amen joint, Ramenhead, located in the same building as Fyn in downtown Cape Town. here’s also been a slew of T fine-dining destinations. If you thought gastronomy was dead, well, you were wrong. At least in Cape Town. “A lot of people were expecting the death of fine dining [after Covid]. They didn’t know the world would welcome the challenging industry of fine dining. It’s come back – and it’s come back hard,” Tempelhoff adds. Last year, the team behind La Colombe, one of Cape Town’s most prestigious and long-standing fine-dining establishments, opened Pier in an airy, glass-fronted dining room located on the water at the V&A Waterfront. On the menu, dishes like nitrogen-poached calamansi (a citrus fruit) and caviar with caramelised cauliflower delight diners seeking lengthy, elaborate meals. Chef Vusi Ndlovu’s Edge, which popped up at the Belmond Mount There’s an incredible energy brewing in the city, which is palpable. We feel very lucky to be part of this new creative wave – Garreth van Niekerk, Always Welcome Nelson hotel (and will open in a permanent space in the near future), will also excite foodies looking for something fancy with local flair. “Cape Town has always had amazing chefs. The clientele allows them to fully explore and push boundaries,” says Ndlovu, who cooks most of his food over fire. “People in Cape Town are also open to trying new things, which works in our favour.” The young toque is part of a new wave of chefs in Cape Town tapping into indigenous cuisine. At Edge, he draws flavours and techniques from all over the continent, elevating well-known meals like jollof rice, which inspired his tomato consommé served with local salmon trout. “It’s exciting to see the restaurant scene rebuild, but not only with the intention to open a restaurant but also to shed Doluptatus vello rerum, vollecte pa vera perumet rerferf eriorerrore voluptatu Em voluptatque porrum labor An art-filled common area of the Future Found Sanctuary hotel in Hout Bay; opposite: iconic South African artist Porky Hefer poses amid his Volume IV. Chaos Calamus exhibition at Southern Guild, on view until 20 April
PHOTOS HAYDEN PHIPPS/SOUTHERN GUILD; OPPOSITE PAGE: MILLION MEMORIES; PREVIOUS SPREAD FROM LEFT: HUFTON + CROW, ANDREA VAN DER SPUY more light on African and South African cuisine,” says Mmabatho Molefe, the chef behind opened Emazulwini, which highlights Nguni and Zulu cuisines. Located at Makers Landing on the foreshore at a shipping terminal, Molefe spins fine plates like butter-basted ox liver with yellow lentils and chakalaka (spicy relish). She recognises the challenges the city faces, but can’t deny that there’s still space for the industry to thrive. “Despite everything going on – electricity cuts etc – creatively, we have found our voice,” she says. This powerful voice extends to the art and design worlds, too. Since being listed as World Design Capital back in 2014, as well as the annual host of Design Indaba, a conference that draws design pioneers and innovators from all over the globe, the creative scene has been booming, highlighting more and more local makers. “There’s an incredible energy brewing in the city, which is palpable. We feel very lucky to be part of this new creative wave,” says Garreth van Niekerk, coowner of Always Welcome, a furniture and homeware store founded in Johannesburg in 2020 that champions local design. “We’ve been desperate to create a dialogue between the designers in the two cities, and have been overwhelmed by the interest in our offering from Cape Town’s design community,” says van Niekerk, who had been searching for the right time-honoured space that would complement the store’s contemporary pieces like handwoven pendant lights by Mash T Studio and curved steel chairs by Dokter and Misses. ast year, he opened Always L Welcome inside a heritage building – also the home of other creative businesses like local surf brand Mami Wata, which makes graphic T-shirts, shorts and bold surfboards – just off Cape Town’s bustling Bree Street. An ideal location, considering it’s one of the city’s artiest strips, home to a slew of creative businesses – shops, restaurants and galleries, such as an outpost of the Johannesburg-based Gallery Momo, one of the few Black-owned galleries in the country. A few blocks away is Pezula Interiors, a homegrown brand that stocks local ceramics, woven furniture and hardto-find Assouline books, which recently reopened in a lofty new space across the street. Nearby is Merchants on Long, a fashion store founded by Hanneli Rupert, which has long highlighted now-famous designers such as Thebe Magugu and Sindiso Khumalo. Set inside a soaring old building, the space recently underwent an overhaul and offers a fresh selection of whimsical items by Viviers Studio and MaXhosa knitwear. The Bree Street area is never short on activity, but it reaches a climax on the first Thursday of the month, when shops and galleries stay open longer and patrons spill out onto the sidewalks until late. For a place that sometimes gets a hard rap about crime, nights like these prove that there’s so much more to the city than scary encounters. It’s also a wonderful window into Cape Town’s creative crowd. This crowd has been blossoming for some time now. As the destination of international art establishments like the Zeitz MOCAA, as well as many independent galleries like Stevenson, Goodman Gallery and Southern Guild, Cape Town entices artists, curators, galleries and buyers. “It’s an important meeting ground for artists from all over the African continent,” says Trevyn McGowan, co-founder of Southern Guild, a gallery located near the Zeitz MOCAA at the waterfront and represents designers like Porky Hefer and ceramicist Andile Dyalvane. “This cross-pollination makes for a buoyant exchange among visiting artists, artists who live here, curators, collectors, galleries and institutions.” Over the past few months, McGowan has seen an uptick in international interest and visitors, which she attributes to a combination of things: the Gucci fundraising dinner at the Zeitz MOCAA that took place last year: the festive season CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 55
