Karen Dudley’s Little Black Book

Karen Dudley is one of Cape Town’s most beloved food voices – a culinary storyteller who gives vegetables a voice. When she opened The Kitchen in Woodstock, she didn’t just serve food; she served heart. Locals lined up for her famous Love Sandwiches, and even Michelle Obama dropped by. Then came 2020 and, with it, change. Karen pivoted with grace, moving from restaurant floors to cookbooks, TV, and consulting for other restaurants and hotels. She’s proof that food is never just food, and her fifth book, Upwards, is about to hit the shelves. We sat down with the foodie to discover her favourite places to shop, eat, play and spread her unique sense of joy.

Shops and galleries

My friend David Bell owns OnSite Gallery in Loop Street. He has the most immaculate eye I have ever encountered, and such profound style and knowledge. He brings in these incredible architectural pieces from Argentina, Belgium, Egypt and wherever – you’ll see anything from huge stone thrones or massive stained-glass windows to a beautiful little vintage velvet chair. And it’s all put together so beautifully by the clever people in his shop. It’s like another world, and I just love going there. Barn and Werf in Simondium belongs to Vicki Bell and, again, everything is just so beautifully put together and curated there.

Hart’s Nursery in Ottery is great. The plants are much cheaper than anywhere else, and you can get these little pellet seedlings that save you the pain of trying to grow things from seed. I go there for great-value plants for my garden, including all the herbs and vegetables. We have a hydroponic garden that needs constant replenishing, so we have to go to the nursery a lot. Oh, such hardship to go to the nursery all the time!

Then let’s talk art. I went to an event at Ellerman House on Kloof Road in Bantry Bay a few weeks ago and I was absolutely astonished at the art collection there. It is insane, and I cannot recommend booking a guided tour highly enough. There are collections of Pierneef, there are rooms of Irma Sterns, there are collections of very, very early watercolours telling the story of the Cape… and the whole gallery is so beautifully curated. I have never seen a collection like that, and it’s just sitting there in this beautiful hotel.

Stevenson is another gallery I love – it used to be my neighbour at The Kitchen and it’s still going strong. Then there’s Design Afrika on Roedebloem Road in Woodstock, where Binky [Newman] has the most incredible curation of ceramics, weaving, tapestry, beadwork… all magnificent, and all amazing African work.

Food shopping

My life revolves around Woodstocking, for the most part. I try to avoid malls at all costs, so I do a lot of shopping at Balmoral Supermarket in Woodstock, which is kind of my lifeline. I actually don’t know how I would’ve survived lockdown without it. The vegetables are so much cheaper than at a supermarket – so much cheaper – and they sometimes have unusual fruit and veg that you won’t find anywhere else. They also offer tremendous value; whenever you shop there, you just feel like you’re so clever. The other day I got a kilo of peeled garlic, vacuum-sealed, for R39! We’re talking packs of cucumbers for R15. Like, really amazeballs. So I’m devoted to Balmoral Supermarket, and try to base all my food around what I can get there. They’ve also got a reputation for really looking after the community and being good people.

I am very fond of ordering from Babylonstoren online. Everything that comes out of there is so impressive and innovative, and I really respect what they do. I like to get particular vegetables from there, and I love their abundance boxes because I know they’re seasonal. I also like getting chicken from them, as well as some dairy – I often get my Dalewood favourites there. People think Babylonstoren’s is for sure going to be expensive, but it’s actually kind of competitive. Also, it’s packaged so beautifully and there is minimal plastic.

I get all my Asian things from Mainland China in Claremont. Li [Dongfang] is the Mainland China guy and he sells a really great range of Asian things – every noodle, every chilli crisp, every soy sauce, every mirin, black rice, great sushi rice and all kinds of little treats. I love getting their fresh tofu, which is beautiful and soft. I mean, if you’re going to eat tofu, why have hard tofu? Don’t make me work so hard.

I get all my spices and pulses from Atlas Trading Company in Wale Street, Bo Kaap. They’ve got palm sugar, pulses, nuts, fresh spices… and you know they are fresh. I also get my curry leaves from Atlas. I need large amounts to make my chutney podi, which is like a dry peanut chutney made with curry leaves, peanuts, palm sugar and tamarind. A little bag of curry leaves ain’t going to cut it, and I know for sure that I can get lots of them at Atlas. And they know me; when I approach and there are too many tourists and there’s nowhere to park, a cone amazingly opens and there’s a place for me.

If I can’t get things at Atlas, then I go to Fargo Trading in Observatory. They’re also good people who’ve been around a long time, and you can get small amounts of fresh herbs there (as well as large amounts). If I want to keep things really fresh, I’ll go to Fargo’s and buy things in small amounts. They also have a really nice biryani rice there.

Photo: Catherine Frances

I absolutely love Omeros and Hélène Demetriou at the Olive Branch Deli in Gardens. They are like the gods of Deli, or you could call them the angels of Deli. For one, they’re some of the loveliest, loveliest people – a brother-and-sister pair. And for two, they sell such a variety of beautifully curated produce. If you want aged brown-rice vinegar, you go to the Olive Branch Deli. If you want an obscure thing, you go to them because they can get you really specialised items. They also have a great selection of cookery books, a great selection of treats of all kinds, and a really lovely curated section of cheeses and other interesting things. Some are imported, some are local, but it’s curated like nowhere else in Cape Town.

This may not sound very exciting, but I do a lot of shopping at the Vredehoek Spar; it’s my local. You can get really good-value, free-range meat there (I get my skirt steak and bavette steak from them), and it’s just a small selection but it’s just right. You can always get salmon and tuna there, and they’ve got great vegan cheeses and quite a good range of charcuterie as well. “Where did you get this piece of meat?” Vredehoek Spar. 

Bakeries and treats

You absolutely have to visit The Local Baker on Lower Main Road, Observatory, on Wednesday mornings between 9am and 12pm. Actually, you need to be in the queue before 9am. Don’t think of coming late, because they’ll be sold out; the situation is actually between 9am and 9.30am. So, you get into the queue before 9am, and then you just hope and pray that people haven’t taken all your cardamom buns. If you’re lucky, you walk away with a stash of incredible sourdough, incredible cardamom buns and all kinds of other things. If you do take more than one loaf, people give you filthy looks… but I shamelessly go and buy a few loaves for me and my mom. Then I slice it, put it in a plastic bag in the freezer, and take out slices as I want. Warren [Rasmussen] is the baker there, and here’s what I love about him: I really believe in projects or in people who play to their distinction. They don’t do coffee or anything else; they do baked goods and they sell out before 9.30am. I absolutely love the commitment to distinction, and the belief in doing a few things brilliantly, as opposed to doing too much distractedly.

I’m also a big fan of Hoghouse Bakery in Pinelands Industria. My view is that you can judge a pasteis de nata by its acoustics. When you bite into one, the sound should be so light that it’s hard to call it a crunch. It’s a crisp – a very perfect and complete crisp. And there are people who make some very fine pasteis de nata, but I think Hoghouse makes the best. They’re near the Sunrise Circle and Merrypack in Pinelands Industria, and they serve great coffee (Tribe) and great pastries… and, again, they are playing to their distinction. It’s a fabulous place to have a meeting; it’s bright and contemporary and lovely, and they have other things that you can buy – from wine to frozen meats. But their bakery is really superior. Simple, but good.

The best koesisters in town come from Soraya [Essop] at number 10 Walmer Road, Woodstock. Every Sunday morning between around 7am and 8.30am, all the children of the neighborhood and various other people arrive with their Tupperwares to get warm koesisters from Soraya. And you take them home and you have them with coffee, and they really are the very best. It’s such a neighbourhood vibe; you’ll see a politician and a dancer and the uncle from up the road there, plus children from all over. I’m very fond of Soraya and her house is one of the gems of Woodstock.

Vintage and fashion

I wear mostly vintage clothing. My favourite shop at the moment is Waiting for George in Sea Point – a marvellous vintage store curated by Angela [Anastasopoulos] and Medina [Morphet]. Both of them have such cunning eyes and they sell really wonderful things; I buy a lot of clothes from their store. I also buy clothes from the vintage market garages behind the Garden Centre. It’s just a series of garages – there are about three or four of them – and there are some very good vintage people there. I also recommend a visit to Glitterati in the Long Street Antique Arcade.

When I can’t wear vintage, I go to Studio 47, which used to be a strip club down Albert Road in Woodstock. It’s now a massive fabric place where you get to choose any fabric you want. I can’t sew to save my life, so I get myself a hall of fabric (it’s like crack for me) and I make a selection of things I like on Pinterest, then I go to this lovely woman I know and show her all my Pinterest pictures and talk about what I want. Then a month or two later, a box arrives with a whole new wardrobe for a season. And of course, everything fits you perfectly. It’s the colours you want. It’s the style you want. It’s exactly the way you want it… and then I make that work with my vintage fashion.

Then, of course, there’s Kwaai Lappies, a haberdashery mecca with every kind of velvet ribbon, every kind of zip bag, odd bits of fabric, and so on. Woodstock used to be the centre of the clothing industry until China took over, so all those aunties are still there and Kwaai Lappies is a remnant from that time. They have weird, very short working hours, but it really is a treasure trove. I will go there and buy every kind of ribbon (because I love wrapping presents) and every kind of interesting thing that I can put together. It’s a bit of a weakness for me.

Bars and food

Anthm Bar on Hout street is marvellous – they serve next-level cocktails and amazing food. It’s really worth going just to have one or two cocktails and one or two snacks. I’m trying to bring in the culture of have fantastic drinks and snacks instead of a big dinner. But it’s also really nice, if you’re going for a big night, just to choose a cocktail and have a little snack before dinner. Everything is amazing… just look at the menu and choose.

There’s always a vibe at the Athletic Club & Social on Buitengracht Street. I’m very fond of Athos [Euripidou, the owner], and they serve great cocktails and delicious food. People don’t know how fabulous Athletic’s food is, but it really is so, so good.

The Red Room at the Mount Nelson serves great cocktails, and you feel like you want to dress up and have a cigar or a long cigarette in your hand. Their bar vibe is very beautiful and the restaurant is also lovely. It’s a great place to get duck pancakes, which are very, very hard to get right. What I would love to do is go to The Red Room, have a cocktail and feel very sophisticated, then have some duck pancakes and maybe a small dessert, and then go home. That’s all I need.

I am about to launch a kick-ass bar snack menu at Vista Bar One&Only Cape Town. It has no virtue in it at all – everything is wicked; it’s crispy, crunchy, salty, and designed to make you have another drink. The whole idea is to curate really lovely drinks with really cool bar snacks… I think it’s very sophisticated and a little bit transgressive to go meet someone in a hotel bar and have a cocktail and have something delicious, and then decide on somewhere posh to go for dinner.

I also curate the cheese course at Marble, where I would like people to come just for cheese and wine. And why not? It’s my belief that cheese courses have been neglected for many years; you just get some sad old something and a pap grape. But I like to think that I’ve been turning that around; I make unique and very special things to go with cheeses – and we have incredible, award-winning cheeses from all over the country. I like to showcase those local cheeses with unexpected things like guava membrillo and all kinds of strange pickles – pickled quince, watermelon konfyt, sour fig konfyt and other interesting alternatives.

When it comes to casual eating, I love Blondie in Kloof Street. Anything Ma’or [Harris, the chef and co-owner] puts on those paper-covered tables is fine by me. Whatever they’ve got is amazing… but a person has to be brave, because you have to face a wall of very young, beautiful people and you’re likely to be double their age. So you kind of have to fight your way through and be bold… but it’s really cool and I’m very fond of the chef there.

Now let’s talk burgers. Only Fools in Sea Point make a very good burger, and they only do burgers and chips – again, it’s about playing to your distinction. Then Zuney Burgers is a wagyu burger bar on Kloof Street in Tamboerskloof, where they serve crispy edges of wagyu… amazing. Clarkes, of course, is also famously good, but you have to be committed because you get this amazingly rich, delicious thing. I love that the Clarkes burger doesn’t have goetes (extras) on it; it comes as it is and it’s perfect.

I adore Novo Pizza in Little Mowbray. I love a Bianco pizza (a white pizza) and they have two, both of which I love. Then they obviously have all the other pizzas, and their Fellini pizza (topped with fennel sausage, caramelised red onion and fior di latte) was awarded eighth in the world this year. What I love about Novo Pizza is it’s a total neighborhood spot; all the local kids are waiters, and they also have a wicked little winelist. Again, just lay it on me. I’m fine with whatever they’ve got. Pizza Den in Obs is also really good, as are Frankie Fenner’s burgers on a Friday.

People will fight me on this, but I think that the fish and chips at Mariners’ Wharf in Hout Bay is the best fish and chips in Cape Town. It’s also where I get my smoked snoek. Kalk Bay and Simon’s Town are must-see spots for every visitor, as is Noordhoek Beach and, of course, the Sea Point Promenade. It’s great fun to watch all the people, and the new mobile sauna on Saunders Rocks is a fun, crazy thing to add to the experience. It’s there every day, and you can book a slot (which I recommend doing because it’s very popular). My children recently gifted me an evening slot so we could watch the sunset while we were in the sauna. Amazing.

If you’re looking for extremely good desserts, I recommend ëlgr in Kloof Street. Don’t give a super-fancy dessert with some kind of sand, or too much of the gel or mousse… don’t show me that you went to pastry chef school. Just give me a very perfect little tart… and ëlgr makes really perfect, delicious desserts.

Photos: Sam Linsell

Ouzeri in Wale Street is my current favourite restaurant. I think their food is eye-wateringly good; it’s quiet and it can make you happy-sad at the same time. The chef, Nic [Charalambous] is amazing. Then Bertus Basson has come to town and he’s at Ongetem in Gardens. Frickin’ delicious and so much fun… it’s also very urban, and he’s set it up the way we like to eat. It’s definitely caszh, serving delicious things that you want to put your face into. There’ll be a chicken schmaltz butter with crispy chicken skin (to have with your beautiful soft bread), a snoek taramasalata, beautiful cappuccino or tuna tartars, and other meat dishes that are delicious. But it’s all really accessible and without pretension.

Ember and Oak in Constantia is flipping amazing. It’s on a wine farm in Constantia with such a darling chef: Chef Tim [Pick] is his name. It’s the kind of place where you want to take a bunch of friends and eat delicious things… So hospitable and convivial, and the hospitality is so relaxed and amazing and fun.

And then, of course, there are all the usuals… Potluck Club, everything that the Belly of the Beast group does, Chef Ivor [Jones] at Chefs Warehouse, Beau Constantia, Rust en Vrede’s Brazilian chef, Fabio Daniel, and the lovely Peter Templehof from Fyn. His genuine sustainability principles and values are real, and really beautiful.

Things to do

I walk for my survival, and for my sanity. I take various walks through Newlands Forest – not looking at going to the top of the mountain, but positioning myself so that I have vista. It’s the vista that’s important; so you’re either looking up at the mountain or at various parts of it, or you’re looking down at the city. I like Newland Forest because it’s safe, and in summer it’s a little bit shaded so you don’t feel like you’re parched and dying. They say that women over 50 have this inclination to walk upwards. I actually write about it in my new book, Upwards, which is coming out in October – and that’s why I love Newlands Forest. Walking up from Deer Park is also fantastic, because you’re really on the slopes of Table Mountain. It’s a bit lonelier and quite hard, but I love it just for the proximity to the mountain.

People always talk about the secret beaches beyond Simonstown – and everybody now knows the secret beach that’s not the secret beach, which is Water’s Edge. But beyond Water’s Edge is Fisherman’s Cove, which is the most beautiful little beach where you can swim and jump off huge boulders. I’m not one for the cold water; I don’t want to be dumped by big, cold waves. I like soft, round waves that aren’t going to dump me, so that side of the world suits me perfectly.

Silvermine dam, of course, is always lovely, if you can find a good spot. It’s great to take a little picnic and hang out there with your family, and you can take your dog and your books too. There’s a lovely little walkway all the way around, so you can walk a little bit to make yourself feel good about having your picnic. And it’s lovely to swim; the water’s like Coca Cola and it’s not too cold. You can even bring a lilo if you like.

I really recommend the Cape Town heritage walking tours with Cameron Peters. They are such good value and Cameron is incredibly knowledgeable about everything to do with the city and its history. When you do one of his tours, you understand the layers of history and heritage in the place we live. I love this city so much and Cameron’s tours are inspiring and enlightening.

Cape Town is full of thoughtful things that aren’t expensive and offer tremendous value and inspiration. The Oranjezicht City Farm Market near the Waterfront is one of them. You’ll find everything from seasonal veg to my friend Nazeem [Manuel]’s vintage treasures, the fabulous Homeboys stall and Jane Selander’s Around Cheese stall. And every season, there’s a little gem that you can’t get anywhere else. This season, for example, it’s the makrut lime – a particularly fragrant kind of lime that is just so beautiful. Milnerton Market is also underrated; the list of things you can get there is so long that I don’t even know where to start. You’ll find everything from pictures, China and ceramics to vintage earrings (I get all of mine there).

Woodstock Baths in Searle Street has the best view of any municipal bath you can imagine. It’s an Olympic-sized pool and you can look up at the mountain, and I think it costs about R5 to get in. In the height of summer it’s a bit mad with kids, but there are also quiet times and there’s a big lawn so you could lay out there if you want to. It’s a real community spot and I am very fond of it.

There are so few independent book shops left in Cape Town, which is why I love the Book Lounge. Don’t get me wrong – I love all book shops, but I find that the Book Lounge has such an intelligent, curated selection, and very knowledgeable book people.

Buy Karen’s latest book, Upwards.
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