Tag Archives: Margot Janse

Meet Chef Nicolene Barrow of Orangerie at Le Lude: 2021 Top 10 Woman Chef!

Chef Nicolene Barrow is a quiet and unassuming restaurant owner and chef at the family sparkling wine estate Le Lude in Franschhoek. Her French-inspired with a contemporary twist restaurant is the best in the village, in my opinion. She is one of our 2021 Top 10 Women Chefs, and has received her prize of a bottle of Adhara Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Chef Nicolene is the best qualified Chef in our province, having worked at 2 Michelin-star Le Gavroche in London for two years. She opened Orangerie five years ago.

 

 

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SA Restaurant trends 2019, less French, more indigenous, lighter, vegan, non-wine pairings!

 

 

I have only just paged through the Eat Out 2020 magazine, and was interested in the article on restaurants trends observed during 2019 whilst Eat Out Head Judge and Chef Margot Janse and her team of judges roamed the country to evaluate our country’s top restaurants for the 2019 Eat Out Awards. Personally, I’m happy to see that table cloths are back in. Nothing worse than eating at a bare table, Continue reading →

Eat Out Awards 2019 full of drama and surprises, new awards, La Colombe overtakes The Test Kitchen for the first time as new number one restaurant in South Africa!

I cannot remember when an Eat Out Awards event was so exciting in its Top 10 countdown, with so many surprise restaurants on this year’s list, reflecting how more daring the Eat Out judging team has become, no longer playing it safe, which is highly commended. Since Chef Margot Janse took over in heading the Eat Out Awards judging panel in 2018, she has been ruthless in her restaurant recognition, which we already noticed when Eat Out announced its Top 30 nomination shortlist for this year, in some of the top restaurants it excluded! Continue reading →

Eat Out Awards 2019: a prediction of the Top 10 Restaurants in South Africa!

Each year I attempt a prediction of the Eat Out Top 10 Restaurants in South Africa, from the restaurant guide’s Top 30 nomination short list. Each year it seems to get more difficult to predict which restaurants will make the top of the grade, the new Head Judge Margot Janse pulling many surprise punches in her Top 10 List last year, and even this year in her Top 30 nominations list. On Sunday 17 November the Restaurant industry ‘Oscars’ will be presented to the Top 10 South African Restaurants at GrandWest. Continue reading →