be interesting to see how this first foray goes for the Williams Sonoma team. I believe they are looking at other sites for their other brand – Pottery Barn. I personally think it is a welcome addition to the UK high street and I wish them well.

Tags West Elm, Williams Sonoma

Categories Design, Retail, The high street

Eating with your eyes

September 16, 2013 //

I always think that the best retail experiences are created primarily through great visual merchandising. In the retail industry, there are many fashion and home stores that really can deliver that wow factor from the first window right through the store. The shop that immediately comes to mind as the best example of this is Anthropologie.

But in food, there is less style and it is very hard to maintain a sense of interest throughout the shop. Many would say that Eataly is the answer in food, but for me they capture it in places and not in others. It can be cold, in some of the Italian versions and cluttered in NYC. Yes, it is a great start but not one that can’t be bettered.

Biscuit displays the Rosendals Tradgard way

Food is simple with added touches for a unique look and feel

The place that did it for me was Rosendals Tradgard in Stockholm. This botanical garden had a unique style and elegance that translated into their small shop encapsulating the brand perfectly. Clever use of unusual items were there to display goods, food was kept simple yet different and the overall effect was one that had me going back and back. It really did gel the brand values with the customer experience. One to visit, for sure.

Now I am trying to create a food store that does the same for the company I am working for. No pressure! I can be as critical as I like but now I have to put my money where my mouth is and do it for real. So this week I ventured to a trade show that would fill in the visual merchandising gaps that were left from the food fair last week. Top Drawer is one of the best shows for me to find what I am looking for. It has a standard of trader that is at the right level and if you open your imagination, then all sorts of things are up for grabs.

Nkuku is a great place to start. It is an eco friendly, fairtrade gift and home supplier sourcing primarily from Africa and India, although they tell me they are expanding into Morocco and the Far East more this year. I was drawn to it, not just because it is my natural taste, but also because it is organic, honest and simple, reflecting a lot of the brand values that exist on the farm. It will be essential to cherry pick, there is no doubt, and sometimes surprise, but I could really begin to piece things together standing there on that stand.

I bet your first thought was not perfect box for displaying biltong when you saw this?!

Hop & Peck is a company I earmarked way back last Spring and it was lovely to be reminded again how great these guys are. Their hand made British homewares match traditional Oak with fun modern designs to being something just a little bit different to the home market. I can see us cross merchandising these into our different sections to add interest and novelty. It was great to see them win the Top Drawer best new gift product award at the show as well. Much deserved.

I always thought I had an eye for the expensive, but apparently it is the award winners too as I had spotted the best new wellbeing product too, even thought I was only passing through the wellbeing section. Rewined Candles are American soy candles made in Charleston from recycled wine bottles. The fragrances nod to the notes of the individual wines. They really are something new and now available in the UK.

Lots of hares which had clearly been jugged!

After all that VM speculation it was great to meet friends later on to pursue our quest to find a great Sunday lunch. We are working our way through a list of so called great places which normally underwhelm but our hopes were high when we arrived at the Jugged Hare. With my creative hat on, it was great to see somewhere embrace their theme without it appearing like DisneyWorld. Maybe it was the harsh reality of all those animal and bird heads on display, but we all agreed that we liked what they had done with the place.

The food got off to a good start too as we shared kedgeree croquettes, breaded skate knobs with a fabulous tartar sauce and the very in season grouse legs which smelled (and tasted) of horse manure! Lovely. But sadly our journey continues as the mains didn’t come up to scratch. The meat was lovely, but veg woefully under-done. Shame. The lovely lady serving was a fine example of how to handle our disgruntled bunch but after so much promise I can’t see us rushing back.

So I leave you with a few birds that hopefully didn’t lose their lives in vain – displayed on the way to the loo. Let’s hope their dishes were more rewarding to whoever ate them.

Tags Anthropologie, Eataly, grouse, Hop & Peck, Nkuku, Rewined Candles, Rosendals Tradgard, The Jugged Hare, Top Drawer, visual merchandising

Categories Design, The high street

Escape to Cape Town

Tish’s dishes

Go West Elm

Eating with your eyes

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