Few things cut across South Africa’s many food cultures quite like cooking over fire. The ingredients, techniques and traditions may differ, but gathering around flames to cook and eat together is about as close as we get to a shared culinary language.
This Heritage Month, chef Darren Badenhorst and Jan Braai are putting that idea at the centre of the Festival of Food at Fyre, a three-day celebration of open-fire cooking taking place at Olijvenkraal Olive & Wine Farm in Paarl from September 18 to 20.
It’s an interesting meeting of two very different approaches to South African food. Badenhorst, best known for his restaurants in Franschhoek and the Winelands, brings the precision of a fine-dining kitchen, while Jan Braai has spent much of his career championing the braai as both a cooking technique and an important part of South African culture.
Rather than collapsing those approaches into a single menu, the festival spreads them across a weekend of dinners, long-table feasting and a decidedly more relaxed Sunday braai.
Things begin on Friday evening with Badenhorst and Jan Braai cooking together for a four-course Open-Fire Collaboration Dinner. Braai favourites provide the starting point for the plated starter before the evening moves into premium cuts cooked over fire and served family-style.
Naturally, even dessert gets the flame treatment. Wine from Olijvenkraal and live music by Brandon Baartman accompany the evening.
Saturday expands considerably. The Fyre Dining team will serve a three-course lunch before proceedings spill onto the lawns from 4pm, with wine tastings from producers including Boschendal, Old Road Wine Co, Fryer’s Cove, Patina Stellenbosch and Mt Vernon, alongside live music, lawn games, a brandy tasting hosted by sommelier Shane Mumba and, later, a DJ set from Oli Ditz.
For those wanting to get a little closer to the cooking, Badenhorst and Jan Braai will also host a more intimate Harvest Table among Olijvenkraal’s olive groves from 11am. The multi-course meal is cooked off the fire and served within the estate, accompanied by Boschendal Cap Classique on arrival, wines and an acoustic performance by Renate Riedemann.
After two days of chef-led dining, Sunday returns the braai to its most familiar territory: a lazy afternoon outside with family and friends. Whole lamb will turn on the spit alongside other flame-cooked dishes, with live music by Brandon Lee Hunt, tastings and lawn games stretching the final day into the early evening.
The details
The Festival of Food at Fyre takes place at Olijvenkraal Olive & Wine Farm in Paarl from September 18 to 20.
Friday’s Open-fire Collaboration Dinner costs R950 per person. Saturday’s Fyre Dining Lunch & Festival access costs R950, while the Harvest Table experience costs R2,500. The Sunday Spit Braai is R650 per person.
Tickets are available on Quicket.
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