Fusion of modern art and culinary creativity at The Norval

It’s a long way, and an expensive journey, for South Africans to get to the Museum of Modern Art (Moma) in New York. Besides the iconic architecture of the building and the varied, inspirational exhibitions, MoMA is also home to The Modern, one of that city’s best restaurants.

The good news is that Cape Town offers an experience that — if not on New York’s scale or cutting edge — is in the ballpark.

The Norval Foundation Art Museum has multiple exhibits spread across two floors as well as an extensive sculpture garden, so it’s easy to lose more than a few hours in admiration or absorption. And the Grub & Vine restaurant, situated within Norval’s futuristic, steel-and-glass edifice, offers some of the Mother City’s most exceptional yet accessible fare.

Indeed, the restaurant’s chef-patron, Matt Manning, confirms the connection: “We have set out to celebrate the commonality between beautiful food, wine and art. Art — whether it be visual, culinary or the artistry of winemaking — invokes emotion. It has the power to make you feel nostalgic, invigorated or inspired. We believe in the synergy between all three and we want our guests to feel this too,” he says.

The menu is smartly structured with 6-8 à la carte dishes respectively for starters, mains and desserts, which are then combined at guests’ choosing into two- or three-courses, or the full tasting menu. Not having an overly sweet tooth, I appreciate the three-course option of starter, middle and main course, preceded by amuse-bouche canapés of a moreish beef croquette and a delightful pani puri — an Indian street food with a minor hit of masala and a hint of tamarind.   

Eye-popping, sunlight-yellow sweetcorn chowder is silky, the fragrant sweetness complemented by floating fried calamari gems and offset by tiny, peppery, sunken shrimp. It would have been a triumph except pepperiness just starts to push to the fore. For balance, I would have preferred more mollusc and less crustacean.

My middle course is gnocchi with roasted heirloom tomatoes. The potato pasta pillows are dreamy. They’re nestled generously within the multicoloured array of tomatoes, ever so slightly, perfectly charred, all cohered with a decadently creamy tomato sauce. It could be too rich — except a basil foam helps to echo the feathery gnocchi. I was wondering where that foam went, as it was part of the starter description; whether improvisation or error, it’s inspirational in this dish.

The cooler day is my excuse to select the pork belly as main. It’s a plate of substance and style, the succulent underside cut augmented with tender fillet medallions and baby vegetables that are almost too pretty to eat: bittersweet purple beets, charred onions, lavender-perfumy parsnips.

It delivers on all of Manning’s aims, to “focus on great ingredients and simple, honest, hearty cooking, delivering the type of plate that makes your mouth water just by looking at it.”

Grub & Vine diners would do well to walk off the warm sense of indulgence by first taking in Norval’s sculpture garden, which is large enough to tag a thousand steps or so into those exercise apps while pondering the pieces, which provoke, intrigue or confuse in equal measure.

Having read a few days prior to my visit that William Kentridge’s charcoal drawing, Monument I, had just sold for £483,000 at Bonhams in London, I felt a moment of privilege gazing upon World on its Hind Legs, a painted steel structure created in collaboration with Gerhard Marx. But much of Kentridge’s work, in my opinion, is best appreciated thematically so as to embrace his multimedia oeuvre; here, however, as a single piece without context, I find it dystopian and out of place in the garden’s serene setting.

Inside the gallery are two particularly intriguing current exhibits. 

Until fairly recently Alexis Preller was one of SA’s most underappreciated artists. It took about 40 years after his death in 1975 for Preller’s voluminous and versatile body of work to gain serious attention and recognition.

Preller was influenced by impressionism, surrealism, ancient civilisations’ symbolisms and cultural artefacts from around the world, and the Norval’s Mythical Lexicon curation is extensive, showcasing his range of styles, themes and mediums across six interleading spaces. Standout works include the near life-size Adam intaglio — a sunken, engraving, carving and print technique — with its Aztec-like, pagan rendition hearkening a downcast but angry Christ on the cross, and the African head or bust sculptures which pinpoint the influence of 16th- and 17th-century Benin bronzes and masks.    

The highlight, for me, is the Seychelles collection, much of which mimics Gaugin’s post-Impressionist Polynesia phase: vibrant, primitivist, almost spiritual. Preller, in his exploration of cultures and symbols, strikes me as seeking that unique commonality of expression and creativity that unifies humankind — the 20th-century artist equivalent of Noam Chomsky.

World-renowned for his photographs of musicians and actors, and iconic album cover designs, SA-born Norman Seeff’s Homecoming exhibition is the other major drawcard. The Norval allows the images to speak for themselves, without any descriptors, so it’s fun, or challenging, to identify some of the artists — Cher looks so young! Is that will.i.am? — and their expressions, while at first interpreted according to preconceptions, force a reassessment. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones looks badass but also confused and vulnerable; Seal looks wounded. Frank Zappa, on the other hand, appears out-of-his tree happy and aligned with the zany, experimental music he created.

The showroom also loops a compilation video, Creative Sessions, in which Seeff interacts with his subjects, probing them for insights about their inspiration and process, and what creativity means.

To me, it’s clearly manifested at the Norval and Grub & Vine Norval.

Grub & Vine Norval, 4 Steenberg Road, Tokai. Tel: 021-216-0021

Norval Foundation Art Museum, 4 Steenberg Road, Tokai. Tel: 087-654-5900

Alexis Preller’s Mythical Lexicon is on exhibit until November 17. Homecoming by Norman Seeff runs until February 5.