October 20, 2006
By Lucille Davie
In the second Starfish Visa Long, Long, Long Table evening, 34 Melville restaurants pulled their tables out on to two streets of the suburb, decorated them gorgeously, and lavished three courses of delicious food on 1 500 diners.
It was all in aid of the Starfish Greathearts Foundation, which supports Aids orphans. The sponsor for the evening was Visa. Last year 1 000 people dined at 29 restaurants and R18 000 was raised.
Seventh Street in Melville is famous among Joburgers for its great restaurants, boutiques and book shops. And together with Fourth Avenue, it was the perfect place to close off the side streets and bring out the tables.
The theme for the evening was stars and although there were no stars in the overcast sky, there were plenty of stars on the tables, in the street lights and flashes of them in people's dress. Even the food reflected the theme.
"This was the biggest dinner of hope in the world," said Marie-Lais Emond, organiser and originator of the idea, and head of the Gourmet Society.
Emond said she saw a long breakfast table in Italy and a photographer friend suggested she try the same in Melville. She hoped other people would try it and suggested other places where it would be perfect: Parktown North or Parkhurst and, further afield, Kloof Street in Cape Town or Florida Road in Durban.
"A lot of events organisers have written to me to ask how to do it. So, perhaps … I hope they all do it for Starfish when they do."
Most of the restaurants were booked out days before the event, with the prices for the meal ranging from R300 to R150, excluding drinks. Prizes were given to the restaurant with the best food and the best table decoration, and the best-dressed person in terms of the theme of the evening.
There were eight chefs who acted as judges, from the SA Chefs Association. They voted Soi, a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant, as the winner. Soulsa, last year's winner, was in second place, and Berlin was in third place, with chef Braam Kruger, alias Kitchenboy, dishing up the culinary delights.
Francel Scheepers, manager of Soi, said there was no particular secret to winning the first prize, but simply serving the same standard of food the restaurant served every day, which combines the cuisine of the two countries.
Tempting diners' taste buds were items like Thai chicken coconut soup, vegetable green curry, and Saigon wok beef.
"It was a wonderful evening for us," she said, adding that she expected business to improve after the win. The Soi table was fully booked, with 65 customers.
Winner De la Creme's white-themed table, with everything in its place
De la Crème was given first prize for the best table, with Pomegranate in second place. The winning table was pure white, with mirrors placed under candles twinkling through holes in white paper bags, complemented by fairy lights and finished off with white flowers.
A prize was given in a non-restaurant category, to a shop that had done something creative with the theme. Studio Gesso, an art gallery, had a lounge party on the street, and it received the prize for starry artwork and starry window decorations.
Lucille Onofri, the manager of the individual events management team at Starfish, said R58 000 was raised in pledges last night, and probably around R190 000 in contributions from restaurants. This money would go to helping Aids orphans by helping to train and support their helpers and caregivers.
Starfish was founded in 2002 when three South Africans living in London held an event and raised R100 000 for orphans back home. Since then the organisation has grown enormously and now supports 68 communities in eight provinces, through 37 non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations. Since 2002 it has raised R35-million and helped 25 000 kids.
The main sponsors are the US government, Pick 'n Pay, Coca-Cola and Virgin.
Onofri said the organisation tried to raise funds in different ways. One way was to ask athletes to get sponsorships for the events they participated in, and collect money for each kilometre completed.
"We want to get as many kids into a safety net as possible," she said, while admitting that it was only touching barely 1 percent of the orphan population.
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