Day 1/2 - Polaris
**Yes, I'm going to Cape Town again. Yes, I realize how weird this is. Here's my slight defense: I'm using miles to get there and back. United started a direct flight from Newark (making me get quite a bit more time in Cape Town. When you add in the cheaper cost of stuff when you are there, this is basically, economically, like going to Europe for a five-day weekend. Anyway, I'm done justifying this.**
It's been three-plus years since United introduced the Polaris branding for their International Business Class product. It took this long for me to really spend time in their Newark Polaris Lounge, getting my access after getting upgrade to business on my flight. Now, as United is taking painfully wrong to outfit all their widebody planes with the Polaris product, the flight itself will be on their 'Diamond' design, which is still lie-flat but not the same.
That all said, having five hours to kill in the Polaris Lounge was a treat - especially since I arrived far before the mad rush of Europe flights in the evening. When I arrived, it was fairly empty. I was greeted warmly and entered into this giant lounge with huge windows facing out to series of United widebodies. United's newer more-blue livery is starting to take hold with more planes sporting it.
The lounge itself is gigantic, reportedly with seating for 250. They have a buffet area, three different sitting areas, includng a long section with little cubicle like set-ups with a half-desk and couch. There's showers, sleep rooms, work rooms, a long bar, and a full service restaurant. All outfitted with the Polaris star branding and deep blue and charcoal colors.
I hadn't had lunch yet having caught a 11:50am flight from Toronto (work). That gave me a good excuse to try out the restaurant, where they have a small, but well thought out, menu of four appetizer choices, three mains + burger and three desserts. What I really appreciated was the portions weren't so big. Now, some may point to this being a cost savings measure, but to me it was nice to not be pilloried with heavy food.
I went for a Portugeuse sausage and kale soup (very good, if slightly salty) and a lamb sausage orrechiete which was well plated and delicious. The apple fritters with vanilla ice cream (again, these sound decadent/heavy but are smaller portions) was a ncie capper. Accompanying all this was an old fashioned which was probably the only miss of the meal - though they use top-shelf alcohol and I could have been more inventive.
The design of the lounge is incredible form functional, with USB and outlets accompanying every table in the dining area, adn basically every seat in the main seating areas. Those couch/cubicles were more comfortable than they looked, but functional enough to actually answer e-mail and do the last couple hors of work I plan to be doing over this weekend.
After taking a couple calls, itw as nearing 5pm and the club was slowly filling up. When it just opened only a few flights on Polaris outfitted flights were allowed access (basically Asia). Slowly United outfitted Polaris on many of their Europe-flying planes, and basically opened up the Polaris lounge to any business class passenger flying International apart from northern South America (e.g. Bogota). Because of this it definitely gets more full but never came close toreaching capacity.
I enjoyed a quick shower, which was great. They have fairly sizable 'shower suites' (oversized gym-type bathrooms) with Saks towels and slippers (probably more name than game) and a waterfall shower that got hot instantly. Again, it hit the damn spot.
After my shower, I got myself an Ommegang Beer, cuddled into a couch/cubicle and then went to the buffet. It was interesting - the selection simultaneously having fewer options than I imagined, but higher quality than I would ahve guessed. Their butternut squash ravioli and miso salmon were both excellent. Their salad options were well sauced. It was definitely quality over quantity, which seems to easily be the style of the Polaris Lounge in general.
Overall, the experience in the Polar Lounge was great. It will probably be a while before I get a chance to use this again - the next time I fly UNited internationally and can get myself upgraded - but I may never get a chance to explore its world for five hours. Though if I do, I will definitely take the chance.
Before long, I was situated outside Gate 110 at Newark Airport, awaiting boarding United's B787-9, their long-haul powerhouse. Somehow, this would be my first time flying a United Dreamliner - and quite a good route to start it on. United started this direct Newark-to-Cape Town flight last December, running every other day seasonally. It's an interesting flight that by great circle distance has the longest time above water. Basically, after crossing the Hudson and entering the Atlantic, you never leave the Atlantic until the good ol' Western Cape.
After having done Newark-Singapore (or the reverse) three times, Newark-Mumbai four times, and New York-Johannesburg three times (all longer), this flight didn't seem particularly long, but the 14h30m is easily a good enough length to well experience United's business class product - the only other even medium-haul flight I have done so on was Newark-London, which is short enough you actually just want to sleep.
Here you want to sleep, but also eat, drink, watch movies and be merry. As mentioned, the flight didn't have the Polaris seat, but did have the rest of United's Polaris branding, including the bedding, back-rest, amenity kit and menus.
The food, I have to say, was better than I expected - definitely better than what they served when I took it to London. Their dinner service started quite promptly - about 30 minutes after take-off - with drinks, followed by a nice salad and duck pate. They had four choices for the main, and I went with a Korean spice glazed short rib, which was slightly tough, though that is expected with airplane beef. The sauce was tangy and spicy, which was nice to see. The desert was in their famous cart, where I went with an apple pie that was also warmer and softer than expected.
Before landing they had a breakfast/lunch course, which I went with a Portobello Mushroom ravioli which was also quite nice if a bit too saucy. In the middle of the flight, tehy had their normal set of snacks in the galley for anyone to grab and go - and a drink cart kept open which was nice. They also had a mini-'meal' of grilled cheese and tomato soup, which actually was excellent. Overall, the food was great.
So was just being able to get a full eight hours of sleep on a plane and not feel like garbage. The lie flat worked as well as ever, and the saks bedding, while not notably more comfortable than, you know, normal sheets, was still good at keeping you cozy in that confined space. My only criticism of the whole package probably amounts to United having a pretty bad eye-mask compared to other airlines.
Before I knew it, I landed in Cape Town, whisked right through security (seriously, it was empty - United picked really good timing for this flight) and then ran my way into a roadblock: namely the roadblocks that the police put in place heading into town as the South African President was delivering his 'State of the Nation' Address that evening in Cape Town. The major highways were all blocked off. The Uber driver found some side route through some less than stellar outskirt towns. In the end, it took about an hour to reach Cape Town central.
My AirBNB is inconveniently located close enough to the Waterfront and/or Long Street to walk to either (during the day - again don't tempt fate at night), but far enough to make either a distinct event. This first night I had no time for all that. After some quick R&R and shower, I headed out to Janse & Co, on Bree street, the South end of Cape Town central. I had been to Janse last time, but for whatever reason didn't realize it had an outdoor seating area in the back that was gorgeous. The weather in Cape Town is almost always amazing, and this was no different.
Janse & Co basically serves a tasting menu where you can pick a certain number of courses (anywhere from three to seven) out of a set of 15 or so choices. It takes a long time to actually decide what to get, but after I made my decisions I was pleased with each dish. First was a raw South African fish served with watermelon and lime. Then a apple gnocchi with a South African sea-weed type thing. Then four oysters served on a bed of ice with apple granita as the garnish (amazing). Then a bream with mint and tomatillo salso, and finally a lamb purse with friend onion. All were excellent - Janse & Co is truly a great restaurant and quite affordable for hte type of food you are getting.
My night ended a few hours later after trolling around Long Street like we are wont to do. The Waiting Room was my main haunt, with its dependably great vibe, great DJs, cheap drinks, and grainy atmosphere. The place was rocking, with more recognizable songs than usual - but in the good way that everyone was into it. The Waiting Room shuts down at 2, a couple hours before some of the other Long Street locations. I grabbed a quick pint at The Dubliner, which always has dependable live music, and called it a night. The vacation is just starting, and it just feels so damn good to be in Cape Town again.
