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Mapungubwe Hotel Apartments
Unlike its namesake, the Mapungubwe Hotel is a quintessential modern establishment, offering all manner of trappings the well-heeled traveller comes to expect. Like aircon and room bound flat screen TVs with accompanying DSTV, room service, electronic room safes and WIFI too. If it's millennial 21st century -- rest assured the four-starred Mapungubwe Hotel has it in abundance.
We arrived on a Saturday, just in time for a leisurely lunch at the cheekily named Darkie Caf across the road -- later the setting for sexy, sweaty salsa party that hummed into the wee hours.
Feeling a little under the weather, we opted for tamer entertainment for the evening and stayed in to dine at Mapungubwe Hotel's decadent restaurant, Twist. It was love at first bite. I 'uhhmed' and 'aahed', unable to choose between the divine sounding burnt orange and bacon salad or the delicate pea and mint risotto. In the end I settled on a hearty lamb shank slow stewed in buttermilk and port, while my companion got to work on a silky prawn curry cooked in coconut milk. Culinary nirvana. Later still, we gorged on a 'Very South African Desert Platter' -- diminutive koeksusters, melktarts, and Herzoggie biscuits arranged pleasingly around a dollop of crme chantilly and fresh raspberries. Artistic and tasty, but despite our best efforts, we just couldn't finish them all off. Instead we polished the platter on the couch while watching a movie later that night. Hotel life - you just can't beat it.
In its former life, Mapungubwe Hotel used to be a French Bank. And long before that, the bank sat on the site where the first major gold discovery in Joburg was made (the one that sparked the subsequent goldrush). In it's basement, there's still evidence of its former incarnation, as evidenced by a wall of very shiny safety deposit boxes. They've become a feature dcor point in the underground retro cocktail bar -- suitably named the Vault. The dcor is dark and sexy, lots of maroon, and subtle dim lighting - one can just imagine the mischief you can orchestrate from down here, beneath all the fortified concrete that made this subterranean warren impenetrable and soundproof. And, you don't have to stay at the hotel to enjoy a night in the French Bank Vault - it's open to all. But do dress swish, or run the risk of looking out of place.
If draping yourself over a sexy bar counter -- flute of French Champagne in hand -- isn't your idea of fun (it isn't?!), then let the hotel shuttle ferry you to Newtown -- the city's Cultural Precinct -- or perhaps you'd like to take in a spot of theatre at the Joburg Theatre in Braamfontein? There's just so much to do in this enclave of the city.
Interestingly, some people actually live permanently in Mapungubwe Hotel Apartments. You see, the apartments come fitted with a stylish kitchen. You can eat in, or out - entirely up to you. What struck me was how deliciously perfect the rooms are for a romantic weekend in the CBD. Very Sex in the City.
After a deep sleep between crisp white linen, we feasted the next morning at the hotel's breakfast buffet - endless plates of sausages, eggs (fried, poached, scrambled, omletted, you name it), cereals, toast (rye, wholewheat, white, brown, seed, I could go on), cold meats and cheeses, fried tomoato, bacon, yoghurts - it's enough to make you cry really!
We wanted to take a dip in the pool, and give the gym a test-drive, but honestly, after all that grub there was little else we could do except laze around and wait for the food induced lethargy to wear off? hotel life - you gotta love it.
Corner Marshall & Ferrira Street, Marshalltown. Reservations: +27-11-429-2600, or book online at www.faircity.co.za, or email reservations.mapungubwe@faircity.co.za
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