New Year’s Eve jols to watch from the VIP box – or through binoculars

Cape Town is, as always, awash with the jol. There are some truly fascinating themes. Party like you’re in Ibiza at Shimmy Beach Club with the Ibiza-based company Blue Marlin. The Kinky Summer NYE festival brings the sea to the Winelands with their Under the Sea theme. Yes, there is a man-made dam and swimming pool. Of course, there is glamping. They also have five stages and six dance floors.

If you have an open water phobia, try HQ for their “heaven” themed fine dining and dancing in all white. The One&Only hotel is hosting a “safari cocktail party”. La Parada in Constantia Nek promises to immerse their guests in a “tribal forest”. It remains to be seen what exactly all of that means.

In the Glen overlooking Camps Bay, lauded Chef Luke Dale Roberts has adapted the Roundhouse in a collaboration with Ryan Cole, his former head chef of The Test Kitchen. Salsify at the Roundhouse promises a sophisticated New Year’s Eve at R2,250 per person including “bottomless Graham Beck MCC” (for R400). The menu includes roasted quail breast with Scotch egg, black garlic and lentils, Assiette of suckling pig, “local” Wagyu fillet with porcini pudding, burnt turnip and bone marrow, and roasted peach with lavender and clotted cream. Book online at www.salsify.co.za.

Not too far away at the Shortmarket Club, Dale Roberts’ restaurant venture with collaborators Chef Wesley Randles and Simon Widdison, for R2,600 per person offers a seven-course menu, and R3,100 gets you “the added stellar wine pairing”. Book online at www.theshortmarketclub.co.za.

For those staycationing in Joburg, DJ Fresh will be hitting the decks at Saint in Sandton, which is the self-proclaimed most exclusive jol of the year. Enter the new year full of creative inspiration by attending the AfroPunk Joburg 2018 festival at Constitution Hill where they will showcase old and new talent – a place for the “…voice for the unwritten, unwelcome and unheard-of”. In Soweto, Fresh Year's Eve will be hosted at Zone 6 venue which can house 3,000 people.



The dining room of Saint restaurant in Sandton, Johannesburg. Photo: Facebook



AfroPunk NYE concert 2017. Photo: Facebook



The Zone 6 Venue is a warehouse in Zone 6/Diepkloof in Soweto. Photo: Facebook

For some Sandton-by-the-sea, head to Plett. Look out over the bay at Sky Villa to the sounds of Locnville and Desmond and the Tutus, or head to the lawns of the Beacon Island Hotel where the likes of PHFAT and DJ Roger Goode will take the stage. If not, Freshlyground and GOODLUCK will be just two of the acts performing at the Get Lucky Summer NYE concert at the Robberg Rugby Club.



Sky Villa sits high above Plettenberg Bay and offers views of sand and sea. Photo: Facebook



GOODLUCK poses with the 2017 crowd at the Get Lucky Summer NYE concert. Photo: Facebook

Down the drag in Port Elizabeth there is another party with a sea view at the Roof Garden Bar. Skip the madness and wind of St Francis for this mildly less windy but much more laid-back seaside town.



The Roof Garden Bar is set between tall buildings in central Port Elizabeth. Photo: Facebook

Even further along the drag in Durban, Ballito will be closing its streets to put on its NYE street party for the 14th time and for 6,000 jollers. Black Coffee will be performing as part of an extensive line-up at the Moses Mabhida Stadium’s People’s Park to (apparently) about 18,000 people. Durban clearly believes in going big or going home for NYE.

Now you know where to pitch your tent. Considering that the tent was misplaced at Daisies, the WiFi has a password and the view is blocked by the portaloos, maybe you should give in and go inside. DM