Jane Raphaely

When out-of-towners come to town, I take them to Franck Dangereux’s restaurant [The Food Barn] in Noordhoek Village; Saigon for the excellent Vietnamese cuisine and a great view of the mountain; to the Concert Club’s recital at the Baxter, then to Mamma Roma for a late and delicious dinner (excellent vitello tonnato, veal chops and grilled vegetables); La Perla for a trip down memory lane with the manager and waiters; and Café Paradiso’s garden with another great mountain view.

Sadly, I won’t be taking any of them to the restaurant in the Company Gardens. It has remained the same for 40 years, and used to be the best introduction to Cape Town’s cuisine, even offering a choice of slap or crispy chips. In their wisdom, the Cape Town City Council has taken away the licence from the original family who held it, and given it to some people who are apparently already sending out signals by cutting down venerable trees to get more space….

The best meal I’ve eaten recently was the ox tongue at Societi Bistro in Gardens. It comes with dauphine potatoes, parsley and caper cream and, actually, they’ve named it after me!

My other favourite restaurants are Erawan for their crispy duck, Sawaddee for crispy chicken, the Black Sheep for twice-cooked lamb ribs, La Mouette for cheese croquettes, A Tavola for zucchini fritti, Maria’s (everything on the menu), Bihari in the Newlands Southern Sun Hotel for tandoori chicken with yoghurt, Bizerca Bistro for aubergine fritters, Haiku for turnip cake and duck with pancakes, cucumber, spring onion and plum sauce, Le Petite Tarte for their fluffy breakfast omelette, Café Paradiso for their gnocchi, Lazari (everything is delicious), Den Anker for their croquettes and perfect chips with mayo, and Tamboers Winkel in Tamboerskloof for their sublime chicken pie. I would go to Nobu at the One&Only more often if it was open at lunchtime.

Cape Town events you’ll always find me at are any of the ones that Amanda Bloch is organising.

My favourite TV series are Game of Thrones, The Good Wife, House of Cards, The Blacklist, True Detective, Fargo, The Fixer, The Graham Norton Show and Miranda. And I can’t wait for Foyle’s War to return. I am fascinated by all the characters in these series, particularly the strong women and the flawed men. My favourite character in Game of Thrones is the delicious dwarf, Tyrion Lannister, who so deserves to outlive his siblings and find true love. He is brilliantly played by Peter Dinklage, whom I have loved since seeing him in The Station Agent.

My favourite weekend getaway is Paternoster.

On my bucket list to do in the Cape is the “boomslang” tree canopy walkway at Kirstenbosch.

In my spare time I read, especially to my grandchildren.

If only more coffee shops and restaurants stocked NoMu hot chocolate… they would make a fortune out of me alone.

My best after-work drinks spot in Cape Town is La Parada – their tapas are the best.

One of my favourite walks is Fernwood’s green belt in spring. The drifts of arums and snowdrops are exquisite, and the Camellia japonica is also extraordinary. We need to remember the people who planted all of these. These are the remnants of the gardens of the families who were kicked out of Protea Village (most worked at Kirstenbosch and presumably had the best gardening experience of any in the Cape) by the Nationalist government in the mid-1960s.

My favourite wine for a special occasion is anything that comes from Robertson. De Grendel wines and Iona’s Sophie Te’blanche are good too.

The best book I’ve read recently is Thomas Keneally’s The Daughters of Mars – it just doesn’t go away. The sisters in it are such extraordinary people. He said in Franschhoek that he doesn’t know where they came from – specifically: ”I don’t know these people.” At the same session Shifra Horn said that “four women just knocked on my door and marched into my house and sat down” – the book that resulted from this creative invasion, Four Mothers, is also a great read. But the book I have given away more often than any other is The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman. Possibly the most touching love story I have ever read. You’ll have to visit my blog to get the list of the best children’s books that I have ever read aloud.

The best movie I’ve seen recently is Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. I loved the film and the soundtrack so much that I bought it on CD and play it in the plaguey traffic jams. The film is funny, constantly surprising, and the casting is brilliant.

I’m currently working on two online projects. I haven’t left paper and I believe, like Ben Trisk, who has taken Exclusive Books under his wing again, that real books have already recovered from the Kindle, but I do love the things that you can do online that would not have worked in print.

On Sundays I try to forget what I have just read in the Sunday Times and bury myself in a good book or a good romp with the grandchildren.

Magazines are still a big part of my life. I am very proud of ours – Cosmopolitan just won two prizes at the international Cosmo conference in Argentina, and The Media magazine has just put it into the top 10 Magazine list in South Africa. House and Leisure is the only home, décor and lifestyle title in the world that breaks news on every page of content. Australian Marie Claire recently paid our edition the compliment of copying one of our covers. Lee-Ann Liebenberg, who proudly showed off her pregnant belly on our cover was one-up on her Australian counterpart. She didn’t have to ask her mother whether she should do it.

Wherever I have been and whatever I have seen, I love coming home to Cape Town, the most beautiful place on earth. I have seen people with tears of joy in their eyes when they return here, and I never see that anywhere else. I don’t cry or kiss the tarmac when I return. I am too busy rejoicing.

Straight after this I have to finish a review of Arianna Huffington’s new book, Thrive, for O Magazine. And I have to sign off the chapter I wrote in Adele Shevel’s new book about enterprising women. Then I have to work on my speech for the Black Management Forum in August. They have asked me to speak about the challenges facing women in leadership 20 years into our country’s democracy, and this is probably the most challenging invitation I will receive this year because, if I can find the right words, these women are the ones who could make the difference.

One day I will work out why it is that women aren’t running the world, since we are the only ones left who might save it.