A Table in the Corner

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A Table in the Corner

Russel Wasserfall Media

147 episodes

22 hours ago

Fresh from a month's residency at Clarke's in Bree Street, Yoraya Nydoo of Not Sad Food Co. sat down with me to talk about the experience. We chatted about whether she and partner Claudia Alberti are ready for a bricks-and-mortar restaurant having pushed that boat out. It's a complicated answer and led to some interesting lines of discussion. Message me here with comments or guest suggestions. Treat yourself - order direct from Zuney Wagyu Get a fair price with HeadsUp Top Restaurants in Cape...

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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.

Fresh from a month's residency at Clarke's in Bree Street, Yoraya Nydoo of Not Sad Food Co. sat down with me to talk about the experience. We chatted about whether she and partner Claudia Alberti are ready for a bricks-and-mortar restaurant having pushed that boat out. It's a complicated answer and led to some interesting lines of discussion. Message me here with comments or guest suggestions. Treat yourself - order direct from Zuney Wagyu Get a fair price with HeadsUp Top Restaurants in Cape...

Show more...

Places & Travel,

Society & Culture

Episodes (20/147)

A Table in the Corner

145. Charné van Heerden - HIBALL Cocktail Bar

Charné van Heerden was the life and soul of House of Machines, and there was probably a collective "Booooo!" when people heard she was moving on after six years behind the bar. Lucky for the crew, she only moved across the road, and opened her own very chilled, late-night cocktail lounge. HIBALL serves a range of cleverly-wrought cocktails in high ball glasses, along with flavoursome and comforting risottos. The idea is that it's not too raucous. You can linger over your drink and natter the ...

2 days ago

30 minutes

A Table in the Corner

144. Luke Dale-Roberts & Jason Kosmas - PLC

Luke Dale-Roberts and Jason Kosmas got back from setting up their London pop-up of Pot Luck Club in mid-August. It's running at the iconic Waldorf Hilton Hotel until the end of November 2025, with an option to extend if chefs and hotel agree. It's too early for any serious reviews to give us an idea of how the concept has been welcomed, but the two chefs loved doing it and working with a local team in Aldwych. I was very chuffed that they agreed to sit down and chat to me in the recently refu...

1 week ago

33 minutes

A Table in the Corner

143. Ashley Moss - Fyn & Ramenhead

Ashley Moss has worked with chef Peter Tempelhoff since he started his cooking journey at The Greenhouse. They’ve since partnered in opening a number of shops including FYN and Ramenhead. I spoke to him about the journey, his inspiration and the drive to create. Message me here with comments or guest suggestions. Treat yourself - order direct from Zuney Wagyu Get a fair price with HeadsUp www.rwm2012.com On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson ...

2 weeks ago

36 minutes

A Table in the Corner

142. Kurt Ackermann - SA Urban Food and Farming Trust

Kurt Ackermann is the CEO of the Urban Food and Farming Trust which, among many other things, organises the annual Food Indaba in Cape Town. I sat down with him in the courtyard at Honest Chocolate in Wale Street to talk about the outcomes of Food Indaba 2025 and to learn more about what his organisation does. There's material for a dozen episodes here, but we tried to colour inside the lines. Perhaps there's meat for another long chat in the future. Message me here with comments or guest sug...

3 weeks ago

44 minutes

A Table in the Corner

141. Justine Drake - Food Media Legend

In this episode, I sat down with Justine Drake to explore her impressive career and dive into the evolving landscape of food media. From storytelling to trends and being a judge on SA Masterchef, we discuss how the industry is shifting and what it means for food lovers everywhere. Justine booked me for one of the first food shoots I landed when I first moved to Cape Town in 2005, so we've known each other a long time. It was fantastic catching up with her, and learning more from someone who i...

3 weeks ago

49 minutes

A Table in the Corner

140. Dustin Botha - Luks Brands

Gozney Ovens are things of rare and wondrous beauty. I love retained-heat ovens. In fact I'm a little obsessed, having built two brick arch ovens and installed a prefabricated dome at my Karoo pizza spot. I've got notebooks full of doodles with designs of ovens base on 44-gallon drums. Although I read Kiko Denzer's seminal book 'Build Your Own Clay Oven' from cover to cover several times - I never had the space or time to actually construct one. When, one day a post about Gozney popped up in ...

3 weeks ago

47 minutes

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...

1 month 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 month 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...

1 month 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 ...

1 month 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

1 month 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 ...

2 months 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...

2 months 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 ...

2 months 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...

2 months 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...

3 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...

3 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 ...

3 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...

3 months ago

35 minutes