Marika's For Amazing Greek Food.

Marika's at  38 Victoria Road, Bakoven,  is one of those very rare gems, a neighbourhood, family run restaurant serving amazing food to an adoring public.   And best of all, the amazing food is Greek food.  Yes, can you believe it and right under our very noses!

As a family we love Greek food, having learnt all about it at the table of  the late great Greek Master Chef, Strati Constanides.  I mention him as a tribute and also as an indication of the level of our expectations when we eat Greek food.  So imagine our joy when we tasted Marika's food and realised that we had come home.  Here were the long- remembered and long sought - after flavours, textures and aromas.   Life really does dish up wonderful surprises.

Marika's Restaurant opened on the 10th December 2005.  Marika Pettenuzzo and Frank Resnik are the helmsman of this lovely place.  Marika is the culinary force and her son Alessandro, a superb chef, alternates with his mother in the kitchen, producing food of the same remarkable standard.  Frank is a genial welcoming host ably assisted in this job by Fabiano, Marika's younger son.  Fabiano also waits tables and is an informed, friendly and good looking addition to the whole scene.  I told you it was a family  affair .                               

Mia Feinstein - Celebrity Dog Photographer - Pooch Paparazzo

Watch out pooches, Mia Feinstein is back in town.  You and your human may see her at any time in the course of your daily outings.   Mia of the graceful Mediterranean good looks and the shy smile, strolls and wanders, camera at the ready, looking for the next subject for her photographic library.

Mia has relocated to Cape Town after 16 years in London.    Whilst in London, she earned Pooch Paparazzo status, but her love of the craft started years before, when as an eleven-year old, she photographed her beloved Yorkie, Gucci, with a 35mm film camera.   Nowadays her cameras are the latest in high tech and many of  her subjects are the beloved and pampered pets of celebrities.

Incidentally, she has left her beloved Frankie, a miniature dachshund, behind in the U.K.   Quarantine laws make it very difficult to move pets from Britain to South Africa.  Frankie is now happily hunting rabbits in Scotland which is exactly what dachshunds with their short stubby legs are bred for.  All the better for crawling down rabbit holes.    He is featured in a photograph as a very classy gent in a tuxedo jacket, white shirt and black bow tie.

She has published two beautiful coffee table books; 'Pooches in Shades' and 'Andy Warhound Pup Art'.   Sexily packaged and presented, they now adorn coffee tables from Los Angeles to Cape Town.

I have come to interview Mia about her books, but find that it is impossible to discuss the books in isolation.  Her art surrounds everything that she does and collects, so I question her about the genesis of her career.