S2-52. Bloem - Carla Burger

In this Real Meat South Africa feature on A Table in the Corner, recorded at the SA Barbecue Festival in Stellenbosch in October 2026, I talk to chef Trevor Chikaura about his journey from fine dining to live-fire cooking and his work with meat through his Johannesburg-based food truck, Briskets and Biscuits.After working in Cape Town, at Singita and the Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg, Trevor spent two years in the United States, where a visit to a small neighbourhood BBQ shack sparked his interest in American BBQ. During the Covid lockdown, he bought a smoker and began teaching himself the craft. Brisket became his particular challenge, demanding patience, careful temperature control and a detailed understanding of the meat.We discuss what makes a good brisket, why knowing where your meat comes from matters and why Trevor is increasingly interested in buying directly from farmers. He explains how an animal's age, diet and farming conditions influence the meat, and why the way it is cut and handled matters just as much as the cooking.The conversation also explores the value of using more of the animal rather than relying only on familiar prime cuts. Trevor reflects on the responsibility that comes with cooking meat, the importance of reducing waste and the need for consumers to understand more about the food they buy. His advice is straightforward: look for quality, pay attention to marbling and give the meat the respect it deserves.This episode is part of a series supported by Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS) and its consumer initiative, Real Meat South Africa, exploring the people, produce and knowledge behind South Africa's red meat industry.www.rwm2012.comOn Instagram @a_table_inthecornerCover image sketched by Courtney Cara LawsonAll profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise creditedTitle music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, I chat to Ally Singer, a food photographer, videographer and content creator whose work documents restaurants and the people behind them. A qualified architect with a master's degree, Ally moved away from architectural practice to build a career around her interest in food, visual storytelling and the hospitality industry.We talk about the family catering business that first drew her into food styling and photography, and the project that helped set her new career in motion: documenting and photographing hundreds of family recipes for her mother. Ally explains how she approaches photographing restaurants, and why she wants to capture the feeling of a place rather than simply make food look good. We also discuss the influence of social media on restaurant design and customer expectations, the responsibilities that come with promoting hospitality businesses, and why she avoids publicly criticising restaurants. Finally, Ally talks about Meuse Farm, the communal food gatherings she organises around dishes that mean something to the people who make them, and the value of bringing people together through food.www.rwm2012.comOn Instagram @a_table_inthecornerCover image sketched by Courtney Cara LawsonAll profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise creditedTitle music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

In this special Real Meat South Africa feature on A Table in the Corner, recorded at the South African BBQ Festival in Stellenbosch in October 2026, I chat to chef and pitmaster Pete Goffe-Wood about choosing, understanding and cooking better meat.Pete joined the festival as one of its pitmasters, cooking pork belly and beef picanha over the fire. Our conversation goes beyond the braai, though, into the choices consumers make when buying beef and the information they need to make better decisions. We discuss marbling, ageing, animal classification and the absence of a clear meat quality grading system in South Africa. Pete explains why the familiar labels on supermarket shelves do not necessarily tell you what you need to know about the quality of a piece of meat. He also makes the case for understanding how different cuts should be cooked, buying from knowledgeable butchers and choosing quality over price or familiarity. He also talks about the importance of good handling and slaughter practices, and why the quality of the final product depends on much more than what happens at the braai.This episode is part of a series supported by Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS) and its consumer initiative, Real Meat South Africa, exploring the people, produce and knowledge behind South Africa's red meat industry.www.rwm2012.comOn Instagram @a_table_inthecornerCover image sketched by Courtney Cara LawsonAll profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise creditedTitle music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, I talk to Serena Obadia, who runs Crème & Croissant with her business partner Fabienne Houcher. Based in Cape Town, Crème & Croissant is not a bakery but a baking school specialising in French bread and patisserie, adapted to South African ingredients and conditions.Serena explains how the two friends arrived in Cape Town, first opening a bakery called 'Oh Lala!' before learning some hard lessons about the local market, customer preferences and the realities of running a food business. Those experiences led them to change direction and establish a school where they could concentrate on what they know best: teaching the techniques and science behind French baking.We discuss the importance of passing skills on, from public classes for home bakers to training and up-skilling professional kitchen teams. Serena talks about the challenges of working with bread, the influence of temperature, humidity and altitude, and the decision to use local South African ingredients rather than rely on imports. She also explains why she wants young South African chefs to recognise the quality of what is grown and produced here.There is a frank conversation about the realities of opening a bakery, the difference between social media's romantic picture of the business and the demands of the work, and why a successful bakery needs to understand its customers rather than simply chase the latest trend. We finish with Serena's thoughts on confidence, failure and why learning to understand what went wrong is as important as getting the croissant right.www.rwm2012.comOn Instagram @a_table_inthecornerCover image sketched by Courtney Cara LawsonAll profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise creditedTitle music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, I chat to David Donde, the entrepreneur behind Flour Market, a Cape Town bakery built around good ingredients, traditional methods and a commitment to making bread properly. David is best known for his contribution to the local specialty coffee scene through Origin Coffee and Truth Coffee, but Flour Market takes his interest in product quality into a different part of the food business. We talk about why David decided to open a bakery after encountering problems with the sourdough supply to Truth, and how a production kitchen developed into a business in its own right. Flour Market’s approach is deliberately simple: use excellent ingredients, keep recipes focused and pay attention to the details. David explains why flour selection matters, and why even a simple toasted cheese sandwich is elevated by the quality of the bread, wheat and cheese. Our conversation also explores David’s empirical approach to business, from roasting coffee and refining recipes to testing new ideas, measuring the results and making changes when something does not work. We discuss sourdough, the role of time in bread making, the value of having good bakers working alongside one another and his belief that there is always a better way to do things. It’s a conversation about craft, entrepreneurship and the decisions behind making everyday food well.www.rwm2012.comOn Instagram @a_table_inthecornerCover image sketched by Courtney Cara LawsonAll profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise creditedTitle music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, I chat to Bérengère Cristini, (Beran to her friends) founder of Thirteen Ice Cream, a Cape Town ice cream maker supplying restaurants, chefs and specialist food retailers. Originally from Burgundy, Beran trained as a chef in France, working in professional kitchens in Paris and Monaco before moving into pastry and food production. He came to Cape Town in 2013 and established the business that would become 13 Ice Cream, formerly known as Sorbetier. We discuss the decision to build a production business rather than open a restaurant, and how supplying chefs with bespoke ice cream flavours gives them options they might not have the equipment or time to produce themselves. We scoop a little into the technical side of making ice cream and sorbet, from balancing sugar and fat to managing texture and working with seasonal South African fruit. We also talk about the more unusual flavours he has developed for restaurants, including caramelised onion ice cream served with gazpacho, strawberry with basil and vanilla with Sichuan pepper. We also look at how Thirteen Ice Cream has grown over the past 13 years, its distribution through Wild Peacock, the expanding range available directly from its Woodstock shop and Beran’s more recent move into sourdough bread. It's a conversation about the craft and science of ice cream making, the relationship between a specialist producer and restaurant kitchens, and the business of building a food company around a product rather than a restaurant.www.rwm2012.comOn Instagram @a_table_inthecornerCover image sketched by Courtney Cara LawsonAll profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise creditedTitle music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, I chat to Pamela Shippel-Granoth, the cook, teacher and restaurateur behind Fynkos at Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town. Pamela has spent almost 50 years working with food, beginning with home cooking and small-scale catering before moving into cookery teaching, recipe development, radio and food writing. We trace her career from those early days through 12 years at Pick n Pay, where she ran cooking demonstrations and built a cookery school, to three months studying at Prue Leith's cooking school in London and a decade running a catering business in Israel.  We then get to Fynkos, the Kirstenbosch restaurant she took over more than 20 years ago and has developed into a daytime restaurant built around fresh ingredients, baking and cooking from scratch. Pamela explains why she has always focused on teaching people how to cook, why salads became such an important part of her repertoire and how many of the recipes people kept asking her for eventually found their way into the Fynkos at Kirstenbosch cookbook we have just made together.  It's also a conversation about a lifetime spent feeding people, learning through experimentation and passing that knowledge on. As we mark the publication of the book, Pamela reflects on the career that brought her to Fynkos and the food that has kept people coming back. www.rwm2012.comOn Instagram @a_table_inthecornerCover image sketched by Courtney Cara LawsonAll profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise creditedTitle music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, I chat to Justin Joubert of Southern Cross Seafood Deli, the Cape Town fishmonger and seafood supplier established by his father, Paul, in 2007. Justin joined the family business after working as a chef for eight years, bringing kitchen experience to a business that sits between fishermen, suppliers, restaurants and home cooks. We talk about the realities of buying and selling fresh fish, from building long-term relationships with small-scale fishermen and commercial suppliers to dealing with unpredictable catches, changing seasons and fluctuating prices. Justin explains how his experience as a chef allows him to advise restaurant kitchens on alternative species and different ways of using what is actually available rather than simply supplying what is on the order.  Sustainability is another important part of the conversation. We discuss responsible fishing practices, the amount of a fish that can end up as waste and the importance of using more of the whole animal. Justin also talks about Southern Cross's relationships with restaurants and its growing home-delivery business, which is bringing restaurant-quality seafood directly to Cape Town cooks.  Finally, Justin explains how he has helped give a long-established family business a more contemporary public face through Southern Cross's website and social media, and what he would like to do next, including the possibility of a seafood deli with a small seafood tapas offering.  www.rwm2012.comOn Instagram @a_table_inthecornerCover image sketched by Courtney Cara LawsonAll profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise creditedTitle music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, I chat to chef Carla Burger about Bloem, the restaurant she co-owns with Bertus Basson at Paul Clüver Family Wines in Elgin.We talk about Carla’s journey through the Basson kitchens, from Overture and Eike to Spek & Bone and Chorus, and the move from pastry chef to running her own restaurant. Carla explains why Bloem was conceived as a more relaxed, family-friendly restaurant suited to the Elgin landscape, rather than another destination fine-dining restaurant.We also talk about the produce coming from the farm, the addition of the Pizza Garden and the realities of running a restaurant in a seasonal destination. Carla discusses finding her own voice within the Basson group, learning the business side of hospitality and the ambition to help establish Elgin as a food destination in its own right. www.rwm2012.comOn Instagram @a_table_inthecornerCover image sketched by Courtney Cara LawsonAll profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise creditedTitle music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, I chat to Mike Fuller, co-owner and operator of Spek & Bone in Stellenbosch, as the restaurant approaches its tenth anniversary.We talk about Mike’s journey through the Bertus Basson kitchens and how that experience shaped the way he approaches food, wine and the business of running a restaurant. He explains how Spek & Bone has evolved from its original wine-bar idea into a food-focused neighbourhood restaurant, and why the menu is deliberately relaxed while still drawing on serious culinary skills.We also talk about wine by the glass, building relationships with regular customers and the realities of running a small restaurant in a highly seasonal market. Mike shares his thinking on the move away from formal fine dining, the importance of looking after local customers and the growing community of restaurants in Stellenbosch that is working together to build the town as a food destination.And we return to where the conversation began: attention. Mike explains why social media matters, but why word of mouth and the experience guests have once they arrive remain the real foundations of a restaurant’s success.www.rwm2012.comOn Instagram @a_table_inthecornerCover image sketched by Courtney Cara LawsonAll profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise creditedTitle music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay