#aperitivohour

Today was a lazy day at the hotel, a bit of breakfast, a bit of pool and a bit of admin. J ordered lunch in. It was a pretty mediocre salad and smoothie. We decided to go to a nearby Greek restaurant, Mykonos, for dinner. It was cheap and cheerful and very good. We both had souvlakis with chips and they were surprisingly what we had hoped for.

We headed back to the hotel for the last part of aperitivo hour(s) and chatted with Mansur and Ashley. The chef had made a platter of chicken liver parfait canapés for S.

Just as we were beginning to wind up, one of the Johannesburg guests dropped by. It turns out that he was celebrating his birthday this weekend. He and his wife had gone wine tasting. As he was the designated driver, she had indulged more than he had and went to bed early. He was still ready to party and was carrying around a glass of sparkling wine. After a short while, he went back to his room and grabbed the bottle of sparkling wine to share with us. His name is Malusi (the “i” is silent) and he is a Zulu. He owns or runs a coal mining company and a few other ventures. He grew up in a township with two blind parents and is self-made. We continued on well after aperitivo hour(s) ended and at some point, the staff came by to tell us they were heading out and gave us some instructions on how to head back to our room at this hour.

Before long, we finished Malusi’s bottle and J offered to go get another bottle from our room. Our mini bar had conveniently been replenished by Calvin. She also grabbed some Amarula bottles for herself and made popcorn for everyone. Interestingly, Malusi did not eat any of the popcorn until S asked him if he wanted some. He explained that per African culture he needed to be invited before he could start eating. S apologised profusely and held off on eating the popcorn so Malusi could catch up.

At some point, Malusi dozed off on the couch and the bottle of sparkling wine ran out, so we all decided to call it a night. We exchanged contact details and S scored an invite to Malusi’s house, but we’re not entirely sure how much of this will actually come to pass. It was an unexpectedly fun night, however and we learned a lot about South African history from Malusi. Even S, who has always been interested in the Zulus and South African colonial history, learned a few new facts.

We woke up to a stunning view of Camps Bay and breakfast, which was promptly delivered to our room at 10am. We chose to have it on the deck rather than in the room. The spread was really lovely. They make every effort to present things beautifully here. This breakfast was form and substance as it was really tasty.

Justine came by to make sure that the issues we raised yesterday were sorted as much as possible.

J went to her doctor’s appointment while S sat at a local café sipping wine. The weather was glorious – 21 degrees and sunny, with a light breeze. J’s doctor prescribed her some medicine and told her to come back after the Easter weekend.

J sat in the room while S went to the pool and sat out in the sun. The pool, which is 5 steps from our room, is heated and looks out over the bay.

We learned we are staying in the biggest room in the place, so J feels like a VIP. Just kidding. The hotel was even willing to kick off the daily aperitivo hour early for us at 6pm. There is however only us and one other couple staying at the hotel. The canapés and the Chenin Blanc wine were delicious. S especially liked the chicken liver parfait ones. He says they are the best he’s ever had. Rebecca, the Nepalese manager, kept our glasses full and even tracked down a second round of canapés. We wanted to order the famous shrimp and spiny lobster cocktail with American cocktail sauce, but were told that the chef had to go home early due to COVID restrictions. We said we would try it tomorrow and went back to our room to top off the canapés with some ‘movie theatre style’ microwave popcorn. It was good, but light on the butter.