In this month’s edition of our restaurant news blog we bring you the latest on a host of new restaurants coming to Sandton, Rosebank and Melville including: a new Joburg venture by top Franschhoek chef Reuben Riffel, an old Yeoville favourite Ba-Pita relaunches in Melville, Coco Reinartz’ fine dining African restaurant Epicure, celebrity chef David Higgs new Italian restaurant opens its doors and the Hyatt Regency Johannesburg goes healthy with a delicious Farmer’s Market style breakfast.
Reuben Riffel opens first Joburg restaurant
This August top Franschhoek chef Reuben Riffel launches his first ever Joburg restaurant, Reuben’s @The Capital at The Capital Moloko hotel in Sandton. The new restaurant promises the same flair for mixing fine and casual dining with local flavours influenced by his Cape Malay roots that has made Reuben a household name in the Cape.
The restaurant, located at 160 Helen Rd, Strathavon, Sandton, is now open daily for bookings; lunch 12:00–15:00 and dinner 18:30–22:00. Tables can be booked online at reubens.co.za or by phone at +27 11 384 4949.
Farmer’s Market breakfast at Hyatt Regency Johannesburg’s OneNineOne
Breakfast just got a whole lot healthier at The Hyatt Regency Johannesburg with the newly-launched Farmer’s Market breakfast buffet at the OneNineOne restaurant bringing a fresh, healthy and organic approach to the classic breakfast buffet with a focus on carefully sourced, local ingredients that are completely GMO-free. Styled as a Farmer’s Market there’s a bounteous choice of fresh and delicious options including immune boosting tonics and home brewed Kombucha (in addition to the usual classic juices), a variety of freshly baked breads and muffins (including gluten-free and paleo options), house specialty grain-free mueslis, unpasteurized and unfiltered locally sourced raw honey (served straight from the honeycomb), gourmet omelettes (including vegan options!) and a shakshuka station where you can get freshly made North African style skillet eggs baked in the restaurant’s pizza oven.
Breakfast is served 07:30 to 10:00 and costs R240 per person. In honour of Women’s Day on Thursday August 9 there is a special offer on the Farmer’s Market breakfast, book for four people or more and get 20% off.
New restaurants coming soon to Melville’s 7th Street
If you’ve been on Melville’s 7th Street recently you’ve probably noticed a lot of construction going on around the corner of 1st Avenue opposite Pablo Eggs Go Bar. The upgrading of the corner includes space for two new restaurants who will be opening later this month. Those who spent a lot of time on Yeoville’s Rockey Street in the early 1990s will remember fondly the Middle Eastern restaurant Ba-Pita which closed almost 20 years ago. Happily for old fans and younger foodies unfamiliar with their delicious kebabs, Ba-Pita is returning to Joburg’s streets opening up shop at the end of August at the corner of 7th and 1st in Melville. Joining them at the newly upgraded corner is La Petite Maison which promises to serve up an unpretentious and contemporary mix of South African flavours and French cooking techniques paired with top local boutique wines.
Sandton’s Dining scene on the up
Sandton Central’s restaurant scene continues to get better and better and it seems that with every week that passes yet another great new restaurant has opened. In addition to Reuben Riffel’s new Joburg venture (see above), Niko’s Greek restaurant and the new look Bull Run at Protea Hotel Balalaika which re-opened in July, a host of other new restaurants are making their mark in the area.
This month look out for celebrity chef David Higgs’s newly opened Italian restaurant Saint Pazzo (located at the landmark The Marc building), Lexi Monzeglio’s vegan-vegetarian cafe Lexi’s Healthy Eatery at the 24 Central complex on the corner of Gwen Lane and Fredman Drive and leading local chef Coco Reinartz’s sexy new African fine dining restaurant Epicure (pictured) a few blocks away from the central business district at 3 Lower Road in Morningside.
Bolton Corner’s newest bar – A Street Bar Named Desire
The team behind one of Joburg’s most popular Mexican restaurants Perron have launched their latest venture, A Street Bar Named Desire, on Rosebank’s Bolton Corner (next to the popular Asian restaurant Saigon Suzy). The double-storey tapas bar promises a top class menu of large and small tapas plates, many of them influenced by classic Middle Eastern cuisine, complemented by a fun cocktail list with house creations named after lines from the script of the Tennessee Williams’s play. Come summer you’ll want to be upstairs at their huge balcony terrace which looks over Jan Smuts Avenue (arrive early for a place on one of the elegant chaise lounges).