The LDR Effect

With its location, tucked beneath a busy staircase in a corner of the historic Old Biscuit Mill, it seemed as though its intention was to appear, magically, to a select few.

- By Khanya Mzongwana. Photography by Jan Ras

However, The Test Kitchen was also one of Cape Town’s most poorly kept culinary secrets. And so, bowing out with its many accolades and a cult-like following, the restaurant’s closure, on 30 September 2021, felt like the death of an era. After 11 years – during which they won the coveted Eat Out Restaurant of The Year accolade six consecutive times and pioneered a kind of fine dining that South Africa wasn’t yet attuned to – founders Luke and Sandalene Dale Roberts introduced their biggest idea yet.

Enter The Test Kitchen Fledgelings, a version of a chef school that feels inclusive, uniquely humanising and conceptualised with real consideration.

“People ask us how long the programme is – a question that Luke and I don’t yet have the answer to,” says Sandalene. “We believe in things taking root organically. When people go to chef school, they get all these tools and the build-up to being ready for the industrial kitchen is gradual; whereas here, our students have zero previous experience working in a kitchen and we throw them into the deep end. They work long hours and learn a lot in a remarkably short period.”