Eating With Andrew, Naturally

Forget fussy if you’re at chef Andrew Giles’ Tweedie restaurant, but you’ll fall in love with everything on your plate.

- Andrea Abbott

Arriving at Eat at Andrew’s in Tweedie in the KwaZulu- Natal Midlands, we pass first through a curiosity shop where antiques and collectibles such as fine bone china, crystal glasses, and silverware speak of times when words like fast, convenient, and processed were not in the same semantic field as food.

In that respect, those treasures herald the treasure of a restaurant on the other side of the archway, where terms like slow-cooked, natural, and wholesome define chef Andrew Giles’ approach to food.

“I’m not one for cooking food that’s ‘fussy’. Food is for nutrition and sustenance and I try to keep my ingredients as close to that as possible,” he explains, as we sip a perfect cappuccino made with beans from nearby roastery Terbodore. “Some of us live to eat but in the end we all actually eat to live. I try to make this as enjoyable as possible. If people aren’t satisfied, then the meal has failed.”

As if on cue, he catches the eye of patrons at a nearby table and goes to chat to them. But it’s not the bog standard ‘Everything all right, folks?’ No, Andrew engages enthusiastically with the couple who, my eavesdropping talent reveals, are super-satisfied with the meal. Giving further context to the scene, co-owner of the restaurant, Debbie Battershill says, “Andrew is a fabulously creative chef. He wants you to love everything on your plate.”

Long-time friends and foodie soulmates, the pair often spoke about opening a restaurant. Their ambition materialised nearly two years ago when the old, Natal, veranda-style house at the Patchwood Elephant gifts and crafts centre in Tweedie became vacant.