Tag Archives: the chef’s table

Corona Virus Lockdown takes its first casualties before Restaurants are allowed to open to the public again! May 2020

 

While a few restaurants already announced their closure at the beginning of March, when the COVID-19 Virus Lockdown had not yet been announced, a flood of restaurant closures is expected when restaurants are allowed to reopen to the public in Level 1 again, at an unannounced date in the future.

A shock closure announced by Chef Luke Dale Roberts during Lockdown Level 5 was that of The Shortmarket Club, and with it neighboring The Commissary. SMAK Delicatessen and Eatery on Bree Street, La Bottega in Woodstock, Empire Cafe in Muizenberg, Buitenverwachting Restaurant (under the guidance of Chef Edgar Osojnik for the past 20 years), and Mariner’s Wharf in Hout Bay have also thrown in the towel.

Chef Luke Dale Roberts’ The Shortmarket Club restaurant the first Corona Virus victim, in closing for good!

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Eat Out announces its 2019 Top 30 Restaurant shortlist! Shock exclusions! Liam Tomlin’s Chefs Warehouse & Canteen falls off the list!

Eat Out released its Top 30 shortlist for the 2019 Top 10 Restaurant Awards minutes ago. The biggest shock is that Chef Liam Tomlin’s Chefs Warehouse & Canteen has not been nominated! Just two years ago Eat Out awarded Tomlin the Chef of the Year Award! 

When I first wrote that Chef Liam’s restaurant on Bree Street did not belong on the Eat Out Top 20 shortlist, when it was nominated for the first time four of five years ago, not conforming to the criteria for fine dining, Chef Liam denigrated me in Facebook and banned me from his restaurants! It seems that the new judging team at Eat Out has seen the light, and feels the same about it! Continue reading →

American Express announces Top 2020 Dining Award winners, with a Johannesburg bias!

It was a multi-Award day on Monday this week, with both American Express (for the Western and Southern Cape), as well as the Gourmet Guide (National) announcing their 2020 Restaurant Award winners. A week earlier American Express had announced its Gauteng, Free State, and KwaZulu-Natal Awards. There were many similarities in the winners, yet some strange winners in the American Express Dining  awards documented in this post. Continue reading →

Seven young SA chefs make S. Pellegrino Young Chef 2020 list for Africa and Middle East, represent top restaurants!

S.Pellegrino has announced the Top 10 Young Chef 2020 Edition chefs, of which seven of the ten finalists for the Africa and Middle East region are from South Africa, spread around the country, but none from Cape Town. Kayla-Ann Osborn from Chefs Table made the Top 20 Eat Out List last year, and was announced its The Rising Star in 2017. Continue reading →