A Table in the Corner

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A Table in the Corner

Russel Wasserfall Media

139 episodes

3 days ago

Shaun Scrooby is a fantastic oke. I enjoyed an exceptional lunch at his restaurant, Vuur, on Remhoogte Wine Estate and saw a truly innovative and engaged chef at work. Then we sat down for a chat which could have gone on for days. He's a kind of Have-a-go-Joe in the best possible way. Curious about everything related to his craft and not at all nervous to try new things, the experience Shaun offers guests is truly immersive. It's proper open fire cooking in a communal space that is at once fa...

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Places & Travel,

Society & Culture

All content for A Table in the Corner is the property of Russel Wasserfall Media and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Shaun Scrooby is a fantastic oke. I enjoyed an exceptional lunch at his restaurant, Vuur, on Remhoogte Wine Estate and saw a truly innovative and engaged chef at work. Then we sat down for a chat which could have gone on for days. He's a kind of Have-a-go-Joe in the best possible way. Curious about everything related to his craft and not at all nervous to try new things, the experience Shaun offers guests is truly immersive. It's proper open fire cooking in a communal space that is at once fa...

Show more...

Places & Travel,

Society & Culture

Episodes (20/139)

A Table in the Corner

139. Shaun Scrooby - Vuur

Shaun Scrooby is a fantastic oke. I enjoyed an exceptional lunch at his restaurant, Vuur, on Remhoogte Wine Estate and saw a truly innovative and engaged chef at work. Then we sat down for a chat which could have gone on for days. He's a kind of Have-a-go-Joe in the best possible way. Curious about everything related to his craft and not at all nervous to try new things, the experience Shaun offers guests is truly immersive. It's proper open fire cooking in a communal space that is at once fa...

2 days ago

51 minutes

A Table in the Corner

138. Sue Baker - Wild Peacock Products

Sue Baker is the eternal 'smous'. Starting out by sourcing and selling exceptional oysters to the top local restaurants back in 1992, Sue built Wild Peacock. Today it is a huge provisioner to the restaurant trade, with seafood, cheese and specialist patisserie and deli items available for local and international producers. Wild Peacock was a supplier of seafood, quail, porcini and a couple of other specialist specialist ingredients back when we opened The Table at de Meye and the service was ...

1 week ago

33 minutes

A Table in the Corner

137. Sven Tietz - HeadsUp Systems

HeadsUp Systems has created a powerful resource for restaurants. Specifically aimed at owner-run operations, it can also benefit groups of restaurants. Their main product is essentially a massive AI-managed spreadsheet that assembles and compares the prices of goods and ingredients across hundreds of suppliers. This means small (and large) operators have better information available to negotiate or navigate better prices for their restaurants. I sat down with Sven - who is a great supporter o...

2 weeks ago

39 minutes

A Table in the Corner

136. Patricia Blacc - Restaurant Influencer

At a recent media event to promote the Seven Colours Sunday lunches at Marble, Cape Town, I was seated opposite the vivacious and interesting influencer, Patricia Blacc. As a member of a team that was around for the first lunar landing, and once had to hire a projector to watch movies in the comfort of my home, watching her work was fascinating to me. Seeing the polished and very snazzy results of her work on various platforms after the lunch was, frankly, bewildering. While I'm aware of the ...

2 weeks ago

31 minutes

A Table in the Corner

135. Rudi Liebenberg - Executive Chef Between Hotels

www.rwm2012.com On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

3 weeks ago

42 minutes

A Table in the Corner

134. Devin Wells - Zuney Wagyu

There's a trigger warning on this one for vegetarians or vegans. We do discuss the processing of livestock into meat products. I wanted to delve deeper into the family farming operations that produced the Zuney Wagyu brand, so I spoke to Devin Wells son of eastern Cape beef farmer Denys Wells. Devin runs the processing and distribution side of the operation - started with lifelong friend Henning Klopper - that processes and distributes the Wagyu beef produced on their respective fathers...

1 month ago

39 minutes

A Table in the Corner

133. Melinda Wiggins - Infinity Culinary Training

Chef Melinda Wiggins is the Director of Operations & Culinary Arts at Infinity Culinary Training a training facility that takes unskilled people - literally off the streets - and gives them basic kitchen skills and the chance of a job in a professional kitchen. ICT provides a path out of poverty for people who might otherwise have no hope of ever finding employment. It's a short course that covers basic cooking skills and essential life skills and then places students as interns in their ...

1 month ago

32 minutes

A Table in the Corner

132. Dion Vengatass - Violet by Vengatass

I first met Dion Vengatass in Chef Rudi Liebenberg's kitchen at the Mount Nelson Hotel. He barely looked up from his prep, just kept chopping and sorting at pace. He was the solid, do-it-all chef running all the sections that needed to operate smoothly while the complexities of the pastry section and fine dining were building a reputation for the hotel's cuisine. When Covid ripped the heart out of the hospitality industry, Chef Dion was retrenched. Never one to let anything get him down, he s...

1 month ago

36 minutes

A Table in the Corner

131. Lance Littlefield - Motherdough

This is the second time I've had Lance Littlefield on the show. Back on Episode 77 he was an absolute mine of information on the craft of baking sourdough bread. We were introduced to 'Alfonsina' his starter, and the wonders of Motherdough Bakery. Almost a year later, he and partner Willem van Schalkwyk have had their Stellenbosch store running for 6 months, and there are plans for another venue. In this episode though, with the upcoming Food Indaba in mind, I spoke to Lance about the use of ...

1 month ago

30 minutes

A Table in the Corner

130. Christophe Dehosse - Klein Joostenberg & Vine Bistro

I've known Christophe Dehosse for over a decade. The incredible bistro, deli and butchery he runs with his wife Susan is just round the corner from the site of my first Winelands restaurant. He was always good for a loooooong natter about the industry when I rocked up at Klein Joostenberg looking for ingredients, and some of the chefs I hold in high regard (like George Jardine and Rudi Liebenberg) consider him a bit of a legend. It was only when I interviewed Matthew Gordon from Franschhoek o...

1 month ago

54 minutes

A Table in the Corner

129. Melanie Stewart - Oranjezicht City Farm

In this episode I speak to Melanie Stewart who is the farm manager of Oranjezicht City Farm (OZCF). The farm and her Tea With A Farmer farm tours are part of the two week programme fro the Food Indaba happening in Cape Town from 7th to 20th of July, 2025. The Food Indaba explores the possible impacts and benefits of AI on African food systems. We spoke about this and about the use of AI in an app that helps OZCF with crop rotation. We also spoke about their allotment system, public participat...

2 months ago

28 minutes

A Table in the Corner

128. Bertus Basson - Ongetem

Bertus Basson is an absolute biscuit. He has an uncanny instinct for opening places you love to visit and feeding you things you love to eat. He's also been a tremendous source of advice and support since we first met in 2008. Ongetem is his new restaurant - his first sit-down eatery in Cape Town, and he's opened it in Park Road, Gardens in the new Hilton Canopy Hotel. It's brand new, so I've only managed to eat an excellent breakfast there, but it's dripping in the biker-chic style that incr...

2 months ago

40 minutes

A Table in the Corner

127. Will Hobson - Arthur's Mini Super

With a vague idea of generating a passive income using a bunch of catering stuff he had in storage, Will Hobson has built an iconic hangout in Sea Point with business partner Stephanie Anastasopoulos. ' Arthur's Mini Super' is many things to many people. (It's not a passive income for anyone though.) It's a place to chill after a walk on the promenade or a yoga session, a co-working spot, a handy local deli for the bread and milk, a sandwich bar, somewhere to meet for drinks after work. It's ...

2 months ago

52 minutes

A Table in the Corner

126. Robyn Mechanicos - Labour of Love Bakery

Well curated markets are fantastic places to discover new products. I found the most delicious roast pork belly croissant at the Candor market a while back. It was delicious and unexpected and the story behind the baker so interesting that I immediately invited her to chat to me on the show. Based on the idea of a circular economy, Candor is predominantly a vintage clothing and repurposed or up-cycled product market, but it also attracts some really interesting food vendors. I've already spok...

2 months ago

35 minutes

A Table in the Corner

125. Geoffrey Abrahams & Teenola Govender (G&T) - Coy

Geoffrey Abrahams and Teenola Govender are joint-head chefs at Coy Restaurant in the V&A Waterfront. They are affectionately known as G&T in the kitchens were they've worked, and these include Chefs Warehouse and Mazza. Having first met in the kitchen at Chefs Warehouse Beau Constantia, they are an inseparable, creative kitchen team who blew me away with Mazza at Heritage Square and have quickly established Chef Ryan Cole's Coy venue as a must-visit eatery. We sat down for a chat abou...

2 months ago

51 minutes

A Table in the Corner

124. Brett Nortjé - Rosemead Bakery, Yzerfontein

A while back, when we lived in the Swartland town of Darling, one of our regular delights was the drive to Yzerfontein to collect bread. Against a pretty large proportion of 'the odds', Yzerfontein is home to one of the best bakeries in the Western Cape - Rosemead Bakery. Run by Brett Nortjé, Rosemead was an absolute legend of a place: chilled, friendly, all about locals and Brett can bake like hell. You'd always need to order bread ahead, and it would be waiting neatly wrapped on the 'collec...

2 months ago

35 minutes

A Table in the Corner

123. Tunde Akintan - The Yellow Wheelbarrow

Tunde Akintan has taken his love of chillies and hot food and turned it into an urban farming project near Gordon's Bay. We chatted about how the new product stand at OZCF Market has introduced Tunde and his 42 varieties of chillies to a broader market, with an introduction to Silwood Cookery School where he recently chatted to 1st year students about Yellow Wheelbarrow. This was a fantastic and informative chat with someone who is actively building a niche market gardening business by collec...

3 months ago

33 minutes

A Table in the Corner

122. Henning Klopper - Zuney Wagyu & Zuney Burger

Huge supporters of this show, the team from Zuney Burger has brought an entirely fresh perspective to both livestock farming, and the farm-to-table movement. Their pasture-reared Wagyu beef makes it's way direct to consumers in the form of an astonishingly good burger. Henk Klopper and Denys Wells farm the cattle on lush pasture in the Eastern Cape, their sons Henk and Devon handle the sales and set up the burger operation. This was as much about ensuring that a certain podcaster had access t...

3 months ago

36 minutes

A Table in the Corner

121. Brad Armitage - The Mission for Inner City Cape Town

It is a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's Brad Armitage. Not for lack of trying, but it's taken 120 episodes to convince an operator I admire tremendously to pop in for a chat on the show. Not one to blow his own trumpet, along with Rui Esteves, Brad created Vida Caffe and followed it with Brewers & Union, the craft beer legend. There have been other bangers, but we confined our chat to those and to his current project with the City of Cape Town and other role-players bringing new life and fr...

3 months ago

58 minutes

A Table in the Corner

120. Kobus vd Merwe - Wolfgat

I snatched a rare chance to connect with Kobus van der Merwe of Wolfgat and sit down for a chat. He was taking a break in Yzerfontein - halfway from Paternoster to Cape Town, and we met at Rosmead Bakery to record a show. I long ago joined the legion of his fans, when my wife and I enjoyed the tasting menu at his parents general dealer store 'Oep ve Koep' around the time we were running The Table at De Meye. Kobus is easy to admire - his laser-focus on the simple preparation of hyper-local in...

3 months ago

49 minutes