A Great Oke

While South African cities offer everything from tacos and noodles to sushi and Hawaiian poké, restaurants that celebrate local flavour are a rarity. Chef Bertus Basson makes a powerful case for why this should change at Eike, his newest restaurant

- Katharine Pope

BERTUS

Basson is a busy man. Together with his wife Mareli, he runs an award-winning fine-dining restaurant (Overture), a cult-favourite burger joint (De Vrije Burger), a fast-casual spot with possibly the best views of any such restaurant (The Deck at Overture), another winefarm eatery (Bertus Basson at Spice Route), and a stellar small plates and wine bar (Spek & Bone). He’s hosted multiple television shows, produced a cookbook, with a second in the works, and is also father to a toddler, Theodore, Spek the pig, three dogs and seven chickens. But all this, apparently, is not enough to fill his days. Because, on 1 August, Bertus opened a sixth restaurant: Eike, a stone’s throw from Spek & Bone, on Stellenbosch’s iconic Dorp Street.

Named for the university town’s other moniker, Eikestad, it’s a gorgeous space with a colour scheme that takes its cue from the changing colours of the town’s oak trees; from the rich emerald of summer to the fresh tones of new spring growth. What is it that drives the man, who manages to make each new offering so different from the last?

IT’S A GREY SPRING MORNING WHEN we meet the Bassons in their vegetable garden at home in Jamestown, on the outskirts of Stellenbosch, for a glimpse into Bertus’s vision of Eden. They bought the house here after they married in 2014 and have always had a small veggie patch, but when they noticed a “For Sale” sign on the plot behind it, they jumped at the chance to expand. Now, the space is home to an abundant 400m2 vegetable garden.