March 23, 2009

AFRICA & MIDEAST | SOUTH AFRICA | CAPE TOWN

Early Doors

By Doug Black

Star chefs and soccer fans — they're all welcome at Africa's first One&Only.

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All eyes are on South Africa — or at least half a million pairs of them. That’s how many soccer fans are set to descend on the nation next year for the first FIFA World Cup held on African soil. Preparations in the host cities are already at fever pitch — take Cape Town, which has its own string of firsts to announce. Chief among them is the first One&Only resort in continental-Africa, developed by Sol Kerzner, a homegrown hotel and casino magnate whose empire stretches from Connecticut to Dubai.

If previous Kerzner launches are any indication, One&Only Cape Town promises to start with bang. The expansive resort has already achieved the unthinkable by bucking global trends and pulling the opening date back to April 3 — four months earlier than expected. Next it will welcome not one but two celebrity chefs to the continent. Nobuyuki Matsuhisa will make his African debut at One&Only, where he promises to spice up Nobu’s traditional Japanese cuisine with a few South African twists. And across the lobby, Gordon Ramsey brings the weight of 16 Michelin stars to (yet another) Maze — this one with a three-story wine loft housing 6,000 bottles.

But culinary star power shouldn’t overshadow the resort itself. With the dramatic backdrop of Table Mountain, One&Only will bring 131 spacious rooms to the fashionable Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. While you might not be able to land a plane in them, the rooms make a claim for the city’s largest, each with a private terrace or balcony. The lion’s share are located in the seven-story, crescent-shaped Marina Rise, but more reclusive guests can fulfill their Lost fantasies on one of two exclusive islands in the bay. Villa Island features 40 private suites, while the 13,000-square-foot spa island is home to 11 treatment villas, two vitality pools and enough vegetation to make you forget the chanting soccer hooligans back on the mainland.