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 →
What a clever move of The Lawns, an outdoor-only daytime restaurant at The Roundhouse in Camps Bay, to erect a massive Marquee on one level of the lawns and turn it into a Winter pop-up restaurant called Steak Club. The Lawns outside-seating restaurant will continue to serve Breakfast and Lunch outside.
I attended its opening a week ago, invited with predominantly representatives of the alcoholic beverage Trade. We were served canapés representing dishes on the menu, prepared by Chef Stephen Mandes, whom I had last experienced when Mondiall still operated in the Waterfront a few years ago. He remembered my aversion to onions from way back then. He is a past winner of an Ultimate Braai Master series. Continue reading →
The Level 1 regulations introduced on 1 March, with a restaurant closing time of 23h00, and the serving of alcohol being permitted since February, have been a boost to the local restaurant industry, one of the hardest hit industries since Lockdown started a year ago, with good bookings in the past two months.
Despite the Lockdown regulations affecting the restaurant industry so badly in the past 13 months, a total of 75 new restaurants have opened in Cape Town and the Winelands during Lockdown. Restaurateur Michael Townsend Continue reading →