Tsogo Sun: Golf Reef City Casino Hotel

When I tour the country for various events, the most important part of the trip is my accommodation, because nothing can compare to a good night's rest in place that you're not only comfortable but with staff who are always helpful to assist when need be, which is why I am loyal to the Tsogo Sun group, no matter which part of the country I am, their establishments set the bar for hotels and leisure. 

This past weekend while in Johannesburg for the Ultra Music Festival South African leg, the kind folk at Tsogo Sun Gold Reef City Casino Hotel hosted me for the weekend. Before I could even arrive to the hotel on that that Friday I already knew I was in good hands, and for that I must say special thank you to their communications manager Devashini Govender for arranging my stay and ensuring all was well while she was on leave. Not often you will get people going out of their way during their time off to assist you. 

Gold Reef City Casino Hotel is situated just a few minutes outside Johannesburg CBD, it boasts casino, multiple restaurants, kiddies entertainment area and a movie house. The hotel has just gone under a massive renovation with certain areas still getting their final touch ups and I must say, after last visiting when I was a kid, the place has transformed and grown into something spectacular. Gold Reef City is themed around the Johannesburg Gold Rush just like it's sister hotel across the road at the Theme Park which we stayed at the last time. So a lot of of it follows the American Western style decor. 

A massive fountain with golden Springboks leaping through greets you at the entrance of the Hotel and Casino complex and you enter into a massive triple volume atrium. The lovely staff at reception ensured my checking in was quick and efficient with one of them accompanying me to show to my suite. I was staying in one of the bigger suites at the hotel, the coffee and tea station greeted me in the foyer of the room, with the dressing room and walk in closet to the left, that led into the massive bathroom with a free standing tub, shower and toilet. The size of the bathroom was bigger than some hotel rooms I've stayed in!

The bedroom had a massive King Size four post bed, with a lounge area equipped with sofa's and a large screen LCD TV and bar fridge. A nice welcome gift from the hotel's GM stood next to my bed, a bottle of bubbly on ice, and so the celebrations of the weekend kicked off in style. The hotel area of the casino is only accessible by lift and is strictly for guests only so if you're staying there, you don't have to worry about any one making their way up. Security is of utmost importance at Gold Reef City, so much so I didn't even make use of the safe in my bedroom as I know my room was secure. 

Being a working trip, I had to get some admin done while I was at the hotel, for this the Hotel provides free WiFi for all their guests, with a simple easy way to log in and super-fast speeds. If I were busy and didn't have time to visit one of the many restaurants and take out's downstairs, a full eat in menu was available for me from the hotel. anything from a simple sandwich to butter chicken and rice was on the menu. With great variety like this, I pondered whether it was really worth my while leaving my luxurious room and venture around?

Although I was there for Ultra, I had some time to explore the complex, the Casino being the focal point of Gold Reef City is situated in the middle and boasts a host of slot machines for your fancy and for the more hands on gamblers, a range of tables are on offer for you. Whether you're a Roulette man like my self or Black Jack is more of your game, it was all catered for. There is given quite a sizable smoking Casino just behind the main gambling floor. Enough about what the adults can do, the kiddies entertainment is well catered for as well. There is a 10 pin bowling area where the whole family can partake in some fun, gaming area as well as the newly opened movies which has an amazing clock feature in it's foyer resembling an old train station, as well as a time table board which mimics one from a station as well. 

The walkway around the Casino has restaurants that suite any palette, from a cafe type bistro of Tsogo Sun's very own Vigor & Verve, to authentic Indian cuisine at The Raj, maybe some Portuguese Peri Peri at Calisto's or if you're in a mood for a great steak, Boston BBQ is your place to dine at. Other restaurants include Back to the Moon and everyone's favourites Ocean Basket and Spur Steak House. If you're in the mood for a quick bite, the food court has a range of popular take outs for you with adequate seating area for all. 

Chicken Malai Tikka starter at the Raj

Being on the road for a few days, I was missing my curry so settled in for lunch on Saturday at The Raj, it's situated at the entrance to the undercover parking complex. After being greeted and seated by our waiter, he gave us a run down on his preferred choices off the menu. we eventually settled for the Chicken Malai Tikka starter with Lamb Rogan Josh and Butter Chicken for our mains. Every thing we ordered was delicious, so much so we ditched the utensils and opted to eat the authentic cuisine the way it was meant to be eaten, with our hands, just so we could lick our fingers at the end. 

Lamb Rogan Josh and Butter Chicken main with garlic naan

The good food doesn't stop there, guests at the hotel enjoy their breakfast served at the Vigor & Verve Cafe, where they can chose something of the menu or help them self to the extensive buffet on offer. From a selection of hot foods, to pastries, fruits and cereals, it had it all and was a life saver after partying till the early hours of the morning at Ultra. After day one I opted for the buffet, which did not disappoint, after day two I wanted to sample something off the menu and being a lover of toasted sandwiches, I settled for the V&V Club Sandwich. It was a toasted chicken and mayo with bacon and egg, it more than hit the spot.

Overall, I couldn't fault one thing during my stay, apart from the luxurious room and great facilities, the staff of Gold Reef City Hotel must be commended, whether it was the guys at check in, to the security guards, everyone was friendly, helpful and always had a smile on their face. It shows that they not only enjoy what they do but are also proud to be working at Gold Reef City and it's that added extra which makes your stay that much more worth while, to know you have a team of dedicated personnel who take pride in what they do and are ever ready to assist. I will definitely be paying them another visit, maybe this time I will have better luck on the tables!

Bucket Seat: 14 on Chartwell

Umhlanga's Chartwell drive, the ever growing buzz of the North just got another hot spot added to it. Well 14 on Chartwell has been open since last year November but I only got the chance to pay it a visit last night. If you were in Durban over the festive season you would know that the Village was the place to be, with the tourists visiting the warm beaches of the east coast, the bars and restaurants on Chartwell drive was the perfect escape for a bite to eat and a cold drink to quench the thirst. The place was buzzing and if you didn't have a table booked anywhere, chances were you were going to wait a long time or not getting a table at all. 

Anyway, I walked passed 14 on Chartwell a number of times during my visits to Umhlanga and if you haven't seen it before, they've done a marvelous job with the decor, large windows let passers by gaze into the inside which is well lit, snazzy and has a lovely lounge vibe, it was always packed and made one quite envious if you were not inside. 

A friend of mine was down from the UK and wanted to meet for dinner, this was the perfect opportunity to check the place out. Thinking that most people are back at work, I didn't think to make a booking, silly me. The place is still buzzing and we had to wait for a table, the staff were extremely accommodating, allowing us to wait on a table outside whilst one freed up inside, alternatively one could have waited at the bar, which is the main focal point of the establishment and they have quite a nice selection of spirits as well as great Craft Beer of the menu. 

If you think the place looked great from the outside, the inside is even better! The layout is great with scattered tables mixed with lounged areas for large groups on the sides, as I said the bar is the main focal point in the center but the place has a nice flow and relaxed atmosphere. It may look fancy but it rather chilled, perfect for an evening of drinks with friends. 

Onto the food, the menu is of a substantial variety, offering something for everyone's pallet and pleasantly surprised that it is very reasonably priced! For starters I ordered the Asian Lamb Riblets, which were char-grilled sticky hoisin marinade with nam jim dipping sauce. They were done to perfection, just about medium and the meat tender and succulent. I quite enjoyed the dipping sauce as well, a mixture of herbs, ginger and garlic. 

It took me a while to decide on what to have for mains as there were so much on offer that I fancied, I eventually settled for the smothered chicken breasts. Two chicken breast, lightly grilled with spices, topped with a finger licking sun dried tomato, basil and parmesan cream sauce accompanied with pan fried gnocchi. It was full of flavour and that sauce was nothing short of exquisite, it had me wiping the plate with the last gnocchi I had. 

The desert menu seemed quite tempting but after those two courses I was stuffed but  I will be back for that Hot Fudge Sundae as it seems to be the popular one on the menu. Overall 14 on Chartwell is a winner in my books, it's a different and much needed offering to the Umhlanga scene. It's already quite a hit with the crowd and busy on most nights so be sure to book to avoid disappointment. 

Address: 14 Chartwell Drive, Umhlanga Rocks

Telephone: 031 561 1017

Facebook: 14 on Chartwell

Email: fourteen@14onchartwell.com

At the table through the eyes of a kid

Remember that  TV show, 'Kids say the darndest things'? I quite enjoyed watching it, even though I was a teen, seeing what these bunch of kids had to say was highly entertaining and I wasn't alone in this. Most of my friends and family loved it as well. Kids are innocent so anything they say will always end up being cute or funny which is why the show was extremely popular but it was also to prove the fact that even though we were once kids, we can never really relate to them and think on the same level. 

Moving forward to present times, its even harder with technology becoming an integral part with the younger generations. Many kids get iPads form the age of 2! Heck I'm touching 29 and I still don't own one! They have the ability to learn things quicker and in such they end up knowing more about the devices they have than the parents that bought it for them. With these devices they have access to the internet, and with that access to social media. As we all know with social media, things can either go very good or very bad, very quickly but for the case of Dhiyarv Govender it's gone very good, infact extremely good, extremely quickly.

Dhiyarv with the help of his parents started the page "YUMMY or YUCKY", which essentially is a food critic page for kids. With the fast pace lives we now lead with most families having both parents working, they are often forced to eat out most of the time. Normally it would be to the parents disgression and not considering whether or not their child would enjoy the food from there. With this Facebook page, Dhiyarv has set out to do reviews on places he has visited, all reviews are done by him so the posts are aimed at youngsters of the same age since they can relate, the ratings come from the page title with YUMMY being good and YUCKY being not so good, there is another category which is YUMMILICIOUS which is very good. 

The reviews also give other parents an insight into places that their kids might like, that would avoid the outing where the only thing your child can understand or stomach off the menu is a plate of french fries. The reviews are pretty simple but at the same time gives you an insight into what kids would enjoy about the various places. Dhiyarv has already been featured in the local papers and has many admirer's including South Africa's first Masterchef, Deena Naidoo. The page itself is doing pretty well in terms of reach since its creation in Feb this year, it already has in excess of 500 likes and over 8000 views, all this achieved without any advertising! some agencies would kill for such exposure.

Also on the page you can find recipes that he has cooked up with the help of his folks. Due to its popularity, Dhiyarv didn't want all the attention from the page to be about himself because the aim of the page is about kids interest, so he welcomes reviews done by other youngsters. So if you have a budding foodie in your home that you think would contribute well to this page, drop YUMMY or YUCKY page on Facebook a message.