Antonia Labia of Casa Labia café explains why visual appeal is important in her family’s exquisite heritage building turned cultural centre in Muizenberg.
This appeared in Indwe inflight magazine in Dec 2010
History of Casa Labia on Muizenberg’s beachfront? My grandfather, Count Natale Labia, was the first Italian ambassador to South Africa. He built Casa Labia in 1929, modelling it on Palazzo Labia in Venice. All the art, gilt ceilings, silk wall panels, chandeliers and marble fireplaces were shipped by designer Angelo Zaniole. Eighty-one years later I’ve restored that original splendour.
What is inside the Casa Labia house? We’ve created the café in the original living room, with reception rooms leading off so the public can wander and admire the interiors. We have a boutique and a contemporary art gallery. We call it a cultural centre. It’s a beautiful space where we host events such as poetry readings, music concerts and workshops.
The café menu? Few can do food simply like Judy Badenhorst. She’s an experienced chef, combining Italian classics with proudly South African ingredients in her unique way. The food is tasty and visually appealing. You might eat roasted tomato and pepper soup, aubergine and orange salad, and spinach and ricotta pancakes. Her rich, moist Italian-style cake is delicious.
How did you create the luxe café feel? Flock Design created our contemporary café with old-time elegance. We use damask linen and roses on tables; Princess chairs with original brass chandeliers and marble fireplaces. Although Italy is in our hearts, South Africa is in our soul. Our mostly-local customers are a mix of ages. Due to its seaside location, the café is a destination. It feels special without being pretentious. The food is good enough to bring people back.
Describe yourself? Somebody aesthetically-minded. I worked in public relations and later studied interior design. Food, wine, art and travel are passions. Italian food is my favourite – I love the pastas, fruit and vegetables. And on the French side I love Champagne – I’ll find any excuse to drink it.
Casa Labia Tel 021 788 6062.
If you want to eat out in a cosy space without blowing your budget on food or wines, La Boheme in Sea Point delivers the goods time and again. At only R95 for two courses and R115 for three, lunch or dinner is affordable and great to swap and share. Even with those friends who sink too many bottles and then suggest everybody splits the bill. Wines represent very good value for a wine bar. A la carte options are sometimes more interesting than what appears on the set menu board, but it’s a minor drawback. Tel 021 434 8797. 
For a simple lunch out incorporating an elegant piece of history, Casa Labia Cafe in Muizenberg is hard to beat. Judy Badenhorst’s cleverly inventive cooking is a delight, and owner Antonia Labia has restored life to her grandfather’s original Italian décor in the building with absolutely magnificent results. Once you’ve had your meal in the café, take a stroll through the adjoining rooms created in the 1930s to replicate those in Venice. This is the sort of place you’ll want to wear a nice dress and take your aunties, a group of girlfriends, or enjoy a surprise romantic lunch with your loved one. Prices are nicely in the café restaurant category. Drawbacks are lack of parking along the beachfront road and a tiny wine list. Tel 021 788 6062. 
He would appreciate the business more in about March 2011… I like his new industrial Old Biscuit Mill space as it reflects his creativity and new freedom with food. From a counter seat one lunchtime chatting and eating for a magazine article profile, I saw how much fun the kitchen is having. The former La Colombe chef is talented in subtle east-meets-west fusions that incorporate delicate elements such as trout and lime with miso. Dinner is three, five or eight courses. Or a la carte elements of those menus ordered at the kitchen bar counter, which I support – you have to be in the mood for a drawn-out set menu. Tel 021 447 2337 
News of a new dim sum spot opening in Claremont landed in my inbox this morning. November has flown by in a blur of deadlines, so by the time I’d read the sample menu I’d persuaded my husband we had to juggle our schedules and squeeze in lunch.
More adventurous eaters would appreciate historical preserved meat influences in lacquered smoked and pickled lamb’s rib (soutribbetjie), with pickled tongue and dried pear dumplings, verjuice-poached pear and crispy lamb’s liver biltong. 
I’ve driven past a few times and heard good things from foodie friends. The pricing always scared me off. But yesterday a daytime swim and a sneaked coffee at Jardine Bakery – the deal was we’d only stay if they had the sublime dark chocolate brownie dotted with white chocolate – meant there was no time remaining for a supper shop.
Italian winery owner Guilio Bertrand was inspired by the actress of his homeland in naming restaurant Sophia’s at Morgenster, which opens in November. I had a sneak preview yesterday and found it to be a relaxing, tranquil lunch option if you’re in the vicinity of Somerset West. White linen tables and wooden beams set the tone inside, with modern white square tables and Italian red chairs offering terrace views of olive groves and vineyards.
And I loved Cormack’s modern take on strawberry mousse with light, creamy strawberry ice-cream and seasonal berries.
It’s one of Cape Town’s better-kept secrets, even if menu pricing keeps it firmly in a well-heeled eating category. Dinner at The Roundhouse upstairs may be where you put the chef to the test. But at garden tables overlooking Camps Bay it’s the drool-worthy daytime views from The Roundhouse’s casual Rumbullion counterpart that makes it worth paying a little extra for.
Creative alternatives include French toast with roasted bananas and toasted pecan nuts, or scrambled eggs and bacon alongside toasted house-baked sourdough and roasted tomatoes.
Baking takes on new meaning when you have a young baby, and friends are arriving within a few hours for Sunday tea and cupcakes. Little guys want attention and cuddles so they generally cry and moan loudly when they are tired/hungry. This makes simple tasks such as baking quite a challenge. Solution: lie them back in a baby chair to observe the kitchen action and wonder about all the creative stuff.
Another exciting development is that pastry chef Vanessa Quellec will open a bakery with restaurateur Giorgio Nava (of 95 Keerom and Carne) in Kloof Street in November 2010. She’s spent time in Italy recently learning about Italian pastries, gelato and chocolates, and will be reproducing some of her favourites for Capetonian customers.
He has a healthy appetite for breast milk and like his mother, enjoys snacking. So far I’ve eaten mild stews, pizza, Asian dishes livened by chilli, homemade muesli, chocolate, cooked vegetables and plenty of fruit salad without noticeable side effects.
Winter specials are controversial amongst foodies. At upmarket restaurants I’ve noticed a few things tend to happen: a) the special is designed to lure new customers, yet attracts a budget-breaker who isn’t really comfortable with a menu beginning with an amuse bouche, b) it attracts a genuine foodie who feels anxious about targeting value, nervous that the chef may skimp on ingredients and creative flair, or c) the experience is ruined by a waiter doing their best to bypass the special and up-sell to pricier a la carte items.
It’s surely a sign of a nation’s maturity when foodies reject fancy foreign styles to rediscover local home cooking. AmaZink Eatery in Stellenbosch’s friendly Khayamandi township is the latest spot to offer this option, and I hope it catches on. Opening during June 2010 for the World Cup, Overture chef Bertus Basson was roped in as culinary consultant. But it appears that township intrinsics have been left intact so the menu available at lunch or dinner is largely a result of cook and owner Loyiso Mbambo’s inspiration.
Spend: About R90 to R110 for two to three courses, excluding drinks. Those with moderate appetites might want to share starters or desserts as portions aren’t small. 
As a winter sunny Sunday lunch choice in Franschhoek, few venues beat Bread 
As with most dishes at Bread 
June 22nd was an amazingly proudly South African day. With overseas socceroos in tow from Australia, Mzoli’s Place in Gugs was our logical Cape Town destination to watch Bafana Bafana bow out of the World Cup in style. There are plenty of flatscreens around and the volume is always full blast. Our Bafana boys played incredibly passionate soccer, and the vuvuzela-blowing Guguthlethu contingent we joined were behind them with every cheer and roar.
Specify if you want barbeque marinade (worth having), the required portions of mielie pap, spicy chakalaka of raw green peppers, onion and chilli – essential condiment – and mielie bread (we thought we paid for delicious-looking giant slices but the bread was finished when we collected our order). If you’re there for sport, hold on to your belongings whenever a goal is attempted because people are packed tight and the room reverberates. Bring tissues for the loo and ignore the lack of soap to wash your hands and you’ll manage just fine.
Series of wood fires burn constantly in the grill area and the enamel bowls line up with numbered tickets of individual raw meat orders. People return periodically to nag the grillers that their table is still waiting, but patience is required – our order went in early yet we still waited about three hours for our braaied food. There were some tricky balancing moments while carrying food to the table through the seething masses pouring in the other way to watch their team. But the lamb chops and sausages in particular were charred to deliciousness.
Living within a long-range kick of Green Point stadium has massive advantages when you’re attending a live game. But visiting overseas friends and locally-based family think so too, which means I’ve been making a lot of warm soup and quick meals to feed the departing hordes. In between there is the serious business of watching games on 
Anyway it’s delicious and oozily gooey - so worth the effort to make!
Garnish with lemon zest and serve slices with vanilla ice cream.
Exotic creatures with broad shoulders, fairy wings and wigs wander past sipping from oversized champagne glasses as you’re taking in the Boot-Ishoe stall selling numbered gumboots adjacent to the temporary tattoo parlour. A mojito is thrust into your hand near the front of the theatre queue as you’re focusing on a washline of pink and orange hot pants hanging above a veggie garden of plastic pumpkins.
Talented Valentina Love conceptualises the show.
Equally awe-inspiring are the Russian roller disco duo of Kristine and Ivan Prokopyuk, who trained in Moscow State Circus. Kristine’s glittery gold and black body is whipped vertically and horizontally as the couple whirl around a tiny circular stage. Fellow countrywoman Polina Volchek contorts her flexible gymnastic body with multiple hula hoops in positions I didn’t think possible. There is local show content too – a vocal high is South African divas Lilian Khumalo, Marguerita Freeks and Dorothy Engelbrecht of The Original Tons of Fun with their cover versions spanning the decades. “You’re just too good to be true…”
Alongside doner kebabs, Indian snacks and plenty of pre-made curries in sauces in bain maries, there are vegetarian savoury alternatives. Some of it looks dried out or highly coloured, but the volumes of people eating suggest that nothing sits there too long. The majority of items are in the R20 to R30 price range, so you can eat well without much hassle or expense. We split up and collectively ordered and paid for a chicken biriyani (R25), mildly spiced and fried potato wedges called Jira aloo (R20) and a personal favourite, masala dosa (R20). Portions were plentiful.
charming old-style café called Bread Milk 
People say Waterkloof is like dining in a glass box 300m above the Atlantic Ocean. Other special features? Waterkloof is about transparency: there is an open kitchen with nothing to hide. What you see on the menu is pretty much what you get, no crazy explanations. Something elegant but not stiff. A good bottle of wine, a good meal, an amazing view in an amazing building.
Casual or fine dining? To South African tastes Waterkloof is fine but not pretentious dining. I love a dish we created today: glazed pork belly with quartered boiled beetroot, Granny Smith poached in Circumstance Sauvignon Blanc and fresh black figs. It’s simple, earthy and the flavours match. In international fine dining restaurants you often see lobster, foie gras, turbot… I’m bored with that. I love the forgotten vegetables: beetroot, cabbage, fennel and butternut.
News of Lannice Snyman’s passing early this morning left a lump in my throat. We’d been walking in the Clifton area, glimpsing sunshine snatches over wild seas before the Cape stormy weather set in. So I only checked my phone after hearing a text alert from the third foodie friend. I discovered a poignant message from daughter Tamsin Snyman about her mixed emotions at losing her mother on the occasion of celebrating her first mother’s day with new baby Trinity. Wow.
At Neethlingshof Estate’s recently revamped tasting area, sign up in advance for a Slow Wine and Flash Food pairing designed by Lucille Jacobs of Neethlingshof. Clearly a good deal of thought went into the detailed discussions focusing on how wine weights balance the respective flavours and weights of the accompanying snacks. The food arrives in a take-away box – it’s ‘flash food’ - from Pink Salt Catering in Stellenbosch. Jacobs wasn’t available the day a friend and I booked an afternoon session, but her temporary replacement did a thorough job.
We were seated at restaurant tables under the trees where wine and heritage guide Tiaan Jacobs provided some background about the six wines we would taste. He’d worked in the vineyards and kitchen before joining the wine team, so we were in capable hands.
The cooking demo class space takes up half the warehouse. Artisan bread classes, demos by guest local chefs and occasional big international chef names are part of the 2010 lineup.
The headline sounds quite dramatic, but actually nothing went up in flames. That line is merely to lure in all kitchen equipment junkies who get hot and sweaty when talk turns to implements… With a few April holidays to manoeuvre around, I never got around to trying out the luminous green Neoflam Ecolon fying pan I was given to test. So when the Merry Muncher decided to make French toast and bacon over the weekend, I handed over the new pan to be put through its paces.
On that upbeat note, Terroir at Kleine Zalze only offers a tasting menu on request, but they have just launched a Green Season menu that represents great value. I was invited to sample a few dishes from the two or three-course options as they will change over the winter months. I’m happy to report that chef Michael Broughton hasn’t lost his touch, and winter should be a very good time for locals to fill a Terroir table with family or friends.
The man sporting a mohawk has an enquiring mind. His likes: classic recipes, slow braises, deep-frying, cookbooks and good-value meals. Dislikes: sous vide cooking and dishes that look pretty but are devoid of flavour. If he serves a ‘tongue in cheek’ braised ox tongue and pig cheek, it means the Overture kitchen is having fun. But it will be made from scratch with integrity. To avoid wastage, the offcuts will form the base for stocks, sauces, mousse or terrines.
I decided the weather was merely doing the Capetonian thing: arriving fashionably late.
Rather doubtful of ever finding a modestly-priced culinary pick-me-up, six of us went for Sunday lunch in Hout Bay. And I’m happy to report that a new venue called Wild Woods saved the day. A one-page menu offered enticing options, many ingredients sourced from small-time farmers or artisan producers. I spotted some nostalgic dishes I recall eating as a child, but with a creative twist here and there. A hand-selected wine list ignored boring co-operatives or monopoly wineries with convenient distribution, and instead showcased labels from interesting small-timers such as Adi Badenhorst. Six options came in at under R100 a bottle.
Bistro favourites dominate main course options too, ranging between R60 and R100. Between us we tried crackling-crisped hunks of pork belly - comfort food if ever there was – in a pool of mustard sauce, mash and roasted fennel bulb. Along similar lines, a deliciously old-time Sunday roast beef included creamed horseradish, perfectly puffed Yorkshire pudding and a glossy gravy. Grilled sirloin was nicely aged and ably matched by Café de Paris butter and crunchy narrow chips. Roasted free-range chicken breast sounded an unusual combination with fresh porcini slices, potatoes and béarnaise, but worked surprisingly well on the plate. If anything lagged behind it was service. Friendly enough, but staff training is obviously a work in progress.
The winding drive to La Petite Dauphine guesthouse is textbook Franschhoek tourist stuff, and the daytime restaurant offers a lovely summer setting with tables outside an old sandstone building on a shaded terrace overlooking a duck pond.
You may not feel like you have capacity, but the fresh bakes are so worth it (R35 to R42). I couldn’t resist because the cake display tempts whenever you’re en route to the building housing the bathrooms. After a 20-minute break before coffee and a very large slice of lemon meringue, we got lost in feathery white peaks and tangy lemon filling, relieved that we’d had the sense to share one piece. The carrot cake also has a following.
Franschhoek options include Mont Rochelle Hotel and Country Vineyards blankets offer comfy settling alongside the dam or tables in the gardens. Three choices range from the Country Basket (R290 for two), Gourmet Basket (R370 for two) or Deluxe Basket (R450 for two), depending on whether you’re wanting basic country fare, or a gourmet fill of Franschhoek trout, Tiger prawns, shucked oysters and petit fours at the deluxe end. Children under 12 at R85pp. Tel 021 876 2770, 
Previously only in the 
Tricky things to photograph: spot the whale fin! 