Category Archives: Winelands

New restaurants open, one Restaurant Closure, in Cape Town and Winelands since March! April 2021

 

The Level 1 regulations introduced on 1 March, with a restaurant closing time of 23h00, and the serving of alcohol being permitted since February, have been a boost to the local restaurant industry, one of the hardest hit industries since Lockdown started a year ago.

Despite the Lockdown regulations affecting restaurants so badly in the past 11 months, a total of 70 new restaurants have opened in Cape Town and the Winelands during Lockdown. Top chefs have opened new restaurants, including Chefs Peter Tempelhoff, Cheyne Morrisby, and Liam Tomlin. Chef Cheyne’s HIMITSU at the Camps Bay Retreat is one of the newest restaurants to have opened. Cape Town’s oldest pub, the Perseverance Tavern, has reopened with new owners. Restaurateur Michael Townsend has finally opened his grand Grand Pavilion in Sea Point.  Chef Michael Broughton has opened Cucina in Stellenbosch, and plans to open The Stud Burger, Ember, and a Tapas and wine bar, all in Stellenbosch, and all in conjunction with Brenaissance Wine & Stud owners Tom and Hayley Breytenbach. Chef Jan-Hendrik has finally opened KLEIN JAN at Tswalu Kalahari.  Continue reading →

Franschhoek: From Gourmet Town to ‘Ghost Town’?: the effect of the Corona Virus pandemic!

 

News 24 published an article this weekend about the plight of businesses in Franschhoek. It paints a horrific picture of the once famous Gourmet Town, known for its top Restaurants and boutique wineries, to what one business owner speculated could become a ‘Ghost Town’ if tourists do not return to it soon.

Franschhoek, like many other towns and cities in our country, has been hard hit by the Corona Virus pandemic, the South African one-year anniversary of its Lockdown to be ‘celebrated’ later this week. The new South African Virus mutation has made our country very unattractive to visit by international tourists, which probably are the type of tourists South African tourism businesses would love to see return. Continue reading →

Restaurant Review: New ëlgr. has most complex restaurant name, a breath of fresh air, food light and multi-cultural!

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The new ëlgr. restaurant which has taken over the space of the former Janse & Co is a breath of fresh air, having moved more of its restaurant seating to its newly created outside seating area, bar and pizza counter area. It opened on Kloof Steeet two months ago.

It has the most complicated restaurant name I have ever come across, a Swedish word that means moose, but the reason for the choice is not explained. It is pronounced like the composer Elgar. With such a Scandinavian introduction, one might expect the food to be from the region too, but it is local yet ‘multicultural’, its website informs, offering French cooking, South African dishes, and Italian pizzas., made with fresh ingredients, and to be enjoyed in a relaxed environment.  Continue reading →

More Restaurants closing, some temporarily, due to new Adjusted Level 3 Lockdown: January 2021

 

Just when news about restaurants closing down during Lockdown had almost ground to a halt, eight restaurants in Cape Town in the past week have announced their closure, some temporary, due to the new Adjusted Level 3 Lockdown which commenced on 29 December 2020.  The Curfew starting at 21h00, Restaurants having to close at 20h00, and alcohol sales not being allowed, combined with diners’ fear of the greater spreadability of the mutated Corona Virus, is affecting restaurant turnovers harshly.

Despite the Lockdown regulations affecting restaurants so badly in the past nine months, a total of 66 new restaurants have opened in Cape Town and the Winelands during Lockdown. Top chefs are opening new restaurants, including Chefs Peter Tempelhoff and Liam Tomlin. Continue reading →