A Table in the Corner

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, I sit down with Alex Windebank of Farro, the small, open-kitchen restaurant just off Dunkley Square that recently had to close when the building’s utilities were cut due to unpaid municipal debt by the landlord. Fully booked services had to be cancelled overnight, income dried up like the taps, and there was no clear timeline for reopening. We get into wha...

At The Kraal Restaurant on Joostenberg Farm, Susan Dehosse is cooking from a place that predates current trends around farm-to-table experiences. In this episode of A Table in the Corner , we talk about how a working farm, a family legacy, and a career shaped in European kitchens come together in a restaurant that feels both grounded and personal. Susan traces her path from early training in Stell...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, I chat to PJ Vadas at his Smokehouse & Bakery on Spier Wine Estate. We talk plainly about what it actually costs to keep a restaurant running, and why so many operators are under pressure right now. From refrigeration repair invoices that spiralled to over R100k to the constant recalibration of menus, staffing and pricing, PJ lays out the economics beh...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel Wasserfall sits down with chef Adél Hughes and artist-host Liebet Jooste , the couple behind Seebamboes. Their restaurant, tucked above Galjoen on Harrington Street, forms part of the same restaurant family as Belly of the Beast. The conversation explores how Seebamboes operates as a collaboration between kitchen and dining room. Adél cooks with in...

On this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Odette Olivier , head chef of the Harrington Street tasting-menu restaurant Belly of the Beast . Odette talks about how she found her way into professional kitchens, from an early instinct to cook through culinary school and the formative years that followed in hotels and lodge kitchens. She also reflects on the influence of the late...

On this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Jesper Nilsson, the Swedish-born chef behind Ëlgr, his popular restaurant on Kloof Street. Jesper’s cooking carries the clarity and discipline often associated with Scandinavian kitchens, but it’s firmly rooted in the produce and rhythm of Cape Town. The result is a restaurant that isn’t Nordic transplanted into South Africa, but som...

On this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Ella Rykaart, the front-of-house force behind Rykaarts, the small, atmospheric restaurant she runs with her husband, chef Alex Rykaart, on Longridge Wine Estate. While chefs often take the spotlight, this conversation turns the focus toward the other half of the restaurant equation: hospitality. Ella reflects on her path from studyin...

On this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Giles Edwards, a chef returning to the pass after time away, now working in collaboration with Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen at Le Bistrot de JAN. It’s a conversation about coming back to the kitchen on different terms, with more clarity about what matters and what doesn’t.  Giles first came onto the city’s radar with La Tête, a res...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Brett Michielin, the operator behind Mozambik, one of Southern Africa’s most recognisable casual dining brands. What began as a forty-seat restaurant in Ballito, KZN has grown into more than forty five outlets across the SADEC region. But the conversation starts with something far smaller: a twist of newspaper filled with pan-roasted...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, Russel sits down with Korean-born chef Sepial Shim, whose quiet, wandering path through Cape Town’s food world has taken her from cooking school to markets, pop ups and now a tiny sixteen seat restaurant in Woodstock called 'In the Meantime'. She reflects on arriving in South Africa more than two decades ago and training as an urban designer, onl...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Aidan Zieff, head chef of Ouzeri, one of Cape Town’s most quietly influential restaurants. Aidan reflects on a fast-moving early career that took him from local fine dining kitchens through Copenhagen stages at 108 and Noma, before returning home with a sharpened sense of discipline, flavour and restraint. The conversation traces his...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, Russel sits down with Andrew Kai, chef and co-founder behind Tomson, Max Bagels and One Park, to talk about building small, culture-driven food businesses in a city increasingly dominated by scale. Andrew reflects on his early years in London kitchens, the discipline of classical brigade systems, and the dislocation of returning home to a very different re...

In this Special Thursday episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with brother and sister team Danillo and Chiara Turilli, the operators behind Lello’s Deli, to talk about inheritance, identity and building something deeply personal in a city that is moving as quickly as Cape Town is right now. Raised within a family restaurant business run by their father, the Turillis describe themsel...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel travels to Boschendal to sit down with Travis Finch, head chef of Arum, to talk about cooking inside one of the Cape’s most ambitious agricultural ecosystems. Travis reflects on a career shaped by formative years with Peter Tempelhoff’s team and long stints abroad, before returning home to cook at the intersection of land, produce and restraint. Th...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Tasha Sideris, founder and chief executive of the Tashas restaurant group, to unpack two decades of building one of the most recognisable hospitality brands to emerge from South Africa. The conversation traces Tasha’s route into restaurants through family, osmosis and necessity rather than formal training, and how early years on the...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Julia Hattingh, chef and owner of Reverie Social Table, to unpack one of Cape Town’s most singular dining models. Julia talks through a career shaped by classical training, long stints in demanding kitchens and time abroad, before arriving at a form of hospitality that deliberately slows things down. The conversation traces her path...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Philippa and Graham Oldfield, the partners behind Bao Down, one of Cape Town’s most beloved independent restaurants. The conversation traces their parallel routes through chef school, hotels, yachts and serious kitchens, before converging in a small, hard working room in Vredehoek Avenue that would quietly build a cult following. Phi...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Drikus Brink, chef/proprietor of Toevlug, to trace a quietly serious cooking life shaped by farms, butcheries and long service beside Bertus Basson. Brink talks through his early years growing up around meat and trade, cooking boerewors rolls as a teenager, studying in Pretoria and arriving at Overture, to spend nearly a decade in Ba...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, Russel sits down at the counter of The Wiggle Room on Bree Street with co-founders Lester Riffel and chef Ismael ‘Fish’ Amos to explore one of Cape Town’s most provocative new dining concepts. Built around a 12-seat counter, The Wiggle Room throws out menus, consistency and convention in favour of freedom, creativity and connection. Lester and Fish speak c...

In this week’s episode, Russel sits down with Carla Schulze, executive chef of Salon which is part of the Test Kitchen family of restaurants. Carla reflects on her journey from studying under Jackie Cameron in KwaZulu Natal to becoming a key creative force alongside Luke Dale Roberts. The conversation explores mentorship, discipline, seasonality and the pressure of running a destination tasting me...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Matt van den Berg, head chef at Mertia in Stellenbosch and one of the most quietly respected chefs in the Western Cape. Matt reflects on his unconventional path into cooking, from a BCom degree and life on yachts to training at Silwood and working in some of South Africa’s most demanding kitchens, including The Test Kitchen and La Co...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , I sat down with John van Zyl, chef and co owner of Melting Pot, one of Cape Town’s most talked about contemporary restaurants. John reflects on his unconventional journey into food, from music and travel to working closely with Liam Tomlin, and how those years shaped his disciplined, process-driven approach to cooking. The conversation traces the evolutio...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Tasmin Reid, the young, fiercely thoughtful chef behind Melfort, a seasonal farm to fork restaurant on Marianne Estate near Stellenbosch. Tasmin shares her journey from Silwood Kitchen to working with Ryan Cole at Salsify, her plans for Australia, and how an unexpected autoimmune diagnosis reshaped both her life and her style of cook...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner , Russel sits down with Chef Nathan Clark, head chef of Test Kitchen Fledgelings. Apologies in advance - the sound quality is not the best, as I had a few technical challenges, but Nathan's story is incredible.  He shares his remarkable journey from scullery to running the kitchen, rising through the ranks of the Test Kitchen group over 13 years. He sp...

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, we step into the golden world of Veuve Clicquot’s Emotions of the Sun, the global photographic exhibition created with the legendary Magnum Photos agency, now shining in Cape Town at Youngblood Gallery on Bree Street. My guest is Seth Shezi, Celebrity MasterChef winner, global traveller and lifestyle tastemaker, who curated the Sun on Your Plate Café for t...