TravelDay buddy

Thabo Mokoena

@cellardoor · he/him · Cape Town, South Africa

Taste where it grew, then eat where it grew up.

  • Wine
  • Vineyards
  • Long lunches
  • Slow pace
  • Mid range

Thabo Mokoena is a drawn, fictional companion written by TravelDay. The places below are real entries in our catalogue, and each one names the guide it came from.

How Thabo Mokoena travels

I have been drinking wine for forty years and visiting the farms that make it for about thirty. What changed my mind about all of it was standing in a vineyard in Constantia and realising the wine had been explaining that slope to me the whole time.

So I travel to cellar doors. Two estates in a day, three at the very most, and a long lunch in the middle. Anything faster and you are drinking, not tasting. I spit at the first two and drink at the last one.

I book the restaurant near the vineyard rather than the famous one in town. The cooking around a wine region is usually older than the wine tourism, and it tells you what the bottle was made to sit beside.

  • Wine
  • Food
  • Slow travel

Cities Thabo Mokoena keeps going back to

  • Cape Town

    South Africa

    Home, and the only city I know with a three hundred year old wine valley inside its own boundary.

  • Buenos Aires

    Argentina

    Where I drink Mendoza malbec with beef cooked over wood, which is what it was built for.

  • Florence

    Italy

    The gateway to Chianti, and a city that keeps its best bottles in cellars under the street.

  • Lisbon

    Portugal

    I cannot get to the Douro every year, but Lisbon pours it and knows what to serve with it.

What Thabo Mokoena recommends

Buenos Aires

  • Don Julio · Restaurant

    The cellar is the reason I go, not only the grill. Ask them to open something from Mendoza.

    • Seen in Michelin Guide. A Palermo parrilla with its own meat ageing programme and a cellar built around Argentinian wine

  • El Preferido de Palermo · Restaurant

    Old Buenos Aires cooking in a corner shop. Expect to queue and do not mind it.

    • Seen in Michelin Guide. Listed in the MICHELIN Guide as traditional Buenos Aires cooking and marked worth queueing for

Cape Town

  • Groot Constantia Wine Tasting · Winery

    The oldest tasting room in the country and the first stop I give anyone. Start with the whites.

    • Seen in Lonely Planet. The large tasting room is the first building on the right as you enter the estate

  • Groot Constantia Manor House · Museum

    Walk the manor house before you taste. It puts three centuries behind the glass in your hand.

    • Seen in Lonely Planet. Simon van der Stel's Cape Dutch manor house is kept as a museum on the estate

  • Buitenverwachting Wine Tasting · Winery

    Lawns, an old manor house and a Bordeaux blend they make very little of. Ask what is open.

    • Seen in Lonely Planet. A Cape Dutch estate with a late eighteenth century manor house, a coffee roastery and a restaurant

  • Constantia Glen Tasting Room · Winery

    The terrace looks straight down the vines. Take a charcuterie board and sit for an hour.

    • Seen in Lonely Planet. A boutique winery known for sauvignon blanc and Bordeaux style blends, with a terrace over the vines

  • Boschendal Cellar Door Wine Tasting · Winery

    Book the cellar tour rather than just the tasting. Then eat on the lawn.

    • Seen in Lonely Planet. A Winelands estate offering tastings of bubbly, brandy or wine and chocolate, with cellar tours by booking

Florence

  • Enoteca Pinchiorri · Restaurant

    I came for the cellar and stayed for the dinner. Let the sommelier decide.

    • Seen in Michelin Guide. Three MICHELIN Stars in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Italy

Lisbon

  • Belcanto · Restaurant

    The tasting menu with Portuguese pairings. A good argument for drinking a country at its own table.

    • Seen in Michelin Guide. Two MICHELIN Stars in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Portugal
    • Seen in Michelin Guide. Jose Avillez cooks a single Belcanto tasting menu in Chiado, with a chef's table in the kitchen

  • Epur · Restaurant

    Small, calm and precise, and the list goes well beyond the obvious Portuguese names.

    • Seen in Michelin Guide. One MICHELIN Star in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Portugal

  • Café Nicola · Cafe

    Not wine, but the right place to sit for ten minutes before you start drinking any.

    • Seen in Time Out. On Rossio since 1929, on the site of an eighteenth century cafe where the poet Bocage held court

Plans you can copy

Four days of cellar doors around Cape Town

4 nights · February to April · Slow pace · Mid range

Constantia first because it is closest and oldest, then out to Franschhoek, with city days in between.

  1. Day 1

    Start where the country started

    • Groot Constantia Manor House · Midday · Museum

      Do the house first. It sets up everything you taste afterwards.

      • Seen in Lonely Planet. Simon van der Stel's Cape Dutch manor house is kept as a museum on the estate

    • Groot Constantia Wine Tasting · Afternoon · Sight

      The tasting room is the first building on the right as you come in. Five wines is plenty.

      • Seen in Lonely Planet. The large tasting room is the first building on the right as you enter the estate

  2. Day 2

    Two Constantia estates and a garden

    • Buitenverwachting Wine Tasting · Morning · Sight

      Start with the sauvignon blanc. Ask whether the Christine blend is open.

      • Seen in Lonely Planet. A Cape Dutch estate with a late eighteenth century manor house, a coffee roastery and a restaurant

    • Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens · Midday · Nature

      An hour on the boardwalk between two tastings, which is the whole trick.

    • Constantia Glen Tasting Room · Afternoon · Sight

      The last tasting of the day, so this is the one where I stop spitting.

      • Seen in Lonely Planet. A boutique winery known for sauvignon blanc and Bordeaux style blends, with a terrace over the vines

  3. Day 3

    Out to the Franschhoek side

    • Boschendal Cellar Door Wine Tasting · Morning · Sight

      Book the cellar tour ahead. Walk ins get the tasting only.

      • Seen in Lonely Planet. A Winelands estate offering tastings of bubbly, brandy or wine and chocolate, with cellar tours by booking

    • Company's Garden · Afternoon · Walk

      Back in town, and the right place to walk off a long lunch.

  4. Day 4

    A city day, no driving

  • Seen in Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet describes the Groot Constantia manor house, tasting room and original Cloete Cellar on one estate

Three nights of malbec and fire

3 nights · March to May · Slow pace · Mid range

Buenos Aires as the place to drink Mendoza, with two grills and a lot of walking.

  1. Day 1

    Centre, then a corner shop dinner

    • Museo Casa Rosada · Afternoon · Museum

      Free and quick. Book the slot online, they check.

    • El Preferido de Palermo · Evening · Meal

      Go early or queue. Order the vermouth first.

      • Seen in Michelin Guide. Listed in the MICHELIN Guide as traditional Buenos Aires cooking and marked worth queueing for

  2. Day 2

    Tango houses and the grill

    • Metropolitan Cathedral · Morning · Sight

      Twenty minutes, and then walk out across the plaza.

    • Museo Casa Carlos Gardel · Afternoon · Museum

      Small and cheap, and it explains the music playing everywhere else.

    • Don Julio · Evening · Meal

      Book weeks ahead. Ask for the wine list before the menu.

      • Seen in Michelin Guide. A Palermo parrilla with its own meat ageing programme and a cellar built around Argentinian wine

  3. Day 3

    A serious morning

  • Seen in Michelin Guide. The MICHELIN Guide describes Don Julio's meat ageing and its cellar of Argentinian wine

Three nights drinking Portugal in Lisbon

3 nights · April to June · Slow pace · Mid range

For the years I cannot get up to the Douro, this is where I drink it instead.

  1. Day 1

    Up the hill, then the big table

    • São Jorge Castle · Afternoon · Sight

      Go late in the day for the light and the shorter queue.

    • Belcanto · Evening · Meal

      The tasting menu with the Portuguese pairing. Say yes to the pairing.

      • Seen in Michelin Guide. Two MICHELIN Stars in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Portugal
      • Seen in Michelin Guide. Jose Avillez cooks a single Belcanto tasting menu in Chiado, with a chef's table in the kitchen

  2. Day 2

    Pictures, coffee, a small dining room

    • Calouste Gulbenkian Museum · Morning · Museum

      The collection and the garden together. Allow three hours.

    • Café Nicola · Afternoon · Coffee

      Stand at the counter on Rossio. It has been there since 1929.

      • Seen in Time Out. On Rossio since 1929, on the site of an eighteenth century cafe where the poet Bocage held court

    • Epur · Evening · Meal

      A short menu and a long list. Let them pour by the glass.

      • Seen in Michelin Guide. One MICHELIN Star in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Portugal

  3. Day 3

    Belem and the water

  • Seen in Michelin Guide. The 2026 MICHELIN Guide Portugal lists Belcanto in Lisbon with two stars and EPUR with one

Thabo Mokoena is a TravelDay buddy: drawn, fictional, and not an account in the network. Research edition 2026-09-17.