With the country at Level 1 since last week, optimism is high, and business in the restaurant industry is improving. Despite the dreadful impact on restaurants of Level 4 during July, no restaurants appeared to have closed, other than The Test Kitchen and Ocean Blue in September.
Chef Luke Dale Roberts retains Fledglings and Pot Luck Club in Cape Town, and is moving his attention to Johannesburg, consulting to Ethos, and opening The Shortmarket Grill there. Continue reading →
Tuesday 2 March 2021, Day 2 of Level 1, Day 342 of Lockdown 😷
Corona Gratitude 🙏
#Grateful for a cooler day today, covered in fog early in the day, and clearing with a veil of cloud around Lions Head; for a busy writing day; for a relaxed day, so relaxed that I wasn’t sure if I had enough energy to go for a walk, but my energy just grew when I started walking, combining Camps Bay and Bakoven into one walk this afternoon, gaining 300 Discovery steps; for a call from Stuart Bailey, so happy to hear that both his restaurants are doing so well; and for being happy and healthy. 🙏💙 Continue reading →
Restaurants and their customers celebrated the revised Lockdown regulations yesterday, permitting the sale of alcohol and the closing time moved to 22h00. It will be interesting to see which of the 20 restaurants which announced their closure in the past month, will reopen, six having reopened since yesterday.
Despite the Lockdown regulations affecting restaurants so badly in the past nine months, a total of 68 new restaurants have opened in Cape Town and the Winelands during Lockdown. Top chefs are opening new restaurants, including Chefs Peter Tempelhoff, Cheyne Morrisby, and Liam Tomlin. Continue reading →
Last week I spent two days in Franschhoek for a catch-up visit, after not having been to this lovely village known for its eateries and good wines in eight months. From having heard that the village was so quiet, and that many restaurants had closed down, I was pleasantly surprised to find the village bursting with excitement about new restaurants about to open in October, and later this year. I could not resist eating at Orangerie at Le Lude, what to me is one of Franschhoek’s best restaurants. Continue reading →