Tag Archives: Haarlem & Hope

New Restaurant openings in Cape Town and Winelands continue!

Tiger's Milk Main Table and lights Whale CottageEven though we are halfway through the summer season,  new restaurants continue to open, and more are planned before summer ends.  This list of restaurant openings and closings and restaurant staff movements is updated continuously, as we receive new information:

Restaurant Openings

*    Michael Townsend (who owns the Harbour House emporium, with La Parada, Lucky Fish, and Harbour House restaurants) has opened Tiger’s Milk in Muizenberg (photograph).  The Lucky Fish on Long Street will be transformed into Tiger’s Milk.

*    Kokkedoor judge and Chef Nic van Wyk and Roxy Laker have opened bistro 13 at Stellenbosch Vineyards (Welmoed)

*   Idiom Wines is said to be opening a restaurant.

*   The Butcher Shop & Grill has opened next to Sotano in Mouille Point. Continue reading →

Haarlem & Hope changes its name to The Company’s Garden Restaurant!

Haarlem & Hope Table outside Whale CottageSocial activist Zackie Achmat has managed to get the name of Haarlem & Hope changed to The Company’s Garden Restaurant, three weeks after its opening earlier this month, after he complained that the original name included reference to the Haarlem ship, which brought the first slaves to the Cape!

Achmat wrote angrily: ‘I wish to register my anger and outrage against this unthinking, callous celebration of colonial power. The indigenous Khoi and San people faced genocide. Colonialism is part of our history. We can’t turn the clock back. But many white people’s failure to acknowledge the pain and injustice of colonialism, apartheid and capitalism angers me not simply because it is wrong, but because they are preparing the seeds of increased social violence‘.

The Madame Zingara Group reacted quickly on its Facebook page, posting the following statement: ‘We’ve come under fire once Continue reading →

Haarlem & Hope: The new Company’s Garden Restaurant in Cape Town!

Haarlem & Hope opening 24 NovemberOn Friday afternoon Haarlem & Hope was officially opened in the Company’s Garden, now operated by the Madame Zingara Group, having won the tender from the City of Cape Town.  The restaurant opens to the public tomorrow.

Owner Richard Griffin is an excellent showmaster, which we have seen in his quirky restaurants such as the Bombay Bicycle Club, and his Madame Zingara shows are a must-see in acrobatics, entertainment, Haarlem & Hope Richard Griffen Whale Cottageand food served with precision for hundreds (perhaps Eat Out can contract him to handle the catering for the Eat Out Restaurant Awards in 2015)!

The name comes from  the Dutch ship Nieuwe Haarlem, which was shipwrecked at the Cape in 1647.  Crew members stayed at the Cape for a year before being picked up by another passing Dutch ship, and in that time the crew planted vegetables, which they bartered for fresh meat from the Khoi living here already. Jan van Riebeek arrived five years later, expanding the vegetable gardening to create the Company’s Garden.

The first thing one notices on arrival is the weaver bird nest-like hanging baskets at the right of the entrance, made Continue reading →

New restaurant openings awaited in Cape Town & Winelands!

Bistro 13 Interior plus serving hatch Whale CottageAn unusually high number of new restaurants has opened or will do so in the next month or two.  There have never been so many chefs leaving their employers to start their own restaurants, or to join other employers!  This list of restaurant openings and closings and restaurant staff movements is updated continuously, as we receive new information:

Restaurant Openings

*    Kokkedoor judge and Chef Nic van Wyk and Roxy Laker have opened bistro 13 at Stellenbosch Vineyards (Welmoed) (photograph)

*   Idiom Wines is said to be opening a restaurant.

*   The Butcher Shop & Grill has opened next to Sotano in Mouille Point.

*   Michael Townsend (who own the La Parada, Lucky Fish, Harbour House emporium) has opened Tiger’s Milk in Muizenberg, the venue having previously been earmarked for a steakhouse.

*   Neil Grant and his business partner Barry Engelbrecht (of Burrata) have opened new restaurant Bocca on the corner of Bree Continue reading →