A high-pitched scream stopped guests in their tracks outside a Sandton club on Wednesday night — Shashi Naidoo let out the cry after her iPhone was snatched as she climbed out of her cab.
“This is why I live in Dubai now,” said the visibly shaken actress and former TV presenter, who nonetheless looked the height of glam in a shimmering gold dress.
This was one of two new spots which drew out the social set over the past few days (more about the other, the chic Asian dining spot Jinsei, in a little bit).
In the case of Okio (from the Italian for “eye”) Nightclub and Bellucci Luxury Lounge, many were particularly intrigued to find out how successfully new owner Sergio Zurini had transformed the space which previously housed the well-known Taboo nightclub.
As I make my way inside, it’s goodbye to the sleek and sexy décor style of the club previously owned by the late Chris Coutroulis for a more opulent scheme (think lots of gold, marble and crystal).
Climbing the stairs and turning to the right leads to the more intimate Bellucci lounge, where I recognise Tumelo Ramaphosa, son of President Cyril Ramaphosa, seated in one corner, before heading back out and into Okio, the main nightclub area, where you could hardly miss Tarina Patel, the actress and movie producer, in a red-hot figure-hugging gown by Vietnamese brand Chats by C.Dam.
Tarina tells me plans are in the works for a new reality TV show she is producing to appear on one of the big streaming services.
However, I am more interested to learn what Tarina’s husband, Iqbal Sharma, has been up to after the judge threw out the Nulane fraud and corruption case in 2023, describing the evidence from the National Prosecuting Authority’s investigation as “lackadaisical”.
“Living, loving and laughing,” says the former Transnet director.
Meanwhile, I remind Shashi that she celebrated being named FHM’s sexiest woman in the world back in 2011 in this very spot.
“The morning I land back in Dubai [where she runs an Airbnb business], I am going to have a shower and head straight to a TV commercial shoot. You can’t take [modelling] out of my blood,” said the personality and businesswoman, who still also runs her modelling agency, Alushi Models, in Johannesburg.
Rewind to last weekend when taste buds were tantalised with Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese flavours at a luncheon held at Jinsei in Waterfall Wilds, located in the sprawling Waterfall gated estate in Midrand.
This is the latest addition to restaurateur John Koutsoudakis’ foodie empire (he owns the Life Grand Café chain of restaurants) which held an afternoon mixer for guests to sample cocktails like the refreshing Papaya Suppai, Wakame Negroni (the twist is the touch of seaweed) and the lively Rhubarb Soju Fizz while snacking on the tastiest vegetable rice paper rolls I’ve tasted (the passion fruit dressing on the sticky tofu, vermicelli noodles with avo, lettuce, carrot, cucumber and cabbage deserves to be bottled), along with assorted noodle wok bowls and galangal chicken yakitori skewers.
For some of us, like Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, Dr John Kani, Irene Charnley, my page colleague Aspasia Karras and Proudly SA’s Happy Ngidi, who were on the judging panel for the next instalment of the South African Style Awards, the day had started earlier at John’s next-door restaurant, Mábu.
With the debate convened by head judge Gert-Johan Coetzee robust and lively, Jinsei proved to be a welcome change of scenery.
At the top level of the eatery, with its balcony overlooking Midrand, John explained that Jinsei (the name comes from the Japanese word for “life”), was an ode to the land of the rising sun, while including traditional Korean ramen-making techniques and Vietnamese street-food elements.
“Those are the shingles which you would normally find on a traditional Japanese house,” he says, pointing to the wall detail of the Zen-like space where natural materials and polished concrete set the tone.
Guests who joined us include YouTube star Lasizwe, Selimathunzi’s Zanele Potelwa and TV personality Kat Sinivasan.
I also got to meet John’s other half, the pretty Mel Scribante, who tells me the two met at another of John’s restaurants, the nearby Potato Shed.
In between clubbing and dining, I toasted the arrival of International Champagne Day this week not with a flute but a chardonnay glass of tiny bubbles at the San Deck in Sandton.
According to Sandton Sun’s sommelier, Miguel Chan, this is the preferred vessel to serve champers due to a variety of factors such as global warming, which sees the grapes harvested even earlier in the season.
While I am not convinced about the glassware, it was a nice afternoon on one of Joburg’s best rooftops, with great company including K Naomi Phakathi, Tshepi Vundla, former French model Flo Meyer, TV presenter Harmony Katulondi, and broadcasters Zweli Mbhele and Mamohau Seseane.
