Experiential dining dawns in Stellenbosch, with stories on plates
Chefs Darren Badenhorst and his mentee, Callan Austin are treating foodies to a whole new level of dining. Dusk Restaurant – a new dining concept – has been conceived by these two award-winning chefs, who have known each other for more than a decade since Callan walked in at one of Darren’s Cape Winelands’ restaurants.
Chef Darren says the restaurant space, in the heart of Stellenbosch, kind of fell in his lap. “It was an easy yes when it comes to location.” They have been talking about opening a restaurant together for some time and 1 September could not have been a better time to dish out their long-anticipated, experiential menu.
The Dusk experience
Just across from Stellenbosch’s City Hall, this edgy, charming restaurant provokes not only the imagination, but also the senses.
A long corridor intrigues guests and makes them wonder about what goes on behind Dusk’s doors. The space lends itself to an experiential type of food service, with an open kitchen where the chefs push the boundaries of intellectual cooking and dish concepts. For them, it’s all about the connection with produce – growing, harvesting, collecting ingredients and really communicating about what’s on the plate. They want to educate people on topics they might not have known about when it comes to cuisine. They provoke people to question what’s on the plate. It’s all about being interactive, educational and entirely unique.
Dusk’s interior is dark and edgy, with gorgeous lighting, white linen and glistening glasses. The walls – black marble with white veins – simply adds to the atmosphere.
Values built on sustainability
Chefs Darren and Callan continuously gain deeper ingredient knowledge, including where it’s from, how it’s harvested and how sustainable it is. They understand the ingredients’ environment, ecology and temperatures.
Some ingredients they’ve been experimenting with include Kalahari truffles, which a friend of Callan’s grows on a farm. Other ingredients are literally on their doorstep. If they want to cook trout, they go trout fishing and ultimately have a story to tell as they put it on the plate.
At Dusk, it’s about creating a connection with the ingredients. The chefs work small-scale and they work closely with the Stellenbosch Sustainability Institute. They also prefer to work with ingredients native to South Africa.
