Tshwane ANC chair to bid for slice of city’s culinary legacy

The ANC's regional chair for Tshwane, Eugene Modise, will be among those bidding for a slice of Pretoria's culinary legacy. 

The opulent five-star, 10-room Orient Boutique Hotel and Restaurant Mosaic in Elandsfontein in the Francolin Nature Reserve went under the hammer on Tuesday in a two-day online auction.

It includes an art gallery, private cinema, homesteads and an office complex. It stands on 280ha of farming properties in the Crocodile River Valley and is expected to fetch between R50m and R70m.

What it doesn't include is a collection of 85,000 bottles of wine across 4,000 different labels. They will be sold off over three years to avoid “flooding the market”, in a process facilitated by fine wine importer Grand Domaines.

The distinctive Moroccan-style hotel was mothballed last year after owner Cobus du Plessis and his wife Mari Dartnell, who ran the hotel and gallery, moved to France and bought a castle to renovate. Daughter Chantel Dartnall, a globally decorated chef who ran the multiple award-winning Mosaic Restaurant, went with them. The family is hoping to replicate what they built up in SA over 15 years in France.

A tour of the property last week for prospective bidders revealed, in spite of being closed for more than a year and most of the furniture and artwork removed, the property still oozes opulence with maroon velvet wall coverings, stained glass windows, designer wallpaper, water features and immaculate gardens.

Modise, who was on the tour for prospective buyers, said if his bid was successful, he would keep the venue as a hotel and restaurant.

“I’ve stayed here before and hosted a birthday party here. This place is everything, it’s a palace. The staff are superb. It makes Sun City look like child’s play,” he said, pointing to the ornately carved entrance doors imported from India.

“I stayed here for a night about 12 years ago. Back then I think it was about R4,000 a night for a room but I still remember that bed and the bedding.”

Derek Kilpin, a wine specialist from Grand Domaines working in association with fine art and design auctioneers Stephan Welz & Co, said the wine collection came from “some of the most admired estates in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany as well as a vast and deep collection of some of SA’s finest and rarest wines”.

“Of equal importance is the wines’ provenance. Every one of the labels in the collection was selected with care as the Mosaic team travelled to farms across Europe and South Africa. They also ensured that each bottle was appropriately transported: the cold chain managed and intact until the consignment was delivered to the safety of the Mosaic cellar, with its constant humidity of 70% and temperature of 14ºC.

“The wines will be sold over a long period via a variety of platforms but we at Welz are excited to have secured a parcel of wines which we can now offer to all our collectors.”

Chantel, who was twice named South African Chef of the Year at the Eat Out Restaurant Awards, told the Sunday Times last week they had already completed the building of the first cellar at the chateau, which is a Neo-Renaissance 19th-century castle constructed in 1860.

“This was the first project we worked on. We have a great passion for South African wine and, as per the cellar at the Orient, we will once again compile our cellar to feature 50% South African wines. The first shipment of just more than 8,000 bottles of South African wine that we are importing to France will arrive early in 2023.”

She said the family was a year into “our newest and dearest project, the renovation of the Chateau Des Tesnières”.

“In 2021, we packed up our existence in South Africa, including The Orient Hotel and Restaurant Mosaic, and headed towards Europe. Glowing bright within us was the hope of reimagining our lives in the largest peninsula in France: Brittany. This chapter of our story sees us establishing a luxury hotel and a new home for our restaurant.

“At our previous establishment in South Africa, the scenery of the Francolin Conservation Area was a safe haven and a source of creative inspiration for the restaurant. The design and intention of  the gardens at Chateau des Tesnières will be no different. Together with our landscape architects, we intend to incorporate the history of the area, from the triskele labyrinth (a symbol of Brittany,) to the Celtic cross. In this way, there will be a seamless transition from the outdoor to indoor experience using the golden thread of historic narrative.

Auctioneer Johan van Eyk, of Vans Auctioneers, said the sale, which requires a R1m refundable deposit from bidders, will end on Thursday.

“The seller will have seven days to decide whether to accept the offer.”