About 50kms out of Cape Town – straight down the R27 – you’ll find the Atlantis Dunes. If you have a half decent 4×4 you will most likely know the area rather well. A municipal permit grants you access to the couple of square kilometres of adult sandpit, which you can then drive your vehicle all over – or haul out a proper snowboard and ride the sand monsters to your heart’s delight.

The ongoing Cape Town water crisis is not news, but what is – is a breakthrough device developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which literally pulls water our of the atmosphere and is powered only by sunlight.

The water harvester is big enough for domestic use and at this stage, is capable of producing 2.8 liters of water over a 12 hour period. That doesn’t equate to being able to fill your swimming pool thanks to its efforts to easily now, but considering that this is a completely off-grid machine and is essentially producing clean water out of thin air – that’s damn impressive.

“This is a major breakthrough in the long-standing challenge of harvesting water from the air at low humidity,” said Omar Yaghi, one of two senior authors of the paper, who holds the James and Neeltje Tretter chair in chemistry at UC Berkeley and is a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “There is no other way to do that right now, except by using extra energy. Your electric dehumidifier at home ‘produces’ very expensive water.” via

As we have said before, the water issue in the Western Cape is not a one off problem that we are facing now. As urbanisation increases in the decades to come and climate change affects us as a region, water scarcity will be the new normal. Technology like this device could be the difference between the long term feasibility of the existence of a city like Cape Town being possible or not.

It certainly won’t be the only solution, but it might be a good idea for somebody at the City of Cape Town to shoot an email through to MIT so see how this kind of technology application can be tested at scale over here – sooner rather than later.

Tucked away, upstairs to the left of House of Machines on Shortmarket Street in Cape Town – you will find Outrage of Modesty.

To call it a cocktail bar would be to do what goes on here, an utter disservice. Luke Wheatley and his band of culinary pirates are on a mission to perfect the elegant art of pairing taste sensations, that defy logical reasoning. And from our brief experience last night, they are well on their way to finding that gastronomic holy grail.

But we weren’t at Outrage of Modesty just for the delicious cocktails. The real intention for our visit was to learn something from Luke and his team about how they go about creating a delightful and memorable customer experience. Believe it or not, whether you are in investment banking or manufacturing – there’s a lot you can learn from a visit to a good cocktail bar.

Here are some of the insight we took away from the outing:

• Collaboration

Nobody can make a significant impact alone. Luke understands this, and actively seeks local partners to collaborate with to leverage the opportunities that those relationships bring. He recently teamed up with our friends at the Oranjezicht City Farm as a partner for the provision of the fresh produce. When in doubt, team up.

• Creativity needs structure

There is a false perception that creative people are ‘flighty’ and prefer total chaos to any kind of order.

This is not true.

Luke feels (and we wholeheartedly agree) that creativity flourishes best housed in the framework of structure.  Within a schema of order, seemingly chaotic madness and originality can bubble up unhindered.

• Avoid adding more when it is not needed

It’s easy to load a plate with more stuff. Many restaurants believe they are offering the customer more value for money by overwhelming a plate with chips and garnish and all sorts of other, unnecessary excess. But a truely remarkable customer experience is one where no additional fluff is needed in a perfectly choreographed touching of all of the senses.

It is very easy to overcomplicate things, what’s hard is simplicity. Reaching a point where you are not able to take any more away without diminishing the value – that’s perfection.

• The quality of your thinking depends on the uniqueness of your inspiration

The saying goes: ‘A desk is a very dangerous place from which to think innovatively’. As a chef, Luke travels to unique places around the world to draw inspiration for his next menu and ensure that he is able to creatively differentiate himself from his competition. The same method should also be used by those seeking to differentiate their business value proposition. It’s not just chefs that should be going on a creative pilgrimage to seek inspiration from everywhere. Everyone tasked with a journey of innovation should be ‘going outside’ to explore and think.

If you’re wondering why your team isn’t coming up with innovative solutions – it’s probably because they stare at four blank walls day in and day out.

Take our word for it and do yourself a favour – head out and pay Luke and his team a visit.

Outrage of Modesty is at 88 Shortmarket Street. Booking is essential.

Years ago we took a trip out to Mzoli’s in Gugulethu, Cape Town to see how just one business has created a vibrant economic hub where many other small business operations can also flourish.

In this age of increasing anti-globalisation – African innovation and natural sensitivity towards social capital could provide an alternative model for the world and the future of sustainable capitalism.

What is social capital? It’s the network of relationships between people who live and work in a particular society or community, enabling that society to function effectively through cooperation for the long term advantage of all.

Globalisation has had a dramatic influence on the world. It has created huge amounts of wealth, but at the same time, it has concentrated that wealth in the hands of the few who are connected enough to exploit the opportunities it offers, while the rest of society is effectively excluded.

It’s not sustainable – and after 35 years of this global experiment, it feels like everything is unravelling quite quickly as the system collapses. A more co-operative system of capitalism needs to be adopted and the model may just be able to draw some inspiration from what already exists in Africa.

What a place like Mzoli’s demonstrates is that no business is an island. It’s just not possible for prosperity to exist for some amidst poverty for others. It’s only together that you can create long-term sustainability for a society.

Cape Town is an easy destination for car companies to shoot an ad of people doing stupid things on the road. Just point the camera on any given day in the direction of a street and you will be rewarded with scenes like this. Instead of the usual flashmob, here’s a driftmob featuring the the new BMW M235i.

For safety purposes they have created a ‘making of’ video just in case.

Apparently this is Sheer driving pleasure, but in our experience – people that behave like this on the road are usually need a stiff shot of Jack Daniel’s and a holiday.

Having said that – thanks to the creativity of this film, BMW have just confirmed for us that it’s just not a brand that we aspire to own. Now we know.

We stumbled across Lefty’s quite by chance, on our way to an economics lecture of all things. From the outside Lefty’s looks suitably dodgy, but call them to make a reservation for dinner and you’ll soon realise that ‘all is not as it at first appears’ with this little hole in the wall.

Inside – Lefty’s looks like the cast and crew from The Shack have been magically transported to Harrington Street and given a restaurant license. Decor wise you get the sense that you’ve taken a wrong turn and ended up in a church vestry, but one where communion is offered with a Pixies soundtrack and all the parishioners express their faith with body art.
The menu is short and sweet and may we take the liberty to mention that you will be well rewarded for being a bit daring with your choices here. Everything is good, but the pork ribs were nothing short of a triumph and the Kentucky chicken waffle…well, it’s tough to correctly explain what chicken, bacon, honey and chilli on a waffle tastes like, but it’s most definitely something you are going to want to try. It sounds trippy, but was just too good not to be the top recommendation here.

BTW – in case you were wondering, Lefty’s was the name of the bar in the 80’s video game Leisure Suit Larry. If we remember correctly, to get into Lefty’s you had to mention to the doorman the words: “Ken sent me” – otherwise there was no getting in and bad men came out of the night and beat you up. If you say these words at Lefty’s in Cape Town you’ll probably get handed a Jagermeister and the severed head of a fluffy bunny, but don’t take our fantasies as fact.

Overall Lefty’s is The Playground manned by a very talented cook and a crew of hospitality professionals that know exactly how to serve wickedly good food in a chilled spot. It’s the kind of place the Sister of Mercy and Rob Zombie would head to after a gig to get some good beer on tap and eat some delicious food.

Booking is essential.

The Western Cape is one of the most important wine producing regions in the world, but ironically Cape Town is a little short on good wine venues that dedicate themselves to the craft of wine curation. Tucked away, over the road from St Stephen’s on Heritage Square, you will find a discrete wine chapel called Publik – a wine bar that’s doing just that.

We asked David Cope, Publik’s village vicar of wine, a few questions about his parish and the broader Cape Town movement towards quality food and drink.

What’s the idea behind Publik?
To have fun with wine! But seriously: to introduce wine lovers to the lesser known producers and varietals they wouldn’t usually try in a place they can enjoy these wines without any sort of wine snobbery.

What kind of wine am I likely to enjoy at Publik?
We look for wines that are made as naturally as possible and reflect the wine, not a winemaker’s treatment of it. This means natural fermentation, no added shit (winemakers add a lot of stuff they don’t tell you about) and with no/minimal use of new oak. Usually this means buying from smaller, independent producers.

Do you drink your own stock? What in particular?
Always! I wouldn’t sell anything I wouldn’t happily drink, but I have a soft spot for unusual varietals, so things like the Blackwater Carignan and Mount Abora ‘Saffraan’ Cinsault are favourites.

What is the most memorable South African wine you can remember?
I drank a bottle of 1984 Rustenberg Red a few years back that was pretty special. And any time I get to drink Vin de Constance is also a treat.

What can wine possibly learn from craft beer?
Just enjoy the stuff. You don’t need to describe a beer to enjoy it. Also, craft beer understands packaging is as important as product, that people want an easy connection and not a long historical story, and that like-minded producers should stick together and help each other. Craft beer is a movement, but wine has no comparative movement as yet.

What are the big trends in bars and restaurants and going out at night places?
I don’t get out as much now that I’m running my own spot! But a definite trend (in Cape Town) for artisan products, be it beer, wine or food, and supporting local producers.

What do you find exciting right now about South African wine?
The number of young winemakers embracing a natural, fresher, leaner style of wine rather than trying to make a local version of something foreign.

Other than Publik Wine Bar – what two other places should we be checking out right now that blow you away in Cape Town?
I’m a big fan of The House of Machines, specifically what they’re doing with their old-school style cocktails. And Hallelujah is pretty awesome as a food or drinks spot; the owner has a way with interiors like nobody else.

Publik is open Monday – Friday, 4pm – 10pm.
81 Church Street (btw Bree & Buitengracht), Cape Town, 8001 – over the road from St Stephen’s Church on Heritage Square.

In addition: Check out our wine reviews that we’re slowly building up.