Bruce Robertson, owner of The Showroom which closed down in Cape Town just over a month ago, has hopped back onto the restaurant scene with the opening of The Quarter, a tiny take-out bunny-chow restaurant located underneath the New Space Theatre at 44 Long Street, just two doors away from his The Showroom Cafe. 

Robertson has his roots in Durban, and made a trip to his homeground to learn more about bunny chow from the locals, it having originated from there.   Bunny chow is usually a street food which is cheap and easy to eat, being half a loaf of bread, hollowed out and filled with a curry food.  Robertson calls it the “quintessential South African dish”.

Robertson’s restaurant’s name refers to the quarter size of bread he serves his bunny chow in.  The restaurant has the ordering lingo and eating style written onto the wall, so that one can order and eat bunny chow correctly!

After suffering the closure of his award-winning restaurant The Showroom due to the bleak winter lying ahead, Robertson decided to open a “gourmet bunny chow shop”, with a  “more hands-on restaurant feeding a bigger client base”.  His bunny chow fillings include Crayfish potjie, waterblommetjie bredie, mussel and garlic pot, ‘welsh rabbit’, oxtail, gemsbok, and the standard mutton, chicken, beef mince, venison and goat.   None of these cost more than R 65, and some dishes cost as little as R 20.   Extra toppings, sauces and side dishes can also be ordered.

Robertson will also rent the premises to private functions of up to 16 persons, at R 860 per head, including wine, for which he will cook.   The bunny-chow menu is set aside for such functions, and Robertson will cook a gourmet meal, washed down with wines from his collection .