Estate Living Digital Publication Issue 1 January 2015 | Page 8

OPEN
KITCHEN
Daredevil dining

The South African restaurant
industry is in the throes of
an exciting revolution. The
usual sit down dinner date,
in a conventional location
and with a predictable
menu, is fast being replaced
by smaller intimate dinner
clubs, offering elements
of surprise, adventure and
exclusivity.

6

If you struggle to keep a secret, then
you need to meet Gregory Zeleny
and his aptly titled mystical dinner
club, SecretEATS. The American set
up the cloak and dagger style dining
experience in March 2013, because
‘there simply was nothing quite like
it out there’.

result of this unique combination of
great wine, even better company and
an unrivalled dining experience is a
delicious mix of excitement, pleasure
and fascination. SecretEATS dinners
are held each month in Cape Town,
Johannesburg and Durban and once
every six weeks in Stellenbosch.

The aim is to bring adventurous
food lovers and accomplished chefs
together in stunning locations across
South Africa. The only catch, and it’s
a rather a big one, is that nobody
knows the location of the venue,
who’s cooking or what’s on the menu
until the morning of the dinner The
.

Venues can include anything
from state of the art penthouses
overlooking the ocean to art galleries,
photo studios and abandoned
warehouses. “We like to go for
something that is off the beaten
track,” explains Gregory. “Wine
cellars make extremely good venues,