So, just a hole then

A tourist to Kimberley may be sadly disappointed, and there’s not much consolation in the dining on offer

am not quite sure who has been installed as premier of the benighted Northern Cape these days, and I can’t be bothered to check, but I really would like to ask them to do me a tremendous favour. They need to get on the blower to the real man in charge, ANC provincial leader John Block (yes, he is the man who has been up on corruption charges for ages), and get him to do something. Fast.

Kimberley, the provincial capital, is a mess. I arrived in town two weeks ago with my family and our hearts sank. We were there for the world-famous Big Hole and a few of the tourist attractions.

Kimberley gets short shrift from travellers who rush from Cape Town to Jo’burg and never veer westwards. They make overnight stops along the N1 and therefore no-one, but no-one, takes the N12 past Kimberley.

So we were doing the patriotic thing here. We were deeply disappointed.

First, the place looks shabby. The pavements are cracked, grass grows along most roads and the tourist attractions are poorly maintained.

We went to the Big Hole, of course, and this was not too bad an outing, though the newly built parking and visitors’ centre could do with a groundsman. Grass is growing everywhere except the paved bits.

The Rudd House, a historic building which most cities would kill to have in their midst and which could attract thousands of tourists a year, was locked and forlorn on a Saturday. The McGregor Museum and William Humphreys Art Gallery looked abandoned. Eh?

Looking for a place to eat was similarly dispiriting. After a chain restaurant meal for lunch we were hoping for a good restaurant in the evening. Our bed & breakfast recommended Annabell’s. Other sites pointed us towards Butler’s.

Neither got great reviews from TripAdvisor and other traveller sites. An irate Cape Town traveller vented that he had walked out of Annabell’s when the staff refused to change the tablecloth, which had a big hole in it.

We were stuck between this and Butler’s. Butler’s, when we called, sounded stuffy and pompous, and their website looked rather stuffy too. So, just to be adventurous, we went for Annabell’s.

It wasn’t that bad. As customers have pointed out, the stuffing does pop out on some of the chairs, but this is not epidemic. The waiting staff are nicely attired and attentive. The waiters look about 15. The lady who runs the pizza oven glares at everyone.

The place has a cellar with a private dining table. There are two massive banquettes and they accommodate large families very nicely.

If Annabell’s was in New York, or London, it would have a modest reputation as a passable little brasserie, a bit down at heel but idiosyncratic and tolerated. It is not bad at all. Certainly, the reviews have been on the mean side.

It is also not that great, though. I had the steak, a pepper-coated rump called the Black Beast (seriously). It was, incredibly, medium as requested, but it was rather dry. It was, however, quite tasty. The chips were miserly: small portion, too long in used oil.

My daughters loved the fact that the menus are brought to you on an iPad. They enjoyed their plain pasta and a margarita pizza. My lovely wife had a salad and a burger. It was nice, she said, without her usual enthusiasm.

All in all, not too bad. Kimberley deserves better, though.