RESTAURANT REVIEW
DE TAFEL
A LANDSCAPE ON A PLATE
BY KIM KAY
Inside Cape Town’ s Palm House Boutique Hotel & Spa, De Tafel turns indigenous ingredients, seasonal produce, and heritage into an intimate tasting-menu experience.
The phrase“ hidden gem” gets thrown around so often these days that it has almost lost all meaning.
So when I call De Tafel a hidden gem, I don’ t mean it’ s unknown. Among Cape Town’ s food lovers and culinary critics, the restaurant has already built a reputation as one of the city’ s most exciting dining destinations. Tucked away inside the historic Palm House Boutique Hotel & Spa in Upper Wynberg, it is well known to people who take food seriously. What makes it special is that it still feels like a discovery.
Open for dinner only, De Tafel offers an intimate tasting-menu experience built around seasonal, indigenous, and foraged ingredients. Under the guidance of Executive Chef Gregory Henderson, every dish reflects South Africa’ s landscapes, ecosystems, and food heritage. Henderson is known for his work with Indigenous foods, sustainability, and conservation.
De Tafel received a One Plate award from the JHP Gourmet Guide in its opening year, while Henderson became the first chef in South Africa to receive the Individual Green Plate Philosophy Award.
Experiencing it first-hand, it quickly became clear why De Tafel has attracted so much attention.
From the moment we arrived, Henderson made us feel less like guests and more like friends invited over for dinner. Within minutes, any intimidation disappeared. There is a warmth about him that immediately puts people at ease. Waiting at our table was a personalised menu signed by the chef himself, a small touch that immediately made the evening feel special.
The evening’ s menu, Living Landscapes: Elevations of Fauna & Where Waters Meet, explored the connection between South Africa’ s land, sea, and indigenous botanicals. The chef’ s message on the menu spoke about ecosystems, movement, and survival, but every course managed to bring those ideas to life without feeling complicated or overly clever.
They say you can judge a restaurant by its bread course. If that’ s true, De Tafel made a strong first impression. Despite knowing a nine-course feast lay ahead, we made short work of the warm bread and trio of artisanal butters.
For the opening courses, diners could choose between Intertidal and Ancestral. The Intertidal selection celebrated the ocean through dishes such as a Knysna brown crab lollipop, Cape rock oyster, and smoked snoek macaron. The Ancestral menu explored South African heritage through denningvleis, venison dombolo, and pressed quail terrine. I chose Ancestral.
From the first course, it became clear this wasn’ t
104 INBOUND SA / JULY 2026