It was a shock to see a Facebook post by Chef Chantel Dartnall of award-winning Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient, announcing that she is closing her restaurant on 28 March 2021, after 15 years of operating it outside Pretoria. Not only has the restaurant been on the Eat Out Top 10 List for many of these years, but Chef Chantel’s restaurant is probably the most highly internationally recognized South African restaurant.
Last month The Restaurant at Waterkloof closed its doors in Somerset West, another Eat Out Top 10 restaurant.
Calling it ‘The Final Chapter of our Beautiful Story’, Chef Chantel writes that it is the end of the story of the restaurant, but her story continues, in that she is embarking ‘on a new journey in her life, pursuing a variety of possibilities and stretching her horizons’.
She adds that she is proud to have pioneered Botanical Cuisine, something which a number of our local restaurants have included in their cuisine too. Chef Chantel has stood out for her exquisite creative presentation of her dishes, all themed and telling a story.
Chef Chantel will be spending time in her secret Southern Cape hideaway, and at La Ville Lumière in Paris, where new projects and further studies await her, she writes. She will be furthering her knowledge of European cuisine, learning French, and enhancing her technical skills, she adds. Given the number of international awards which she has won, and rubbing shoulders with world-class chefs, she will be taking up invitations to join them in their kitchens. For a while home will be where she hangs up her chef’s hat.
In honour of and tribute to the fifteen year history of Restaurant Mosaic, Chef Chantel will offer highlights of her Mosaic menus over the fifteen years in the last three months of the restaurant, being January to March.
A year ago Chef Chantel caused a stir when she announced that she would not make her restaurant available for the 2020 Eat Out Awards, which were then cancelled this year due to the Covid pandemic.
Eat Out blah-blah response to the withdrawal of two top restaurants from its Awards reflects panic!
Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein