Tag Archives: Gorgeous George

Cape Town and Winelands Restaurant Openings for rest of 2019/2020 summer dried up? Reflection of the economy?

With rating agencies giving our economy a thumbs down, and our Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni painting a bleak picture of our economy last week, it is no surprise that there are few, if any, restaurant openings planned for the rest of the 2019/2020 summer season. 

Exhibit A of Chefs Rikku O’Donnchü and Warwick King opened on Bree Street on Friday. La Chêne opened at Leeu Estates in Franschhoek two weeks ago. Cowboys & Cooks is running late in opening its planned new restaurant in De Waterkant.

 

Cape Town restaurant openings 

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New Restaurant openings in Cape Town and Winelands for 2019/2020 season slow down dramatically: October 2019!

The poor economic conditions in our country currently is manifesting in the very few new restaurants opening for the new summer season, most such new openings usually taking place in September. Where many new restaurants are opening, they are changing the name and concept of existing ones, rather than being brand new, or adding other restaurants in a restaurant group’s portfolio. 

Two exciting top-end restaurant openings are those of Exhibit A (owned by highly acclaimed Chef Rikku O’Donnchü and Chef Warwick King, who left Gåte restaurant earlier this year), opening in the city centre on 1 November; and of La Chêne at Leeu Estates in Franschhoek. Interesting is that a number of new restaurants have opened on Kloof Street, our former Cape Town Restaurant Street before Bree Street took over,  Continue reading →

Gorgeous George Hotel and its GiGi Rooftop Restaurant & Bar simply…Gorgeous, bowled over by the design, differentness!

How does one summarise Cape Town’s newest trendy hotspot that is a 32 bedroom Hotel, a rooftop bar with a resident mixologist, and a restaurant with Chef Guy Bennett at the helm, located in an area in which such an offering is not expected, that is simply gorgeous? The Gorgeous George Hotel, and with it the GiGi Rooftop Restaurant and Bar, will bring the Cape Town city centre alive again, an area that has not seen any innovation in quite a while. Continue reading →

New Restaurant Openings in Cape Town and Winelands grind to a halt! April 2019

Winter is on our doorstep, autumn making itself felt already. Traditionally winter commences at Easter, giving the restaurant industry just three weeks to make its last bucks. The only new restaurant that I have heard open is Botanicum Café & Grill in Constantia, previously Bootlegger Café & Grill, now (silently) 50% owned by Bootlegger, as the concept was not working with the Bootlegger name, it being seen as a coffee shop and not a stand-alone restaurant. 

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