Koeksisters, amagwinya, bobotie, melktert — these are perhaps not the dishes you’d expect to find on a fine-dining menu, but that’s exactly what chef Kieran Whyte is doing at Curate. Through the eight-course menu, Whyte references nostalgic dishes and familiar flavours, taking diners on a unique, multifaceted South African journey with every dish.
The latest project to take shape at what is arguably one of Cape Town’s most prestigious addresses has seen the conversion of its glorious wine gallery into a new dining experience.
While all the memorable touchpoints remain —the Nic Bladen Pinotage Vine, the terroir wall, and the dramatic carbon-fibre corkscrew that anchors the space — the refurbished dining room features a refreshed interior suited to this next chapter.
Designed by Ellerman House co-owner Nell Harris and Natalie Haarhoff of Just Design, the new touches feature elements of brass, leather in greens and blues, wood, and even semi-precious stones, coming together to dramatic effect.
It’s a beautiful setting against which the chef’s food comes to life, each dish referencing and paying homage to a South African classic, bridging cultures, provinces, and traditions but given a fine-dining twist. The experience begins in a welcoming lounge with an amuse-bouche of bobotie and koeksister —the first deconstructed and reconstructed: a crispy Mrs Ball’s tuile circles a fragrant minced filling and is complemented by textures of turmeric and raisin that’s a mouthful of pure nostalgia. The same is true of the koeksister, here served as a miniature and savoury iteration of the sweet treat with a topping of salmon-trout mousse. The two beautiful bites set the scene for what’s to come.
From the lounge it’s into the dining room, which is now all the warmer thanks to the pops of colour and soft furnishings.
Considering the terroir wall on one side, with its representations of local wine-growing soils, the humongous corkscrew on the other, and below you a cellar housing around 10 000 bottles of the country’s finest, it is perhaps no surprise that wine plays a pivotal part in this dining experience.
Ellerman’s wine ambassador and Curate sommelier Joe Beziek serves a wine experience that goes toe-to-toe with the courses.
Whyte is a chef who knows how to cook for wine, having served up countless wine dinners at Ellerman pre-Curate. Here, he and Beziek create magic, drawing the unexpected and exceptional from the grand cellar to pair with each dish.
The bread course takes shape as a light and fluffy amagwinya filled with smoked-snoek pâté and topped with caviar, while a tart apricot purée brings balance to the richness. A mineral and yeasty Cap Classique (Libra by Karoo Hoogland Wines) matches and elevates both the richness and acidity of this superb start.
And so the meal progresses, with dishes that span every inch of South Africa’s melting pot, recognisable yet reinvented.
A melktert is transformed into a magnificent and textural dish of sunchoke and pecorino, blanketed in a Cape Ruby gel and dressed with petals and crisped and pickled vegetables for texture, with rounds of black truffle adding earthiness. Lightly smoked and served under cloche, the dish is paired with McFarlane Wines Saturday’s Child, a light and elegant pinotage that meets the dish with a palate of ripe dark fruits, cooking spices, and whispers of smokiness.
It would have been the dish of the evening were it not for the dessert of Prieska pap, the simple staple raised to new heights with white chocolate, macadamia, and berries. It is warm and rich, fruity and vibrant, comforting yet light — a glorious spoonful of a dish all South Africans will have enjoyed, but never quite like this. This beauty of a dessert is well suited to capping off a tasting menu of this nature. Needless to say, the pairing here was spot on too, with the showstopping dessert complemented by Peter Bayly Cape White Port.
It’s a menu with an ending as strong as its start, matched with a wine pairing that is more along the lines of a co-star than supporting act, and Whyte and Beziek not so much curating as creating an unbelievable, locally resonant dining experience.
From the October edition of Wanted, 2025
