Afleveringen
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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 spoken to the peeps from Not Sad Food Co and Egg & Shoulders who had stalls there. Labour of Love Bakery by Robyn Mechanicos was the topic of a great chat, and I'm hoping to sit down with another of their stall-holders soon.
Labour of Love Bakery
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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 about their journey as chefs and the triumphant return of the Mazza fire-roasted whole fish which now anchors the Sunday (Sundaze) menu at Coy.
COY Restaurant
Zuney Wagyu online shop
Russel Wasserfall Media
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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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 'collection' shelf. But then... you had to grab a couple of olive sticks, maybe a coffee, sit down for a natter, don't forget to take a couple of pastel home. When Kobus van der Merwe agreed to meet up for a chat at Rosemead recently, I kind of hoped I could talk Brett into giving me a little of his time - and he did. He is the most delightful company and it shows in the warmth of his team and the queue he runs daily for his baked goods in this growing West Coast community.
Rosemead Bakery - Instagramrussel@rwm2012(dot)com
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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 collecting and sharing as much information about chillies as he can.
The Yellow Wheelbarrow
russel@rwm2012(dot)com
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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 to the best possible burger as it was about sustainability and an ingenious way to use up the mince and trim the results from people only ordering the prime cuts from Wagyu beef. It also means that top quality, locally farmed produce comes straight from the farm to the consumer by way of a squidgy brioche bun. This was a great chat with Henning Klopper who drives the burger brand.
Learn more about Zuney Burgers
Zuney Wagyu online shop
russel@rwm2012(dot)com
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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 e Caffè 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 fresh perspectives to downtown Cape Town with The Mission for Inner City Cape Town. We chatted about the early days, and about giving back to a city that has been so good to many local businesses.
russel@rwm2012(dot)com
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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 ingredients and a commitment to telling local food and origin stories have launched him (rather reluctantly it turns out) onto a global stage. I so enjoyed our conversation, yet there was so much more to unpack. Perhaps we can continue gabbing about food and heritage and C Louis Liepoldt and Eat Out Award criteria and the double-edged sword of acclaim another time soon.
Wolfgat website
russel@rwm2012(dot)com
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This is possibly the most fascinating episode I've recorded to date. Tapiwa Guzha was on my first ever list of guest. There were 10 or 12 people on that list, and had I spoken to Tapiwa way back then, it may well have changed the shape of the show. He is an incredibly engaging person, and to say he 'thinks out of the box' is to misunderstand him completely. He was never in a box, nor indeed was he ever anywhere near a box of any sort. I really loved talking to him and he raised some issues about food ways, modern food service and the way we consume that still have my head spinning. If you want to engage with him over a scoop of ice cream, you'll need to hurry. He's shuttering Tapi-Tapi for a year or so from the end of May this year.
Tapi-Tapi Ice Cream
Food Indaba Tickets
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I'm following my curiosity about people who make a living from food outside of formal restaurants again. This time I'm chatting to Dean Roux who owns and operates a food truck called Truck Norris. Apart from the fact that his truck has a legendary name, he's a really good operator who understands the landscape in which he operates and offers a straightforward product. Truck Norris does burgers. That's it. Burgers. (And there are fries.) His team is slick and the truck is popular. We chatted about running food trucks, what it costs to get involved, the bloom in operators and the merits (or otherwise) of that. 'Deano' took some time on his birthday to chat to me, for which I was particularly grateful, but it was also a great chat.
Note for listeners: This episode was recorded in a busy coffee shop, so there's a hubbub of activity in the background. Hopefully you'll bear with us to get to the nub of a very interesting conversation.Truck Norris food truck
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The FOOD INDABA is an annual programme of talks and events that focus on the local food system. Running from 7-20 July this year, it brings together a wide range of speakers involved in shaping the food system, providing an opportunity for food growers, academics, activists, writers, nutritionists, policy makers, food lovers and anyone interested in sustainable approaches, to engage in key issues intimately connected to the food we eat, and the future of food. The conference component of the Indaba on July 18 explores the potential impacts and opportunities of AI (artificial intelligence) on African food systems. Their exciting, experiential series including guided walks and 'tea with a farmer' kicks off on July 7. There's also a science component for kids which explores food through the lens of science. For more details and to book tickets, there are links below.
Food Indaba, 7-20 July 2025 website
Food Indaba tickets
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A short while back, I discovered Stereo Eats through my friend Gillian Key. This concept eatery is based on a dark kitchen and an app which offers the best of 6 different fast- or convenience-food brands. It’s now a firm favorite with my daughter and I reached out to one of the directors, Max King to find out more. Interesting concept which I think totally gets the challenges of single-brand franchise stores competing for space in a market with shrinking and ever-more expensive real estate options. It was a great chat with a creative, entrepreneurial mind with a great grasp of the elevated fast food landscape.
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Nic Charalambous, the driving force, creator and voice behind the wildly popular Ouzeri restaurant in Wale Street, was my fourth guest on the show. Way back on Episode 4 he'd been open a year and found his easygoing eatery - which celebrates his Cypriot heritage and its culinary traditions as well as those of Greece - awarded a star at the Eat Out Awards. In year three, in late March 2025, Ouzeri joined the ranks of two star Eat Out Restaurants. Nic and I chatted about his journey, the focus and intention he brings to what he does, and what Eat Out recognition (and being added to the 50 Best Discovery list) meant to him and his team at Ouzeri.
Ouzeri Website
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Veld & Sea has one of my favourite Instagram pages, and the mission of its founder - to teach people about the land and the ocean of Cape Town's south peninsula through foraging and flavour - has long fascinated me. I finally got to meet Roushanna Grey and we had an engrossing conversation. As always it was too short and there was so much more we could have explored. Links to her website and that beautiful Instagram profile are below if you want to learn more.
Veld & SeaThe Instagram Page
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Week after week I see the menus for Egg & Shoulders ready meals. They are seasonal, interesting and depart from the norm of the home delivery or frozen meal services. Of course there are the standards - the lasagne, the ravioli - but there are always interesting things. While I've been tempted to order many times, I sometime wonder who else is ordering terrines or wild leaf salads. Curious about her drive for innovation, who her customers are, and how she reaches them, I sat down for a chat with Emily Harriet Bulbring Robertson. I learned she is a very capable, driven human with time in top kitchens under her belt, but perhaps even more important, I discovered she delivers in the Deep South. Hurrah!
Egg & Shoulders Website
RWM and Podcast website
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Matthew Gordon has been there since the beginning. He is one of the architects of the explosion of restaurants in the previously sleepy Western Cape village of Franschhoek. Haute Cabriere put him firmly on the map, but the little restaurant he operated out of his family guesthouse, Balon Rouge is where it all began. Today he is the chef/operator of French Connection which has been a popular eatery in the village for the past 23 years. We spoke about the growth of Franschhoek's dining scene, the changes he's seen, people he's worked with, and the importance of consistency in building a business that will survive in a tumultuous restaurant scene.
French Connection Bistro
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Chef Peter Ayub runs the excellent Sense of Taste Cooking school with his wife Deb, teaching young hopefuls the trade of being a chef. He reached out, concerned about how some of his students are treated when they go out into the industry to do their pracs and learn about how kitchens work. We share the view that these young chefs are there to absorb new skills and be taught by the chefs under whom they work. The reality in some frantically busy, sometimes under-staffed businesses is that they end up on the line, working as unpaid staff on a single station, pulling impossibly long shifts. Pete and I had a natter about that some of the challenges youngsters face and agreed that the old trope about initiating new blood on the brigade should perhaps be a more gentle process and not just a meat grinder where only the strong make it to a career in a kitchen.
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Sense of Taste Chef School -
It's taken a while to get the timing and travel right to sit down with South African culinary icon, Chef Reuben Riffel, to explore his incredible journey from a simple start in Franschhoek kitchens, to becoming a household name. In this episode we dive into his early mentorship under Chef Christophe Dehosse, his pivotal partnership with Chef Richard Carstens, and his evolution through fine dining to casual ventures like Let’s Frite.
Reuben's, Franschhoek
Let's Frite, Franschhoek
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Hilde-Lee Olivier left cooking school and quickly climbed the ranks in local kitchens. By the time she was 26 Hilde-Lee was running the Kitchen at Terroir and went on to be head chef for George Jardine at Jardine Restaurant in Stellenbosch. After a brief stint and a huge learning curve running her own place - Toebroodjie, she pitched it all in and went sailing. We spoke about her journey and about the life she's chosen running a kitchen on a private yacht - it's quite a trip.
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For some time now I've been wanting to talk to someone on the show who manages the marketing - and the profiles - of restaurants. I'm interested in how eateries, especially the top shops, market themselves. This is particularly tricky in a world where everyone seems to be a critic and even the very best operators can find themselves at the mercy of 'keyboard warriors'. While people have a legitimate right to tackle venues on poor service or experiences - balance, good judgement and manners are often left at the door in the online world we navigate. Then there are those who may never have set foot in your shop who will weigh in with their 'opinion', and hack at you about anything from pricing to menu choices, labour practices or the car you drive. It's an issue constantly on the minds of restaurateurs. Jo Smith runs Pillar9 and describes herself as a Reputation Strategist. I've chatted to a few of her clients on the show, and started nagging a while back about getting her on to talk about what she does. I learned a lot about what it takes to build and manage the reputation of a restaurant, and picked up a classic new word: 'bandwagonism'. Thanks Jo.
Pillar9 Instagram
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Carlotta Sabbalini is fantastic - she's a real entrepreneur who's built a food business on the back of a lasagne recipe she learned from her grandmother, Nonna Santina. Along the way she's tried new things, added elements to the business and learned a whole lot of skills that are really vital for a small business operator. I've been wanting to talk to someone whose built a cottage industry based on family recipes and Carlotta just happened to message me and ask if she could join me on the show. That took some chutspa, and it's exactly the kind of thing you need to do as a small operator in the food space. Loved this chat and learned a lot from Carlotta despite the wonderfully rich Italian accent.
Italy At Your Door on Instagram
T-shirts and Merch by Italy at Your Door
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