The new luxury lifestyle Mandela Rhodes Place development at the top of St Georges Mall boasts a fab new gourmet zone for Cape Town.

Along with the luxury apartments, five-star Taj Hotel, Cape Town’s first innercity winery, Signal Hill, and numerous boutiques there are some exciting new restaurants.

Internationally renowned Asian fusion restaurant Café Mao has just opened their first operation outside Europe in the centre. Expect a bright, fresh, contemporary look with Andy Warhol-like spot colours – same as their overseas counterparts.

Take pleasure in the wafts of Asian flavours combined with fresh ingredients only – pouring out from numerous woks. Watching your food being cooked is always a great sensory addition to the start of your meal.

The complex is also a pioneer in a wonderful avante garde lifestyle concept. Owners of apartments inside the complex can get their breakfast delivered fresh everyday from the Gallagher Food Company through Sundance Espresso bar.

This is brought to Mandela Rhodes Place by Irish Michelin Star chef Conrad Gallagher – ex-chef at The Atlantic – who owns this top-notch catering company, as well as running gourmet cooking classes all the while being a sort of international foodie jet-setter.

Although the apartments have kitchens, the idea here is to combine a bit of hotel service with living in your own spot. A great new idea for busy people and those not occupying their places all year round.

Cape Town’s CDB is undergoing a process of intense inner city lifestyle revival, with many new developments, and ideas like this fit snugly with the new mode of living.

Examples from the breakfast menu
Croissant stuffed with perscuitto and pecorino cheese, stewed tomatoes and basil Granola tubs with strawberry yoghurt
Eggs Benedict with chilli & mushroom frittata and chorizo sausage with hollandaise sauce

Right next door is the grand new Riboville Restaurant & Cellar from the F-SH Restaurant Group (think the Codfather and Yo Sushi) in the ABC Bank building at 130 Adderley Street.

The building has an old-style lush yet sophisticated feeling and has taken seven years in total to restore. The bank vaults beneath it have been turned into wine cellars – the biggest cellar in the Cape with over 10 000 bottles.

You are invited to take a trundle through to choose your wine, if you wish. Oh la-la!

And of course with opulence comes properly ventilated cigar libraries and private dining rooms as well as three different kitchens.

These offer Asian fusion cuisine, an oyster bar, fresh fish and sushi and an Italian deli – topped off with a whisky bar.

The rest of the building will be turned into a design centre – we look forward to lots of exciting things to come. What a wonderfully outrageous addition to the Cape restaurant scene!

And of course if you follow the gourmet zone a bit further, there’s nothing better than good old Bukhara right around the corner, for consistently outstanding North Indian cuisine.

Happy feasting!

Contact
Café Mao – 021 422 0699
Riboville Restaurant – 021 426 0234
Bukhara – 021 424 0000
More info