Cape Town, South Africa, Aug 2009

Mount Nelson Hotel’s iconic Planet Champagne and Cocktail Bar is famous for its twinkling starlit ceiling and come summer, the breezy garden verandah is the slick set’s favourite Champagne quaffing spot. But now, to help see guests through the wintry cold snap, the bar also boasts a cosy fireplace, and Head Barman Benson Ndlangha and his team of mixologists have introduced The Hot List - a selection of ten Hot Coffee and Lindt Chocolate Cocktails.

The coffee hot list includes the likes of The Café Gonzales (coffee spiked with Patron XO coffee Tequila and topped with whipped cream) and The Admiral (medium roast coffee laced with Amaretto and Bailey’s Irish Cream, topped with a cream and Grand Marnier float), and the chocolate hot list includes the likes of The White Night (Lindt Swiss Classic White Chocolate dissolved in hot milk and cream with a soft touch of Bailey’s Irish Cream) and The Cocoa De Menthe (cream, milk, cocoa and Crème de Menthe topped with Lindt Excellence Mint).

Also new to the line-up is Executive Chef Rudi Liebenberg’s new food menu of bar snack classics designed to provide just the right amount of sustenance to accompany a tipple or two.

The menu is available between 17h00 and 23h00 and includes a selection of hot and cold dishes ranging from a Mediterranean Lamb Burger with brinjal, hummus and sour red pepper chutney, to Southern Fried Chicken with peanut sauce, to Mushroom Empanadas, Spicy Thai Fishcakes and Fresh Oysters.

Planet Champagne and Cocktail Bar is open Monday to Sunday from 17h00 and on Fridays from 15h00. Contact +27 0 21 483 1735 for reservations.

For press assistance contact Benita Kursan on +27 0 21 483 1930, email bkursan@mountnelson.co.za.

For more information on Orient-Express visit www.orient-express.com, and for more information on Mount Nelson Hotel visit www.mountnelson.co.za.

Orient-Express (www.orient-express.com) is a hotel and travel company focused on the luxury end of the leisure market with many iconic and highly acclaimed properties.  Founded in 1976 when the company acquired the Hotel Cipriani in Venice, Orient-Express has grown to encompass 51 businesses, including 41 highly individual hotels across five continents, two restaurants, two river cruise operations and six tourist trains, including the fabled Venice Simplon-Orient-Express which operates through Europe, linking London, Paris and Venice. 

Orient-Express chooses to own or part-own and manage its businesses, and continues to seek out unique properties with expansion potential and to introduce new experiences, restoring romance, glamour and style to international travel.