On Monday I attended a little celebration lunch at Chef Jenny Morris’ Yumcious Café in the Cape Quarter, in honour of the reopening of the restaurant, after a six month closure due to the Covid Lockdown. We were introduced to the specials Yumcious Café is offering at ridiculously low prices. Continue reading →
The Corona Lockdown brings interesting news, and challenges and changes, so it was a surprise when I opened up my Instagram to the Janse & Co post last night, announcing the departure of Chef Arno Janse van Rensburg at the end of this month. No future plans are revealed. The restaurant is currently closed, but the Instagram post hints at the reopening of the restaurant at an undefined time.
Chef Arno is one of my favourite chefs, demonstrating no ego, staying in the background with very low key Social Media presence, and does things differently in every way. During the beginning of Lockdown he and his wife Liezl worked tirelessly in cooking with Ladles of Love to feed many disadvantaged communities in Cape Town. He opened Janse & Co just over two years ago, after leaving Maison in Franschhoek, which was then my favorite restaurant in the gourmet village. Whilst at Maison, Chef Arno took the month-long restaurant winter closures to travel to Spain, South America, and other countries, to learn more about food.
Sunday 23 August 2020, Day 6 of Level 2, Day 150 of Lockdown 😷
Corona Gratitude 🙏
#Grateful for a laidback day, doing a lot of Social Media catching up from the comfort of my bed this morning 😱; for a sunny day, even though not as warm as yesterday and the day before, because of a light cloud cover; for a walk to Fourth Beach Clifton, happy that there was minimal litter today and no torn garbage bags; for a spoil from the Maison J staff when I walked past, offering me some cinnamon doughnuts to take home, to be shared tomorrow; for another day in this fabulous spoiling week; for a lovely milestone birthday celebration dinner for Katie Friedman at Pilcrow & Cleaver, Chef Judi Fourie being hands-on in looking after us for our Sit-Down dinner; and for being happy and healthy. 🙏💙 Continue reading →
The tight controls over the Restaurant industry are taking its toll, the alcohol ban as well as Curfew announced on 12 July being a death knell for restaurants, more closing down completely. The most recent Curfew amendment on 30 July, in changing the starting time of the Curfew to 22h00, is of little benefit to restaurants and their diners.
On my latest Restaurant Closure list I have more than 50 Restaurants in Cape Town and the Winelands which have closed down, an increase of 13 Restaurant Closures in the past month. (see below).
The Restaurant Closure and Opening Lists are updated continuously throughout the month. Continue reading →