Chef Matt Manning’s Little Black Book of Cape Town

No-one knows Bree Street like Matt Manning, chef-patron of Grub & Vine, The Blue Room and Culture Wine Bar. Yes, he trained in Michelin-starred kitchens in London – but these days, you’ll find him in Cape Town, serving up plates that are as flavour-packed as they are refined. He’s all about seasonal ingredients, bold flavours, and creating experiences that feel as good as they taste. Whether he’s cooking, pouring wine or hosting at The Chef’s Studio, Matt is a modern Midas who turns everything he touches into gold. We sat down with the innercity chef to find out where he goes for flavour and fun…

Plates to savour

My favourite fine dining-experience this year was La Petite Colombe. A lot of people don’t remember La Petite Colombe – they always go straight for La Colombe – but I think La Petite Colombe deserves a bit more credit. The food they’re doing over there is excellent, and the wine pairings and overall experience is amazing. We went there in May for my wife’s 40th and it just ticks all the boxes. You’ve got the ambience, the service is excellent, the food is excellent, the wine pairings are great and they’ve got a little fireplace going. From the moment you arrive to when you leave, it’s just really spot on.

My favourite fine-dining experience last year was Salsify. When you go to these places, you’re looking for more than just great food and great service. When you go to a restaurant of that calibre, you want something a little bit extra – and you always get that at Salsify. You get that personal experience, chef Ryan [Cole] is awesome, the food is excellent, the wines are superb and my former employee, Samuel Ross works there and is an excellent sommelier. [Ryan] also opened Coy at the Waterfront in late 2024, and I’ve had some very good meals there too. I think they’re trying to do a more relaxed offering there, and it’s a great dining experience in the Waterfront. You’re getting more and more independent businesses that are opening up there and offering really great quality. It’s great to see.

You know where I’ve had a really good breakfast? The Gardener’s Cottage on Montebello Estate in Newlands. It’s been there for years and I think they do the best breakfast in the southern suburbs. It’s a nice spot for a Saturday or Sunday breakfast after a walk in the forest with the kids. They do a proper bacon sandwich and I always have that with a fried egg on top, and a nice little spicy-tomato sauce and HP sauce. If I don’t have that, I’ll just have poached eggs on toast with some butter… perfect. It reminds me a bit of Blighty… I’m from the UK, but I’ve been here for 15 years and I struggle to find a good bacon sandwich.

Next door to my restaurant, Rosetta Roastery Café does a thing called a Breakfast Morning Plate. It’s very hipster and cool, but it’s a really nice boiled egg with some cheese, bread and jam. Every now and then – when I think I’m cool enough to blend in – I’ll go and have a Morning Plate and a cup of their coffee (which is the best coffee in Cape Town, by far).

Another good breakfast spot is Tryn; they’re my neighbours out in Steenberg, next door to Grub & Vine Norval. We often take the kids there and have a little breakfast while they play in the garden. They put out all kinds of toys, so it keeps the little ones busy so we can relax.

My favourite date-night spot is Foxcroft in Constantia. It’s a cosy spot in winter and I’ve always had a good meal there. They have a nice winelist and it’s only 10 minutes from our home. With a five-year-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old, we can’t go too far. We also had a lovely date night at Ouzeri, the Greek restaurant around the corner from us on Bree Street. That’s actually a nice little spot for a date lunch, with great food and a great vibe. Just order a bunch of sharing plates and get stuck in.

For a super-relaxed date-night place in town, I’d say South China Dim Sum. Ed [Hung, the owner and chef] has been there for about 16 years, and they serve some of the best dim sum in Cape Town. Just order one of everything and eat it all – and then you can order more. He’s also got a really nice winelist… and it doesn’t break the bank. You don’t need to spend a fortune on  date night; just order a nice plate of dim sum, talk about whatever havoc the kids are causing and have fun.

If you’re going out for pizza, I have to recommend Pizza Shed on Bree Street. They serve good, solid pizza and it’s also a nice vibe because you’re in town. I like to order a margherita – I don’t like all this fancy stuff, like meatballs and seafood on pizza.

An old-school pizza that’s been around forever and you should try once before you die is a Butler’s Pizza. Gotta do. When I first moved to Cape Town, I lived with some other young entrepreneurs in a house share, and we used to chow Butler’s. That’s an after-service special, that is. Like, you finish your dinner service and you order a Butler’s. If a wine connoisseur is going to have the perfect pairing, I recommend Butler’s pizza and a bottle of Sassicaia 2015. The best wines are enjoyed with the most honest cuisine; keep it simple. That’s it.

My favourite Italian restaurant in the southern suburbs has to be A Tavola. I know Luke [Dale Roberts] said that as well, and he was spot on: A Tavola is legendary. I love that place. Dave’s always got a really solid mushroom pasta on the menu, their carbonara is absolutely banging – I had that about two weeks ago – and his winelist is superb.

SeaBreeze on Bree Street serves the best fish and chips in town. Every time I go there, I’ll order fish and chips with a side of the curried-mussel sauce – the fanciest fish and chips ever. And they’ve got a fantastic MCC g winelist; they specialise in bubbles. And you know what? Fish and chips with bubbles is actually a really great combination. The saltiness, the little bit of vinegar that you get on the chips and that fried element with the beautiful bubbles on your palette… it’s fantastic. What more do you want?

Catching the train to Kalk Bay is one of my favourite things to do. One of the first things I did when I moved to Cape Town was catch the old train that was falling apart but remained in service for Lord knows how many years, and now they’ve replaced it with brand-new Chinese ones… I highly recommend catching that train to Kalk Bay, going for a walk, getting the kids an ice cream, going to see the old grumpy seal and getting fish and chips at Kalky’s. But don’t get it sit-down; get it to take away and then walk down the pier and sit by the old lighthouse on the end of the pier. Just watch the fishermen, have your fish chips, and if you’re lucky, a seagull will swoop in and nick one of your chips and give you a black eye. If you’re really lucky, you get to see all the fish guts being fed to the grumpy seal… I love going down there.

Here are my top three burgers (in no particular order)…

1. The Wild Card at Burger & Lobster on Bree A proper burger with a nice, thick patty and lobster on top. For me, the smash burger has run its course; there are too many and people are ordering it because it’s Instagrammable. Just give me a proper burger.
2. Clarke’s My favourite burger of all time. It’s just perfect: the bun, the patty, the bacon, the cheese, the gherkins, the tomato ketchup… As a chef, there’s nothing you want more than those flavours – that saltiness, the sweetness of the ketchup, the pickle… they’ve just got the balance right. They haven’t changed it in 12 years and it’s the best burger. Whenever I think, “Oh, I’m going to go for a burger today”… Clarke’s.
3. Zuney Wagyu The most popular burger at the moment – and for good reason. They make a great patty with good flavour… and once you’ve eaten one, you want another one.

If you’re looking for a casual lunch vibe, Sepial [Shim] – who used to sell fried chicken at the Oranjezicht City Farm Market – just opened a nice little Korean restaurant called In The Meantime in Woodstock. She does dumplings and the best Korean fried chicken I’ve ever had. It’s very cosy – the perfect little spot for a nice afternoon catch-up or dinner. It’s just Sepial and her son running it. She’s so excited to have you, she’ll just bring you little plates of things she’s working on – and she’ll keep bringing them until you say stop.

The most anticipated new winebar is another neighbour of mine: Tannin. Dom and Lisa Wood have opened across the road – because I needed some competition, apparently. They’ve got a really great offering: small plates and a really great winelist they’ve been working really hard on over the last year or so. They’ve worked really hard to get their establishment open, with lots of red tape, and I think it’s going to be a great addition to Bree Street.

Wines to watch

My favourite bubbles at the moment has to be Colmant Blanc de Blancs. That for me is one of the best everyday bubbles around, and great value for money. If you want to splash out, Pieter Ferreira Blanc de Blancs is the best MCC in the country. I think he’s currently on a 2015 vintage, and it’s superb. That with a great fish and chips: perfect.

My favourite wine is the one that’s in the glass, really… but I particularly love chenins. There’s a new vintage of chenins coming out now – Eben Sadie, Chris Alheit… and then you’ve got smaller, more boutique producers who are also doing really good things. Banele Vakele is the winemaker at Tembela Wines, and he also makes a great chenin. I’m also drinking a lot of pinot noir recently, especially Newton Johnson’s pinot noir.

As for my favourite wine farms to visit, I’ve got to say Beau Constantia. Megan [van der Merwe] is the winemaker and she’s a great friend of mine. I love going there; you can sit on the amphitheatre and have a glass of Aidan, the kids will entertain themselves and there’s live music. It’s lovely.

Interestingly enough, there’s a winery in town you can visit – and it’s a good one. Minimalist Wines is in Gardens, where Sam [Lambson, the winemaker] makes a really great syrah. They do tastings and it’s really, really cool.

One of my favourite wine regions is Hemel-en-Aarde. Domaine des Dieux is a really great place to go for bubbly. And then there’s Creation, one of the most unknown places for great accommodation in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. They’ve got a one-bedroom cottage on stilts that has an amazing panoramic view of the valley and your own little braai area. They don’t have an honesty bar; they have an honesty cellar. So you can go into the cellar, take whatever you want and write it down. And obviously, while you’re there, you have to go and see Caroline and drink lots of her wines. I think their chardonnays and pinots are some of the best. I also recommend Newton Johnson and Restless River… And, if you’re lucky enough to get an appointment, Storm (just up the road from Newton Johnson). They’re making some of the best chardonnays in the world, and their pinot noir is also fantastic.

Places to go

I think Riebeek-Kasteel is such a beautiful town to visit. The accommodation on Adi Badenhorst’s farm is just some of the best. They’ve thought of every little detail – including a wood-fired hot tub – and it’s got the clearest sky at night. I remember sitting there once and seeing Elon Musk’s Starlink in the sky. We thought we were being abducted by aliens because it’s a vertical line of lights. Adi’s farm has such character; I was best man there for a mate’s wedding and I delivered a terrible speech.

I like to take my son camping, and one of the nicest spots is Dwarsberg Trout Hideaway in Rawsonville. They’ve got these little private campsites and you can do glamping or stay in an eco-pod type of thing with a hot tub. You can go right up the mountain, and I like to do a bit of off-roading as well. It’s fantastic… especially in the spring months.

We went to Kolkol Mountain Lodge with the kids a couple of years ago, and that was such a nice experience. They have big hot tubs and nice cabins, and there’s a lion park nearby so you can actually hear lions bellowing in the background. While you’re in the Bot River region, you can also visit wineries like Genevieve, Luddite and Beaumont. It’s a lovely, lovely little getaway, and you can even go for walks up the mountain. Just stunning.

Things to do

Cape Town’s best-kept secret is a really awesome little beach just by Clifton. It’s one of the smaller ones and you have to walk through the houses to get there, but you can swim there in a little lagoon, and the kids can climb on the rocks. It’s got all that kelp in the water, which may freak you out a little bit… but you can pack a picnic and enjoy that.

If you like history (and cars), I recommend a visit to the Franschhoek Motor Museum. They’ve got more than 220 vehicles – but they only display about 80 at once, so you’ll always see something new when you go.

If you come to Cape Town, everyone will tell you to go up the mountain, go to the beach and so on… but one of the best things I’ve done with my dad was rent some Cobras from Cape Cobra Hire and drive around for the whole day. My dad absolutely loved it. We drove over Chapman’s Peak and around Cape Point, stopping off at all these different places along the way. Chapman’s Peak Hotel is the place to go for squid; they do the best calamari and have a great winelist with lots of older vintages. It’s a perfect little spot to stop before doing a little drive in a Cape Cobra.

Eat, drink and have a ball at one of Matt’s establishments
Book Grub & Vine Bree
Book Grub & Vine Norval
Book The Blue Room
Book Culture Wine Bar

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