The City of Cape Town has awarded the tender to operate the long-operating The Company’s Garden restaurant to the Zingara Group, its sixth Cape Town restaurant opened in the past thirteen years, and will be called Haarlem & Hope.

The City called for tenders for the operation of the restaurant a year ago, as part of its revitalisation of the Company’s Garden.   The Zingara Group met the criteria specified in the tender, and a year later received the go-ahead.  The name comes from  a 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, picking up the vegetable gardening to create the Company’s Garden. Continue reading →