Forget the fluff and fanfare that often comes with fine dining. The partnership that produces these premium plates makes it accessible. Step into COY with Liezl Vermeulen, a dining destination where you’ll find echoes of African flavours. 

At first glance, COY looks like a small restaurant, with Table Mountain towering behind it and huge yachts swaying at its feet. The elegant black wooden frame stands at the Cape Town harbour’s edge at the V&A Waterfront. Inside, co-head chefs Geoffrey Abrahams and Teenola Govender-Abrahams (affectionately known as G&T) have curated a taste of the African continent, dishing up premium plates that draw inspiration from the shorelines of our continent. 

Two Head Chefs  

Teenola tends to answer the questions first – quickly and confidently. Next to her sits her co-head chef (and husband of six months), Geoffrey, who pauses and gives each question the same amount of consideration before answering with carefully chosen words. 

This isn’t surprising. When your job is to dish up premium plates in one of Africa’s most visited destinations, the margin for error is small. Their countless days of research, months of curating and planning, and years of industry experience make them keenly connected to their work and confident in their choices. At COY, everything is deeply considered, meticulously tested and planned to a G&T.

Two Stories  

Hailing from KZN, Teenola grew up with a Durban-Indian mom who loved to feed people. 

“My mom’s a wonderful and instinctual cook,” she says, smiling, while expressing her frustration that there are no written recipes to capture her mother’s cooking. Her mom is adamant that once she’s retired, she’scoming to Cape Town to cook staff lunches at COY. She wants to teach everyone about their culture and how they cook, making it evident that sharing is what underpins her cooking. For Teenola, Monday and Tuesday meant fasting from meat, while Sundays brought big family breakfasts with spicy beans and pork sausages. 

Growing up in Cape Town, Geoffrey was part of a busy, creative household where extramurals were king. For his mom, cooking was born out of necessity rather than an affinity for it. (Her creative outlet and career wasmusic rather than cooking.) Now, as an adult, he says he appreciates his mom’s cooking so much more, understands it so much more. “The one thing I’ll never, ever, ever be able to recreate” he says, and Teenola is already nodding in agreement with him, “is her Christmas lunch. No one can touch it, and we don’t try.”  

For him, his heritage is more vague, not because it isn’t as distinct and colourful, but because previous generations have been less forthcoming with stories. What he does have are fond memories of big Saturday morning breakfasts and the important Sunday lunches after church that marked the weekly family catch-up.  

Today, G&T have blended the two different traditions into their household and their approach to fine dining.   

Read more about G&T’s approach to fine dining when you subscribe to My Kitchen Magazine today! 

Words: Liezl Vermeulen 
Photography: Zhann Solomons  

The post Africa, as curated by COY appeared first on MyKitchen.

 Starting from different places, Zola and Onezwa have arrived on the same stage, each standing tall in her own spotlight. Neither feels like they’ve arrived yet. They’re both teachers and students on their journeys of food discovery and self-discovery.

In 2022, Zola and Onezwa’s paths crossed for the first time — on MasterChef SA as a judge and contestant respectively. Their interaction was limited, as judges and contestants were mostly separated. Since then, Onezwahas forged her own path, garnering immense online success, while Zola has steadily kept her fan following growing and well fed. This year, the two met again, now on a more level playing field: bookshelves nationwide.  

 

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For Onezwa, A Food Love Story marks a deeply personal debut cookbook rooted in culture, heritage and family legacy. For Zola, Simply More Zola is her fourth cookbook, the latest chapter in a career that has inspired South African home cooks for more than a decade. 

 Despite their different journeys, both are passionate about preserving food traditions, both believe travel expands the way we cook and eat, and both see food as a powerful vehicle for storytelling and connection. 

From discussions about umleqwa, dombolo and global food influences to the realities of navigating public scrutiny and social media fame, Zola and Onezwa reflect on what it means to honour the past while embracing the future. 

They spoke to My Kitchen about curiosity, criticism, legacy and the lasting power of food, showcasing that they’re each telling their (food) story in remarkably different ways. 

Read Onezwa & Zola’s full article when you subscribe to My Kitchen Magazine today! 

Words: Liezl Vermeulen
Photographs: Zhann Solomons  

The post Zola & Onezwa: From tradition to TikTok appeared first on MyKitchen.

Experience a journey of flavour through pairing artisan cheeses with bold, Cape-inspired condiments and rare wines with Marble’s roaming cheese trolley curated by chef Karen Dudley. 

Often the experience of a wine tasting can feel out of reach, calling for a trip to the countryside hidden among valleys and vineyards. Yet in the iconic hub of the V&A Waterfront stands the marvellous Marble Cape Town, which offers more than just a quick sundowner.  

Founded by Chef David Higgs and entrepreneur Gary Kyriacou, Marble Cape Town has built a reputation around bold flavour and finesse in a way that still feels unmistakably local yet entirely elevated – now with the addition of a spectacular cheese and wine experience that is a must-try.  

Karen Dudley’s roaming cheese and wine experience 

At the centre of it all is a roaming cheese trolley curated by the culinary & creative force, Karen Dudley, who has crafted a theatrical, tableside journey through the Cape’s most favoured flavours. Alongside a wine pairing, the restaurant’s sommelier team steps in, matching cheeses, preserves, and crackers with some of South Africa’s most exceptional wines – bottles rarely available by the glass and, in some cases, not available to the public at all.  

Imagine a rich Dalewood Fromage’s Huguenot and sour fig konfyt, spread on an obsession-worthy oat cracker, paired with a 1988 Tinta Barocca Blend from Overgaauw, Cape Vintage from Stellenbosch. Or perhaps Belnori Farms’ Amboseli (a goat’s milk cheese) with guava gochujang jam, a dehydrated mango atchar crisp, and an oat cracker, paired with 2024 Muscat d’Alexandrie, L’Equinox from Citrusdal. 

The trolley is wheeled directly to the table, allowing diners to handpick their cheeses and pair them with an array of bold, Cape-inspired condiments that catch their eye. Standouts include Langbaken Karoo Crumble with cauliflower pickle and cherry mustard, a Dalewood Huguenot cheese with waterblommetjie pickle and guava gochujang jam, and Belnori Forest Phantom cheese with watermelon konfyt and green fig preserve. Sounds extraordinary, right? That’s because it is. 

How much for this Cape luxury? 

The pricing reflects the premium nature of the experience while remaining accessible for special occasions, where guests can expect the cheese trolley selection to start from around R165 – R425 depending on the selection. The curated wine and cheese pairings are offered from approximately R185 – R275 per tasting. Whether it’s casual daytime snacking, dinner plans, or a sunset moment, we recommend making a booking and saving space for cheese – lots of it. It’s cheese and wine – but not as you know it! A far more indulgent offering layered with story, seasonality, and the exceptional taste of Cape flavours waiting for you.   

Want to get a taste of the full menu at Marble Cape Town? Check it out here: 

 

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Words: Claudia Da Silva
Photography: Jan Ras Photography 

The post The perfect cheese and wine experience at Marble Cape Town appeared first on MyKitchen.

Our Editor-in-Chief Liezl Vermeulen was invited to Arlechinno. Here’s what she made of the elevated eatery. 

It’s in the detail for me. Throughout my entire meal, I kept noticing the thoughtful planning behind the design, the tableside service and the staff’s attentive care. 

Arlecchino at a glance 

The décor drew me in even before the menu could steel my attention.  The playful harlequin theme echoes elegantly throughout the spacious eatery with its thoughtful, quality décor. Trending ruffled design, akin to a clown collar, creates large lighting displays that crowns the roof. Diamond patterns are seen on the silky sleeves of the waiters, umbrella detailing and marble mosaic floors.  

There’s a bold colour scheme of bright-green and peacock blue hues on the furniture, crockery and tabletop details. This is offset set against natural tones of wooden tables and 70’s woven cane chairs. It all comes in subtle variety that has the tasha’s touch of bespoke, high-end eatery.   

Table-side service  

There’s an element of old school charm: a drinks trolley is rolled in by a suit-and-tie’d mixologist, there’s family-style table salads and sharing platters, and – a personal highlight – the subtle theatrics of tableside service.   

A vibrant house salad is assembled and dressed table side, the Sgroppino cocktail mixed next to you, and tiramisu features madeleines that get dressed and doll(op)ed up in front of you. An applause seems fitting. 

Have a seat at our table and see our experience first-hand. 

 

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Light and decadent menu 

The menu, designed by culinary director Jill Okkers, has distinct Italian flair, following the style of the wider Mediterranean, rather than strictly following the region’s culinary rules. (By this I mean the branzino caldo, for example, marries ingredients like Ponzu and soy without screaming Asian, seamlessly blending in next to the rest of the antipasti.) 

With all-day dining, the restaurant shifts, much like a Capetonian, quite effortlessly between business and leisure, light and decadent.  

What I’ll be back for 

To start, the memorable Carpaccio Caccio e pepe (R282) combined paper-thin beef with the temperamental Pecorino-pepper pasta exquisitely. The Crema di feta (R98) – read whipped feta – is made to share and an absolute must.  

It has to be said that the seemingly simplest of plates, the Amalfi lemon bucatini pasta (R172), with smallest price tag on the pasta section was the most memorable to me, showing that the price range of the entire menu shouldn’t stop you from visiting.   

On the sweet front, I’ve seen the hype of the tiramisu – it did not disappoint, finely balancing the bitterness of coffee with a touch of dulce de leche – but it was the pannacotta (R118) that stood out most, perhaps in part because I wasn’t expecting it to shine so bright. Firstly, the contrast of frozen, bitter-sweet grapefruit and orange granita on top of the creamy pannacotta wowed my senses. Secondly, serving it in a glass means they could use less gelatine, which created a just-set texture that really melted in your mouth. The Zabaglione (R138) deserves an honorary mention here for its balance of fresh-meets-sweet and the closest taste of a cloud you could imagine. 

It all screams sophisticated, understated and timeless luxury, but perhaps even louder, it says stay a little longer.   

Words: Liezl Vermeulen
Photography: Adel Ferreira  

The post A table at Arlecchino: Here’s what to expect appeared first on MyKitchen.

From the sandy Karoo to the shores of Kalk Bay – travel through the Western Cape in a single sitting at Urchin Restaurant when visiting Hyatt Regency in Cape Town. 

Chef Marcus Gericke travelled the Western Cape province of South Africa to get to the root of its flavour, meeting the people, seeing the terroir, and experiencing heritage firsthand.  

 

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His 1 627-kilometre journey took him from the shores of Kalk Bay and Paternoster to the sandy Karoo and lush Garden Route. Finally, he ended back in Cape Town in the bright and bustling Bo-Kaap. 

Now Chef Marcus pays homage to this journey by serving up a nine-course menu that encapsulates different parts of the province. Working closely with the farmers and butchers he met along the way has resulted in a menu shaped by the stories heard and flavours tasted along the way.  

 

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“Urchin has always been about connection to source,” says Chef Marcus Gericke. “This season, we have evolved the menu to tell a deeper story of the Western Cape through dishes that hold a sense of place, memory and the people behind every ingredient.” 

What to expect  

Start off with a voorhappie of snoek, meebos (pulped apricots) and curry leaf that is inspired by his visit to Aunty Ashmita in Kalk Bay). The bread and preserves that follow take you to Stellenbosch in the Cape Winelands. Then, back to shore, a Paternoster crayfish in a seemingly simple lemon-garlic sauce will remind you of the simplicity of the unspoilt West Coast.   

For mains, there’s the unmistakable taste of braaied Karoo lamb chops paired with a tomato-bredie sauce (tomato stew sauce), plus the comfort of oxtail and samp being served in new, unexpected ways.   

Naturally, it would be remis to not include some sort of milk tart for a sweet touch – and that’s just one of the various options. Then, as if you haven’t travelled enough already, you get sent home with some padkos to take back to your own home: a small taste of peppermint crisp tart, klapperys (coconut ice) and a Hertzoggie.  

There is also the Navigator, which is a more relaxed à la carte menu for those who prefer to choose their own route.  

Who’s behind the pass? 

Chef Marcus Gericke heads up the team. You’ll likely recognise the name from foodie news: He won the Global Chef Africa & Middle East 2022-23 award and also won the Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought award for his dish Remembrance (Quail Consommé) at the 2020-2021 S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy competition. In 2024, he also added SA Chef of the Year to his string of accolades. 

Of course, there’s an entire team that also took the road trip journey with him and are hard at work to dish up nostalgia and adventure. “The spirit of the team’s Western Cape road trip lives on the walls through striking large-scale photographs of moments and landscapes captured along the journey that inspired the menu. Wines are chosen with the same consideration, deepening the expression of terroir.” 

Words: Liezl Vermeulen
Photography: Dale Herbst 

Also read: Enjoy a seaside soirée at Brunch by The Ocean

The post Journey through the Cape at Urchin Restaurant   appeared first on MyKitchen.

In Vusi Ndlovu’s kitchen, fire is an ingredient. It’s a living thing, something that needs to breathe. Most of all, it’s something to have fun with. Christi Nortier asked him about his food and fire philosophy. 

What to do when there are 50 guests seated outside, hungry for a fine dining meal in Franschhoek, but the kitchen’s hired equipment isn’t working? Cook over fire, in the stable’s fireplace, of course. Assistant chefs stood back as chef Vusi Ndlovu calmly set up four stations on the ground, divided by stacked bricks. The five-course meal started to come together: venison on the coals, chicken and cabbage in a simmering stock pot, scallops. To him, it was the most natural way he knew to feed people.  

The meal was a knock-out and his business partner, Absie Pantshwa, wouldn’t let him forget it. After spending time in hotel kitchens, local and international fine dining restaurants and various pop-ups, it was time for Vusi to cook his own menu. That Franschhoek event sparked the creation of Edge, his culinary project which has included a TimeOut market stall, Bree street rooftop restaurant and the African Culinary Library. What underpins it all is one of his strongest culinary beliefs: fire is an ingredient.  

The kindling 

Making and sharing food created safe spaces for Vusi, at home during Sunday family gatherings as well as in the home economics classroom. He didn’t think much of it at the time, but when it came to planning for life after school suddenly the thought of studying engineering brought on boredom. Instead, he put his cooking skills to work at the five-star Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria, taking command of the egg station. “I became interested in the complexity of eggs: There’s so much you can do with them,” he says. But when you’re 19, you start to get arrogant. I was doing like six orders at the same time. The days were long, from SAM to 8PM, and it was getting monotonous.”  

He became intrigued by the country’s top restaurants, fascinated by things like goat’s cheese panna cotta, so started experimenting at home. After a while, he’d just call up the restaurants and ask to work in their kitchen. And it worked. “I focused on learning as much as I could about that kitchen and that way of working. Once I understood a place, I would move to a new one to keep learning. It’s about being curious,” he explains. His curiosity took him far, through the kitchens and mentorship of Michel Morand’s Auberge Michel, Peter Tempelhoff’s Greenhouse and David Higg’s Five Hundred.  

One of the most influential kitchens was In de Wulf, a Belgian Michelin star restaurant known for dishes made of only a handful of regional ingredients. “I came across In de Wulf on Instagram and I was like: ‘What is this place? It was run by Kobe Desramaults, this cool guy that’s like Bob Dylan in his prime. And he’s putting things in the charcoal’. In our sense, fire was a braai. But there it was something else,” he reflects. Vusi interned there for what was meant to be two weeks. He stayed for a year and a half.  

“I was always close to the guys by the fire. I found fire so interesting. It can be delicate and harsh. They’d put everything on or in the fire, even small things and feathers,” he recalls. He was often sent to Kobe’s other restaurant where they cooked over huge grills. “That was more fun and engaging, because there was no real temperature control. There’s no button. The wood and charcoal are themselves an ingredient. It was second nature to me because that’s just what we did and it became my preferred way of cooking,” he explains. 

On returning to South Africa, he collaborated with Luke Dale-Roberts to open and lead the Marabi Jazz Club. There, he was adding fire to all kinds of things, from cabbage to mussels. “It was exciting, but again you’re cooking other people’s food. Other people’s ideas. At that time, I was awarded the San Pelegrino Best Young Chef award for Africa & Middle East and placed in the international top seven, so it meant I had to be doing something right with fire,” he grins.  

Blazing bright  

And then he teamed up with Absie. She encouraged him to keep playing with fire and work with African ingredients, which led to that first event together in Franschhoek. “The rest is history”, Vusi smiles. Edge roamed as a pop-up, his exploration of how to make fire complicated but sophisticated, until it settled high above Bree street in 2024. He designed his own grills so he could cook in the fire, on a grid as well as high above the flames.  

“I like to keep things interesting by trying new stuff. We got vine leaves the other day and we burnt it, adding tomato and fish, just to see what would happen,” he says. “The idea is to always have fire as an ingredient and a vehicle, not to just have it be this macho big guy thing slapping on steaks. I’m not a big person. Absie teases me that I have small hands, but I’m just built for speed and delicacy. That’s what I want to do with the fire: I want to show you that it can be as delicate as it can be robust.”  

Very soon, fire-loving people around the world will have access to a brand-new recipe from Vusi. He was approached by Phaidon to contribute to their new book, Barbecue: Smoke & Grilled Recipes from Across the Globe, filled with recipes collected from some of the world’s best-known chefs in live fire cooking. “At first, I thought they got it wrong contacting me. They assured me it was correct and gave me a week to create the recipe. I wondered what I was doing in a book next to legendary chefs. Eventually, I just did it. It was an honour to contribute”, he shares. 

When it comes to global inspiration, the Senegalese continue to wow Vusi.  “They make fire pits from cinder blocks to dry and smoke their fish, cook a whole goat or make lamb dibi. When they make lamb dibi [flame-grilled lamb served in a baguette with caramelised onions and mustard], the guys don’t use firewood: they use a tree trunk. They just keep pushing the tree further into the fire. It burns really, really hot. And the guys cooking are completely relaxed: earphones in, slops on, chilling in a chair, chatting to their girlfriends. Here in South Africa, we’re losing our minds spinning with our tweezers,” he laughs. “They’re having the time of their lives — and that’s what I like. They cook on high heat, but it’s absolutely perfect. They only open at 10pm, that’s when the party kids go out, and they just don’t stop. I asked for a t-shirt because I liked it so much and the owner didn’t understand why I was so excited. To him, it’s just meat but to me it was so cool.”

Vusi’s curiosity doesn’t let him sit still for long. His next rabbit hole? Maybe pig farming. “We’re going to keep building the restaurant, but I’d like to have a project to supplement the business. I would like to have a little pig farm. Good pigs are very scarce in the Cape. We’ll take it slowly and have a good time with it. It’s something fun. Something different. Something away from the usual.”  

But restaurants remain his true love. Get him chatting about things he’d like to cook over fire and he will share vivid ideas, dreamt up on the spot. “I often think about what I would cook if I had the biggest pantry in the world, in the forest, and all the fires,” he muses. “I would just have fun with it…”  

Cook by fire 

We asked the fire master for a few take-home lessons on making and cooking with fire. 

Braai bring-alongs 

 I don’t often go to braais, because people end up asking me to do the cooking! But when I do go, I take drumsticks —very underrated. Or chicken thighs or lamb sausage. I’m doing a deep-dive into Afrikaans cooking right now: The Afrikaans chefs are doing something right, so I’m finding out what that is. Lots of spice, fat —and too much sugar! So I’m very into skilpadjies right now. And always a good chakalaka.  

When it comes to wood 

Every wood has its own character. Don’t complicate it by having seven types of wood to use — no need for that. Our staple is kameeldoring, a very dry hardwood, which has a longer and hotter burn than most woods and makes nice charcoal. But if you want to be a bit fancy and experiment with smoke or a long cook, then try blue gum which is a sweeter wood. We’ve also used black jack before, which is an easier wood — tasty, but it burns quickly and doesn’t make for good charcoal. Mopane wood is nice for smoking. If you’re from the villages, you smell that wood burning and it’s like you’re back home.  

Try some seasoning 

You can season your fire at the end of cooking by adding different things to burn and produce a specific smoke. This is great if you’re cooking multiple things, so that people don’t get palate fatigue. Grape vines make a sweet smoke. If you have a lemon tree, take some leaves and add them to the fire so they release their oil. Take some ash or coal, put it on top of rosemary or hay and place it on the side of the fire. Just let it smoke nicely. But don’t go crazy with seasoning the fire – like with food, it’s something you do at the end. And please don’t put whole spices in the fire. They will explode!  

Fire alternatives 

I think it’s perfectly fine to braai over gas or briquettes. They have their place. I have a gas braai at home, because no open wood fires are allowed in my building, and that’s fine. Briquettes should be used for slowing cooking only, though.  

Keeping the heat on 

Fire is like a person — it needs to breathe. We always have a main fire and a feeding fire, made from wood only, on the side where we make coals to bring into the main fire as needed. And just watch it. Building a fire is easy once it’s going – but it’s harder to build a fire offal like liver, brain or heart, you just need to focus because its delicate. You can make the most awesome banana bread: Leave some bananas on a used fire, in the skin. Just let them do their thing. Then use that pulp to make banana bread or butterscotch. What would you not put in the fire? I’d do anything on the fire…  

The order of things 

Start by cooking things on the bone (since they need more time to cook) and your moist vegetables like mielies. Do the leaner meat cuts towards the end. Then go crazy – do your lamb choppie or rump steak, whatever you want. Don’t be scared to experiment with cooking in the fire, either. Some underrated things to cook on the fire are fruit. Or wrap some chopped liver and brie in foil and do that over the fire. When you do  

A moment on marinades 

There’s no need for wet, sticky marinade. It’s a nightmare for the person who has to clean up later and it often has too many sugars in it. Instead, do a dry marinade and season it properly.  

Take it up a notch 

You can elevate your home braais by being curious with curings, seasonings and brining. You might have your Sunday favourite, but change it up and try new things. I think it makes things a bit more interesting. Don’t overthink it, either. That makes you forget why you are doing it in the first place. Have fun with it and remember that the best things are often the simplest things. 

 

By: Christi Nortier
Photography by: Cipher media, Getty images, Zhann Solomons
Text courtesy of MyKitchen magazine

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