Surprise news from Chef Bertus Basson is that fine dining restaurant Overture is closing down at Hidden Valley in Stellenbosch on 30 September, after operating for 15 years at the wine estate. It was the first restaurant Basson opened.
The informal restaurant The Deck at Hidden Valley is also closing down.
This reduces the number of restaurants which Chef Bertus owns in Stellenbosch to five. Continue reading →
South Africa is two months into Lockdown, 62 days of restaurants not being allowed to open to serve sit-down customers. For the past 27 days many restaurants have reopened, operating within the Government regulation of offering a Food preparation and Delivery Service. On the eve of Restaurants being allowed to offer a Delivery as well as a Customer Collection Service from Monday 1 June, I looked at what the 2019 Eat Out Top 10 Restaurants are doing currently in terms of keeping their Restaurant brand names visible, and generating income to cover their costs and to employ some of their staff again.
I found that only three of the Eat Out Top 10 Restaurants are trading under their restaurant name in offering a Lockdown Food Delivery Service, and offering dishes that are similar to those that they offer at their award-winning restaurants. Continue reading →
Yesterday I published a post that focused on a number of leading South African chefs, in summarising what they are doing to maintain awareness for their restaurants, what they are posting, and how they are getting involved in helping their clients as well as the disadvantaged community. This Blogpost is a continuation of the story, focusing on the remaining restaurants which made the 2019 Eat Out Top 20 List. Continue reading →
It is the season of Restaurant Awards and accolades, and the newest one is 50 BEST Discovery, launched just two weeks ago by the World’s 50 Best, a credible ranked list of the best restaurants in the world. In total, 27 South African establishments appear on this new list, of which 23 are restaurants, ten in Cape Town, and with some strange inclusions. I had to ask myself what this is all about, reading the motivation for and description of this newest accolade. Continue reading →