What To Do In And Around The Residence

Head to the rooftop and the Sky Lounge to enjoy an expertly prepared cocktail, or sundowner, while watching an African sunset right on your doorstep. On chilly winter nights, a fire warms those guests who choose to socialize after the sun has gone down. Al fresco spa treatments on the Residence’s rooftop can also be arranged during your stay.

Having recently opened its doors to the public, the Factory on Grant Avenue in Norwood aims to be a destination for promoting the arts, crafts, design and a bit of individuality as it hopes to inject some renewed interest in the old neighborhood. The Factory features an artisanal bakery, a glass blowing studio, a screen printing workshop, an art gallery, boutique clothing stores and even a flower shop. Over the years, the popular Grant Avenue in Norwood has declined somewhat, with a proliferation of massage parlors and mini supermarkets. With the new Factory having opened early in 2014, Norwood seems to have a new buzz about it which, hopefully, will lead to other new ventures and establishments popping up too.

Dating back to 1926, the Houghton Golf Club has recently been redesigned by the Jack Nicklaus Design team and is considered a premier golf club in Johannesburg. It is no stranger to championship events, having hosted a number of SA Open tournaments as well as the prestigious Alfred Dunhill Championship. Situated alongside the Wilds Nature Reserve, the course, which is a proclaimed bird sanctuary, is a great extension to the greenbelt within Johannesburg, So grab your clubs and tee up to see if you can hit a hole-in-one. (Image via http://houghton.clubhouseonline-e3.com)

Bustling Grant Avenue in Norwood has a good selection of quaint restaurants. Trying to navigate the busy street at lunch or dinner time can sometimes be a bit of a lengthy process as many hungry mouths are looking to satisfy their cravings. If you’re in the area and looking to take care of those hunger pangs, be sure to check out one of these places: 1. Hokkaido and Real Sushi for good sushi. Hokkaido serves Chinese and other Japanese dishes if you aren’t in the mood for sushi. 2. Schwarma Co. is a local favorite. Summer is great for enjoying a bite on the patio outside. As the name implies, shawarmas are the specialty. 3. Casa Nostra is a lovely mom-and-pop bistro offering up classic Italian dishes. Delicious, hearty Italian cuisine at its best. 4. Vovo Telo, an artisanal bakery, produces freshly baked goods daily and provides a place where the residents of Norwood can finally have a good breakfast in the neighborhood. Patrons can sit inside the beautiful storefront or in the courtyard of the Factory at the back and enjoy the outdoors. 5. Giovanni Pane Vino has a well-rounded menu featuring a good range of pizzas alongside an assortment of pastas, meat and fish dishes, as well as a nice selection of wines. Aside from the food spots, there are also a few specialised stores, a hotel, and even a few day spas.

If you’re travelling past the CBD along Jozi’s bordering M2 Highway, you might catch a glimpse of a new piece of street art which was commissioned in honor of the late, great Nelson Mandela. The artwork by the internationally acclaimed Ricky Lee Gordon, a.k.a Freddy Sam, is a 9-story high mural of Mandela in his heyday when he was doing a bit of boxing. He once commented, “I did not enjoy the violence of boxing so much as the science of it. I was intrigued by how one moved one’s body to protect oneself, how one used a strategy both to attack and retreat, how one paced oneself over a match. Boxing is egalitarian. In the ring, rank, age, color and wealth are irrelevant. When you are circling your opponent, probing his strengths and weaknesses, you are not thinking of his color or social status.” And so we can see how Nelson Mandela, thought about how to free a nation from its inequalities in everything he did.

Sunday is the day to go when food vendors from nearby sell their eats in one place. Maboneng is the arts district of Joburg. Arts on Main hosts several galleries, shops and vendors to enjoy. Many of the galleries feature young and emerging artists of Joburg who are very talented. The picture shown features some of these artists’ works. Jozi’s art scene is rapidly growing and on the same level as New York and other big art cities in the world. We stayed at the 12 Decades Hotel for a few nights and explored Soweto (for history) and Parkhurst for drinks/eats. I also heard from a local that Rosebank has a great market for crafts.

If you’re lucky enough, you might get the opportunity to play with some of the Johannesburg Zoo’s inhabitants, which includes feeding the seals and playing with the red pandas. The Zoo offers families a great place to have an educational day together.

The Zone is located in the leafy suburb of Rosebank, with a Gautrain station located just across the road. It has a great collection of stores, restaurants, fast food joints, drinking spots, a cinema and even an arcade with an awesome bowling alley! On one particular occasion, I met up with some friends for a Big Lebowski themed night at the bowling alley. After we’d knocked over some pins and smashed some strikes, we made our way to the froyo store a few steps away to end off the night with a bit of a sweet treat.

Situated in a quiet corner of the Zone in Rosebank, this quaint little coffee shop has some tall orders on its menu. With a size called “The Mother Cuppa” and a drink called the Dictator, Motherland Coffee Co.'s range of fair trade based beverages are sure to leave your mouth wanting more. The particular drink in the photo above is the Dictator — a layering of condensed milk, double espresso and whipped cream topped off with chocolate shavings. While your taste buds are coming to grips with the drink you’ve ordered, you can enjoy some memes or youtube clips on your laptop courtesy of the free wi-fi.

The tony suburb of Houghton, whose best-known resident was Nelson Mandela, is home to leafy lanes lined with stately estates. Not too far from the Mandela family manse is the Residence, a stylish boutique property that lives up to its name, evoking a private lair of a chic distant relative that guests are fortunate enough to visit for a spell.

The rooms are plush, with velvet headboards, sumptuous rugs, and glittering chandeliers, but the bathrooms are a sight to behold: the gleaming marble tiles and outdoor showers and tubs merit a special mention. Nods to the nautical can be found in the Boat Lounge, where mini sailboats and life preservers inspire the decor. There’s often a pianist tickling the ivories in the Piano Lounge, where guests can retire with a post-prandial cocktail.

On the first Friday of each month, a quaint gathering of people at the Backyard Pop-Up Bar send their taste buds on an exquisite food & drink journey with adventurous meals from Prep’ed by Sasha, like the Lou Mei Short Ribs (master stack braised short rib with salted watermelon & chili cucumber Jar) or the ‘Crisp’, a bloody beetroot flat bread with Chevin cheese, sun ripened tomato & watercress. The drinks on offer are brewed up by Molecular Bar & include unique takes on classics like the Pina Colada & some delicious hand-brewed and bottled offerings like the very refreshing Paloma which is a mix of delightful summery fruit flavours and blanco tequilla. There are non-alcoholic options as well. My favourite was the cold brewed coffee. This surprising drink is brewed in cold water for 21 hours which does something magical to the brew, and results in some amazing tastes that develop after the first sip goes down. The blend of chilled, live music with the delicious food and the craft drinks, makes for a great way to ease into the weekend without rowdy pub patrons or smoke-filled clubs with overly loud music. The Backyard Pop-Up bar comes as a spin-off of the very successful Ice Cream Sundays which takes place at the same venue on the last Sunday of each month. Each month the food & drink offerings will change based on what’s trending overseas. My only wish is that their Heavenly version of the Crack Pie from the Momofuku Milk Bar in the States stays on the menu next time!