Ut oh...Lauren and Geoff discover the Casino 20 minutes from home!

So we had heard about the casinos in South Africa, and finally ventured to MonteCasino about 20 minutes from our place. It was a huge Vegas-esque type set-up with shopping and good restaurants surrounding the main casino. They had all the slots, roulette and blackjack tables, poker etc, and Lauren and I tried our luck at blackjack. We really didn't know what we were doing but ended up staying there for hours laughing with the dealers and the randoms we were playing with.

Before entering the casino, we put our guns in the gun safe.
Very convenient, secure and trust-worthy.

Gambling with Monopoly money, I mean Rand - very weird.

Suddenly we were transported to a small Italian village.
Luckily it was a beautiful day...with the feel of Vegas still very strong.

Lauren's amazing restaurant-finding skills proved excellent once
more and found us this "Continental" style restaurant called @Monte.
We really ate well. And the wine, oh glorious, cheap
South African wine how we love you.

We started with the Ostrich Carpaccio - wafer thin slices of smoked ostrich, served with rocket, black pepper and van Der Hum Gooseberry compote - and the Camembert Phyllo Parcel - Camembert wrapped in phyllo, baked golden and drizzled with cranberries sauce. For our mains we had the 350gr Rump Steak and the Tequila Salmon - grilled fresh Norwegian salmon served with mustard mashed potatoes and a creamy tequila lime sauce. Then an awesome Crème Brûleé for dessert. The Sillcocks Family would've loved it! All with an awesome bottle of red for an even better price! Great night all around.