{"id":19162,"date":"2026-01-11T05:25:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T03:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/?p=19162"},"modified":"2026-01-23T08:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T06:37:14","slug":"12-days-of-spritzmas-protea-hotel-balalaika-is-turning-sandton-into-a-summer-sip-paradise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/12-days-of-spritzmas-protea-hotel-balalaika-is-turning-sandton-into-a-summer-sip-paradise\/","title":{"rendered":"Protea Hotel Balalaika is turning Sandton into a Summer Sip Paradise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"222\" data-end=\"455\"><strong>If festive season in Joburg had a soundtrack, it would be the cheerful clink of ice in a tall spritz glass.<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"222\" data-end=\"455\">And this year, <strong data-start=\"345\" data-end=\"379\">Protea Hotel Balalaika Sandton<\/strong> is turning up the sparkle with not one, but <em data-start=\"424\" data-end=\"429\">two<\/em> reasons to raise a glass.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"457\" data-end=\"785\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>First up:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-start=\"457\" data-end=\"785\"><b>Y<\/b>our summer just got deliciously bubbly. Each day reveals a brand-new spritz infused with citrus, botanicals or bright seasonal flavours\u2014all for just <strong data-start=\"706\" data-end=\"726\">R95 per cocktail<\/strong>.\u00a0<strong data-start=\"730\" data-end=\"785\">12 days. 12 spritzes. Endless reasons to celebrate.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"787\" data-end=\"822\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>But the sipping doesn\u2019t stop there\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-start=\"824\" data-end=\"1126\">Across <strong data-start=\"831\" data-end=\"896\">Lords Bar, The Bull Run, Dollar Bar, <em data-start=\"870\" data-end=\"875\">and<\/em> Destination Lounge<\/strong>, the hotel\u2019s signature Rose\u2019s cordial cocktails and mocktails are available <em data-start=\"973\" data-end=\"990\">all festive season.<\/em> So whether you&#8217;re feeling fruity, floral, nostalgic, or tropical, there\u2019s a flavour waiting to brighten your day\u2014no countdown required.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here\u2019s a taste of what\u2019s always on the menu:<\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"1179\" data-end=\"1207\">\ud83c\udf4b <strong data-start=\"1185\" data-end=\"1205\">Lime Rose Mojito<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"1208\" data-end=\"1321\">Fresh, zesty, and fabulously green\u2014the perfect pick-me-up for sunny afternoons.<br data-start=\"1287\" data-end=\"1290\" \/><em data-start=\"1290\" data-end=\"1321\">Mocktail: R55 | Cocktail: R95<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"1323\" data-end=\"1351\">\ud83d\udd35 <strong data-start=\"1329\" data-end=\"1349\">Blueberry Moment<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"1352\" data-end=\"1440\">Bold blue, big flavour, and a guaranteed mood-booster.<br data-start=\"1406\" data-end=\"1409\" \/><em data-start=\"1409\" data-end=\"1440\">Mocktail: R55 | Cocktail: R95<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"1442\" data-end=\"1471\">\ud83c\udf49 <strong data-start=\"1448\" data-end=\"1469\">Watermelon Spritz<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"1472\" data-end=\"1565\">Summer in a glass\u2014juicy, refreshing, and irresistibly pink.<br data-start=\"1531\" data-end=\"1534\" \/><em data-start=\"1534\" data-end=\"1565\">Mocktail: R55 | Cocktail: R95<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"1567\" data-end=\"1591\">\ud83c\udf4d <strong data-start=\"1573\" data-end=\"1589\">Passionquila<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"1592\" data-end=\"1692\">A tropical escape in a goblet. Passion fruit meets punchy tequila.<br data-start=\"1658\" data-end=\"1661\" \/><em data-start=\"1661\" data-end=\"1692\">Mocktail: R55 | Cocktail: R95<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"1694\" data-end=\"1714\">\ud83c\udf52 <strong data-start=\"1700\" data-end=\"1712\">Kolarita<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"1715\" data-end=\"1798\">Sweet, sparkling nostalgia with a grown-up twist.<br data-start=\"1764\" data-end=\"1767\" \/><em data-start=\"1767\" data-end=\"1798\">Mocktail: R55 | Cocktail: R95<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2014\" data-end=\"2092\"><strong data-start=\"2014\" data-end=\"2088\">Because at Balalaika, every hour feels like a toast waiting to happen.<\/strong> \ud83e\udd42\u2728<\/p>\n<div class=\"x9f619 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x2lah0s x1n2onr6 x1nhvcw1 x1qjc9v5 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xyri2b x1c1uobl x18d9i69 xyamay9 x1ws5yxj xw01apr x4cne27 xifccgj\">\n<div class=\"x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli x1icxu4v x25sj25 x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"x1b0d499 xuo83w3\" src=\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/rsrc.php\/v4\/yW\/r\/8k_Y-oVxbuU.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/>\u00a0Maude Street, Sandown, Sandton<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x9f619 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x2lah0s x1n2onr6 x1nhvcw1 x1qjc9v5 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xyri2b x1c1uobl x18d9i69 xyamay9 x1ws5yxj xw01apr x4cne27 xifccgj\">\n<div class=\"x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli x1icxu4v x25sj25 x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"x1b0d499 xuo83w3\" src=\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/rsrc.php\/v4\/yT\/r\/Dc7-7AgwkwS.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/>\u00a0011 322 5000<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x9f619 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x2lah0s x1n2onr6 x1nhvcw1 x1qjc9v5 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xyri2b x1c1uobl x18d9i69 xyamay9 x1ws5yxj xw01apr x4cne27 xifccgj\">\n<div class=\"x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli x1icxu4v x25sj25 x10b6aqq x1yrsyyn\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"x1b0d499 xuo83w3\" src=\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/rsrc.php\/v4\/yE\/r\/2PIcyqpptfD.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/>\u00a0reservations@balalaika.co.za<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19164\" src=\"http:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-3.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-3-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-3-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-3-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-3-561x701.jpg 561w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-3-799x999.jpg 799w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-3-364x455.jpg 364w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-3-758x948.jpg 758w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-3-608x760.jpg 608w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-19162 gallery-columns-4 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-4-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-4-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-4-192x192.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-4-384x384.jpg 384w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-4-110x110.jpg 110w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-4-220x220.jpg 220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-2-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-2-192x192.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-2-384x384.jpg 384w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-2-110x110.jpg 110w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-2-220x220.jpg 220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-5-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-5-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-5-192x192.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-5-384x384.jpg 384w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-5-110x110.jpg 110w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-5-220x220.jpg 220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-192x192.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-384x384.jpg 384w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-110x110.jpg 110w, https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Artboard-1-copy-220x220.jpg 220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If festive season in Joburg had a soundtrack, it would be the cheerful clink of ice in a tall spritz glass. And this year, Protea Hotel Balalaika Sandton is turning up the sparkle with not one, but two reasons to raise a glass. First up: Your summer just got deliciously bubbly. Each day reveals a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-specials"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19162"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19213,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19162\/revisions\/19213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}