One&Only Cape Town Opens with A-List Party

Sol Kerzner, Chairman and CEO of Kerzner International, owner and operator of One&Only resorts, welcomed friends and family for an intimate evening and series of private events as he unveiled his latest luxury masterpiece – One&Only Cape Town, situated at the centre of Cape Town's fashionable Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.

On Thursday evening, April 2nd, the night began with cocktails in the resort's Vista Bar overlooking Table Mountain. The event décor, designed by South Africa's own Colin Cowie, featured cocktail tables with linens in shades of chocolate brown, tan and cream, in a variety of textures and patterns set off by stunning floral arrangements – orange tulips anchored with floating candles and red-orange rose spheres accented with orange tulips.

Sol Kerzner introduced his 350 guests to the resort's world renowned chefs, Gordon Ramsay and Nobu Matsuhisa, who together kicked off a moving celebration of the African region. The chefs in turn surprised him with one metre-long and one-half metre high cake – a detailed replica of One&Only Cape Town – to commemorate his return to his homeland 40 years after he started the South African tourism industry. At the entrance to Ramsay's maze (4) men in traditional English hunting attire – red waistcoats and white ascots – heralded the guests' arrival with bugles. Inside, they sampled maze BLT (tomato jelly, smoked bacon cream, lettuce veloute) shot glasses, a 'Prawn Cocktail' (confit Mozambican prawn, confit tomato, antequera foam), mini beef bobotie, carved bayonne method ham, house cured gravadlax, smoked trout with confit potato and horseradish and a variety of traditional South African Biltong. In the resort's amazing glass and steel wine loft, which houses the largest collection of South African wine in the world, an extensive selection of South African cheeses and home made chutneys (peach and saffron, tomato jam, piccalilli) were offered with a variety of wines from the region to Mariah Carey, Thandie Newton, Marisa Tomei and Morgan Freeman. Sharon Stone joined Chef Ramsay in a Saber Ceremony, where they cut the top off a bottle of South African Sparkling Wine to officially open the restaurant.

Two Japanese drummers, wearing mawashis, welcomed Robert DeNiro and Chef Nobu Matsuhisa into the resort's outpost of NOBU, where their traditional Sake Ceremony signaled the opening of the first NOBU in Africa. Clint Eastwood, Matt Damon and his wife Luciana among others all partook of Nobu's famous Sashimi Salad, Nobu Tacos (Tuna /Salmon/Lobster), Black Cod on Butter Lettuce, Salmon with Anticucho Sauce and Assorted Nobu Sushi Rolls. The floral arrangements in the restaurants were designed to have an African feel to them with balls of green chrysanthemums with orchid and guinea fowl feather accents.

After dining, guests were gathered by a group of Cape Minstrels for a taste of Cape Town's world-renowned jazz festival in the resort's main ballroom adorned by Cowie entirely in black, purple and white. Black lounge furniture was accented with white coffee tables. The pre-function room adjacent to the ballroom was filled with black and white lounge furniture, and in the center of the room a red, tiered dessert buffet featured red orchid flowers in varying heights at its centre. The bars were designed in white Plexiglas and lit with red light.

The master ensemble of global musicians including Clint Eastwood’s son Kyle Eastwood on bass, legendary Dave Koz on saxophone; Jonathan Butler on guitar; the magnificent Patti Austin on vocals; Maceo Parker, formerly James Brown's saxophone player, on sax; 6-year-old Cape Town percussion prodigy Daniel Peterson on drums and the amazing Hugh Masekela on Flugle & Trumpet performed an array of hits including "Fire & Rain," "I'll Take You There," "Let's Stay Together" and many more. Late night snacks came from the maze kitchen including Mini maze burgers, a soup station and pressed paninis of tomato, roasted peppers and buffalo mozzarella. As the evening drew to a close, Capetonians could see the outside areas around the waterfront lit with hurricane lamps and tikki torches.

All food was donated to Feedback (www.feedback.org.za) immediately after the event. Feedback is a nonprofit organization committed to community development through food recovery and redistribution to impoverished communities in SA.

Created exclusively for the luxury resort market, One&Only Resorts are conceived as hallmarks of excellence. Set in some of the most beautiful locales in the world, each award-winning resort offers guests a distinctive style and personality borne of its local culture, a genuine hospitality and a lively energy that is unrivalled. These properties include One&Only Reethi Rah, Maldives; One&Only Le Saint Géran in Mauritius; One&Only Royal Mirage in Dubai; One&Only Ocean Club in The Bahamas; and One&Only Palmilla in Los Cabos, Mexico. The new One&Only Cape Town, South Africa opens on April 3, 2009. More information on One&Only is available at oneandonlyresorts.com