A week ago La Belle Bistro & Bakery opened in Mouille Point, next door to sister restaurant Pepenero, off Beach Road, bringing to ten the number of restaurants in the Kove Collection which have already opened, with one more to come in the V&A Waterfront.
Of the three La Belles (the other two are in Camps Bay, when Umi was divided in half and La Belle opened in one half, and in the Alphen Hotel), all belonging to the Kove Collection, the latter is the best run but Continue reading →
Serendipity led me to Carne Bistro on Kloof Street last night, bumping into the Friedman family, which was eating there while I was heading to Manna Epicure next door. An invitation to join their table led me to experience the new Carne Bistro, which opened in September. The space was previously Caffe Milano, which was a favourite for their Eggs Benedict, and for the excellent service from its previous manager Charlene, who now works at the main Carne on Keerom Street.
I had not been back to the original Carne restaurant, after the exposé on this Blog about owner Giorgio Nava’s misleading claims about his beef, lamb and game being organic and coming from his Karoo farm. Nava saw the light, and removed the claims from his menus and website a year later. The restaurant (with 95 Keerom) has never made the Eat Out Top 20 Restaurant shortlist since then, despite being one of two favourite chefs (with Chef Luke Dale-Roberts) of Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly! Nava wins a more recently created Eat Out 
Best of Award every year, alternating between Best Italian for 95 Keerom, and Best Steakhouse for Carne. This yearshould be a 95 Keerom year!
Some interior changes were made to the restaurant, but not really visible nor obvious. Wall shelving has been removed, and the wooden buttermilk vessels which were used as decor at the Mozzarella Bar Continue reading →
It was a unique experience to meet seven chefs who have worked or are currently working at Michelin star restaurants (10 Michelin stars awarded in total) in Austria and Germany for breakfast at the Lanzerac on Tuesday. While it was an early morning start, it was energizing being in the company of the ever-bubbly Barbara Lenhard and Florian Gast of Opulent Living, who had extended the invitation to a number of writers.
We were seated at one long table intermingled with the chefs, and a half way swopping of seats was clever too, so that we could get to chat to at least three of the seven chefs for a longer period of time. Opulent Living, organisers of the charity Gala Dinner ‘Chefs who Share‘ in the City Hall this evening, 
welcomed the seven chefs, who had all flown in from Europe to Cape Town on Monday.
Tonight seven teams of two local chefs each, a local sommelier, and one of the German-speaking chefs, will prepare a four course dinner for 36 guests who have paid R3000 each to attend, a total of 250 guests not only eating delectable food, but also drinking excellent local wines, and interacting with the three chefs looking after their tables. Last year Opulent Living raised R1,2 million through the charity Gala Dinner, and decided to raise the bar this year by flying in the seven German-speaking Continue reading →
Borage Bistro has been on my list to try since it opened in May, and on Friday last week my friend Judy and I chose it for our lunch destination. After a hesitant welcome by the waitress, we were well-attended to by front of house manager and co-owner Dennis Molewa, and found a sophisticated haven of German fusion cuisine and service standard.
Dennis told us that three co-owners opened the restaurant in the new Portside Building at the bottom of Bree Street, none of them having any experience in running a restaurant. Major shareholder is Christian Vaatz, a Cape Town based investment manager who loves outdoor eating. He connected with Dennis, who has lived in Cape Town for four years, having worked for Amazon locally, and originally is from Frankfurt. Chef Frank Marks is a German Namibian who studied at Silwood Kitchen, and joined Chef Luke Dale-Roberts when he was still at La Colombe, and then followed him when he set up The Test Kitchen. As if that wasn’t enough rubbing of shoulders with our country’s official best restaurant chef, Frank left his local job, and was accepted to do a stage
at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in Bray in the UK, before becoming full-time employed by him at Dinner by Heston in London, spending two years there. working with Chef Heston’s head chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, before returning to Chef Luke at The Pot Luck Club. He likes to study the scientific aspects of food, experimenting with foams and gels, and to Continue reading →