On Youth Day my friend Justin Miller and I took a road trip to Franschhoek, packing in a shopping stop at Dalewood Fromage and at Babylonstoren, a stop at Country Grand, and walking the main road of the village from bottom to top and back, to record all the restaurant changes that have taken place since I last visited in 2020.
I did some additional research to find details of any other restaurants that have opened or closed since I last visited the village.
Last week I spent two days in Franschhoek for a catch-up visit, after not having been to this lovely village known for its eateries and good wines in eight months. From having heard that the village was so quiet, and that many restaurants had closed down, I was pleasantly surprised to find the village bursting with excitement about new restaurants about to open in October, and later this year. I could not resist eating at Orangerie at Le Lude, what to me is one of Franschhoek’s best restaurants. Continue reading →
Even though we are halfway through the summer season, new restaurants continue to open, and more are planned before summer ends. This list of restaurant openings and closings and restaurant staff movements is updated continuously, as we receive new information:
Restaurant Openings
* Michael Townsend (who owns the Harbour House emporium, with La Parada, Lucky Fish, and Harbour House restaurants) has opened Tiger’s Milk in Muizenberg (photograph). The Lucky Fish on Long Street will be transformed into Tiger’s Milk.
* Kokkedoor judge and Chef Nic van Wyk and Roxy Laker have opened bistro 13 at Stellenbosch Vineyards (Welmoed)
* Idiom Wines is said to be opening a restaurant.
* The Butcher Shop & Grill has opened next to Sotano in Mouille Point. Continue reading →
Ryan’s Kitchen has re-opened in Franschhoek, in a space double its former size, in Place Vendôme at the entrance to the village. The restaurant now focuses on ‘small plates’, even though ‘small’ is a relative term! Chef Ryan Smith has simplified his dishes, reducing the number of ingredients, and added more spice to those on his new menu, each dish introducing itself through its fragrance before one tastes it.
For the past four years the restaurant operated from what was the breakfast room of Rusthof Guest House higher up the main road, a tiny space that could serve no more than 30 guests at a stretch, and up to 400 plates in an evening. A major blow to the restaurant in July was the sale of the guest house to Mr Analjit Singh, and Continue reading →
An unusually high number of new restaurants has opened or will do so in the next month or two. There have never been so many chefs leaving their employers to start their own restaurants, or to join other employers! This list of restaurant openings and closings and restaurant staff movements is updated continuously, as we receive new information:
Restaurant Openings
* Borage Bistro has opened in Portside, with Chef Frank Marks, previously of The Fat Duck, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, La Colombe, The Test Kitchen, and The Pot Luck Club
* Chef Chris Erasmus has opened his own restaurant Foliage in Franschhoek, having previously been at Pierneef à La Motte.
* Idiom Wines is said to be opening a restaurant.
* The Butcher Shop & Grill has opened next to Sotano in Mouille Point.
* Michael Townsend (La Parada, Lucky Fish, Harbour House emporium) is opening a steak restaurant in Muizenberg in November.
* Neil Grant and his business partner Barry Engelbrecht (of Burrata) are opening a new restaurant Bocca on the corner of Bree Continue reading →
The Franschhoek Food Emporium was a favourite stop in Franschhoek, until it closed down a year ago. Fortunately it has just re-opened as Good Food & Co, with a new owner Johanita Henning and Chef Kim Cox, and does not look very different to its past interior. It was a delight to see Michelle van Sittert again, who was at Sacred Ground when it opened, and was a fantastic asset for the bakery/coffee shop.
Kim is the chef, whom I have met twice already, and she prepares the cooked foods, and orders the stock from the best suppliers. Her meat comes from Ryan Boon, for example, who distributes Spier’s Farmer Angus’ beef. Her lamb comes from Fairview. In her display cabinet Continue reading →