Pop-up township kitchen passes test
IT’S NOT often that the staff of one of the world’s top restaurants can be spotted strutting their stuff in a township community hall, but that’s what staff at Africa’s top-rated The Test Kitchen did last weekend – raising at least R200 000 for two charities in the process.
The Test Kitchen, since it opened in Cape Town in 2010, has been placed as high as 22 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, and won the Best Restaurant in Africa accolade.
The two-day event at the Guga S’Thebe Cultural Arts & Cultural Centre in Langa was a collaboration between chef Luke Dale-Roberts and Langa-bor n entrepreneur Wanda Guma. It comprised silver service four-course lunches on Saturday and Sunday, paired with leading local wines.
Diners were charged R250 a head and a total of R67 000 was raised through ticket sales.
Donations and pledges are still being received and it’s anticipated the final revenue generated by the weekend pop-up fest will reach about R250 000. The beneficiaries will be the Noluthando Early Childhood Development Centre and Project Archangel, a sanctuary for abused women.
Dale- Roberts stressed all funds would accrue to the two charities since all food and services had been donated free of charge. Also assisting were chefs, sommeliers and waitrons of Dale-Roberts’s two other Cape Town establishments, The Pot Luck Club and Shortmarket Club.
On the menu was a duck starter, herb-seared tuna, a braaied beef fillet with café au lait sauce and a lemon tart with strawberry and amasi ice-cream to conclude.