South Africa, Cape Town, 25 August 2025; Chefs Warehouse Beau Constantia, co-owned by restaurateur Liam Tomlin and chef-patron Ivor Jones, has launched a new five-course set dinner menu, reaffirming its place as one of Cape Town’s most acclaimed evening dining destinations.

The Five-Course Dinner Tasting Menu

Consistently regarded by industry peers as a favourite food destination, Chefs Warehouse Beau Constantia has steadily built a reputation for innovation and excellence. Its awards speak for themselves: 3 Plates from the JHP Gourmet Guide 2025, 3 Stars at the Eat Out Restaurant Awards 2023, 3 Luxe Stars at the 2025 Luxe Restaurant Awards – the platform’s highest level of achievement, signifying a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience – and La Liste’s Hidden Gem Award 2024. The new dinner tasting menu builds on this momentum, marking a shift that deepens the restaurant’s offering without losing the spirit of playfulness that defines Jones’s food.

“The evenings at Beau have always carried a certain magic,” says Jones. “This menu gives us the chance to harness that atmosphere and take our guests on a more immersive journey. It’s about building rhythm and flow across the night, but also leaving space for choice and surprise, which I think keeps the dining experience alive.”

The menu changes frequently, guided by the seasons and supplied by small producers across the Western Cape. Guests can expect bold layers of flavour and texture, with dishes spanning seafood, game, poultry, meat, vegetables, fruits, artisanal cheeses, and cultured butter. Importantly, the dinner format offers diners a choice between courses, with a few unexpected additions woven into the experience to keep things playful. While designed as an evening experience, the set menu is also available for Sunday lunch, allowing guests to enjoy Beau’s signature style in a daytime setting.

A wine pairing is offered alongside, designed to echo the progression of the menu and showcase both the wines of Beau Constantia’s own vineyards and select producers from across the Cape.

The Team Behind Beau

Cape Town-born Ivor Jones, is known for his adventurous, original approach to food. His creative process draws heavily from nostalgia and seasonality, along with inspiration from Southeast Asia, where he has travelled extensively. “With each trip I take, I look for flavours and textures that can spark something new. Often, I’ll see a technique or an ingredient and ask myself, ‘what if we did this differently, with our local produce, or over fire rather than poached?’ That’s where the ideas start.”

Joining Jones is head pastry chef Caitlin Drake, who has quickly distinguished herself as one of South Africa’s most exciting young culinary talents. Since stepping into the role in late 2024, she has brought technical skill, creativity, and instinctive flair to Beau’s dessert offering, making the final course of the meal a highlight in its own right.

Together, Tomlin, Jones, Graham and Drake are guiding Beau Constantia into a new chapter, staying true to the restaurant’s heart of adventurous food and warm, genuine hospitality.

The Space

Perched high on Constantia Nek, Beau Constantia’s dining room is a striking glass-encased space in harmony with the vineyards around it. The open kitchen gives guests a direct connection with the chefs, while private dining rooms such as the Protea Pod and Bronn’s Box provide intimate, elevated spaces with sweeping views. Interiors combine wood, leather, and eclectic handmade crockery with elegant restraint, creating an atmosphere that is modern yet welcoming.

The new five-course dinner menu is served Monday to Saturday evenings, with a Sunday lunch seating also available. The menu is priced at R1,250 per person, with the option of a wine pairing at R850 per person. Pescatarian and vegetarian variations of the menu are offered. For daytime service from Monday to Saturday, Beau’s four-course lunch menu remains available at R1,100 per person, with a wine pairing option at R750 per person.

For table reservations, book online via www.chefswarehouse.co.za/beau-constantia. Follow Ivor and Beau’s story via @chefswarehousebeauconstantia.

South Africa, Johannesburg, 14 August 2025; From sun-soaked afternoons to golden-hour rituals and sultry nights, Ocaso is the new Mexican-inspired dining and cocktail destination in Oxford Parks, Johannesburg.

As Corona’s first dedicated flagship venue in South Africa, it was created to embody the brand’s love of golden hour moments, inviting guests to linger longer.

Developed by seasoned restaurateur Heinz Rynners from Boulder Group, along with Ben Stanger and Luke Dakers of the Monseca Hospitality Group, and in partnership with SAB and Corona, Ocaso combines thoughtful design, vibrant food, crafted cocktails, and atmospheric rituals in a space designed to bring the brand to life, seven days a week, from 12pm to 12am.

A day-to-night rhythm

Every day at sunset, a special gong ritual signals the start of the evening. From Monday to Wednesday, the venue leans into food and comfort, offering long lunches, mezcal tastings and after-work drinks. From Thursday to Sunday, the mood shifts into lounge atmosphere, with DJs playing R’n’B, Hip-Hop, Afrohouse and Amapiano beats.

“It’s a space that transforms with you,” says Dakers. “You can ease into it or arrive ready to celebrate.”

A flagship with a purpose

Ocaso occupies the former Shortmarket Club space and joins a growing lifestyle cluster of Oxford Parks, a mixed-use precinct defined by offices, premium restaurants and bars and pop-up events. It’s the perfect backdrop for a venue designed to be both a local favourite and a destination for visitors. The team behind Ocaso is helping drive a new wave of experiential hospitality in Johannesburg, with several more venues set to launch in the coming months.

Ocaso also represents a strategic first for Corona in South Africa. As a flagship store, it functions as a central platform for brand engagement – from product launches and collaborations to daily activations and curated events.

“This isn’t just a high-performing outlet,” says Stanger. “It’s the brand’s spiritual home; a place where Corona can show up fully, every single day.”

Food and cocktails with flavour and theatre

The menu blends classic Mexican staples with a contemporary South African touch. Guacamole is prepared tableside with generous lime and chilli, while a mini taco tasting board lets guests mix and match flavours, from slow-braised beef birria to fresh seared tuna. Fried mozzarella sticks with chipotle dipping sauce and crispy empanadas stuffed with braised pulled chicken, garlic and onions are served alongside bright, fresh salads and ceviches, the latter cut through with a burst of acidity. Corn ribs dusted in smoked paprika have already become a signature order, while juicy wagyu burgers, marinated pan-seared panko pork chops, and sharing platters of steak, chicken thighs, wings, and lamb chops cater to heartier appetites. For dessert, golden-fried churros dusted with cinnamon sugar and drizzled with chocolate, along with the signature Bananas Foster, round out the experience.

“We just love food,” says Dakers. “We’ve tried every Mexican place in Joburg and Cape Town, and we pull inspiration from everywhere – street food, travel, even TikTok. It’s about making something that’s both comforting and exciting to look at when it lands on your table.”

The drinks list is just as considered, with a tequila and mezcal programme that ranges from the classic Margarita to more adventurous serves for sharing. Highlights include the Flor de Sol – a bright mix of Tanqueray Gin, passionfruit, coconut, lime and ginger beer; the Sol Bravio, which pairs El Jimador Blanco with hot honey and lime juice; and the Berry Basil Coronita, a playful combination of El Jimador Reposado, berry basil cordial and a Corona mini.

Design as storytelling 

The interiors, by Johannesburg-based Bourne Kreative, were conceptualised with the Corona brand in mind from the outset. Instead of layering branding onto an existing space, the design team, led by creative lead designer Reinhardt Schmidt and project manager Lebeau Strydom, built the brand values into the architecture, finishes, and flow.

Schmidt says: “The whole room was designed to feel transportive. It’s urban, yes, but the minute you walk in, you feel like you’re somewhere else entirely. With Ocaso, the space is the brand.”

The bar, a woven wicker-fronted, softly lit focal point, is the theatrical heart of the venue. Its mandala-inspired motif draws directly from one of Corona’s global icons, while the glowing golden tones signal the shift from afternoon to evening.

Seating is arranged to allow for both intimacy and connection: low-slung leather banquettes, round communal tables, and a tucked-away VIP booth for special gatherings. Oversized bohemian beaded lanterns hang from layered plaster ceilings, casting patterned shadows that change as the night deepens. Macramé pillows, textured walls, and an ocean-blue floor – a bespoke colour mixed exclusively for Ocaso – create a tactile richness, while warm-toned lighting shifts subtly throughout the evening to match the mood.

Nearly every detail was custom-built, from the leather upholstery to the curved plasterwork. Sustainability and local craftsmanship were key: the lanterns were hand-beaded by local artisans, the woven elements sourced from specialist makers, and the majority of the finishes produced within South Africa.

A second phase will be unveiled in time for summer, with a rooftop deck that offers guests a beachy experience in the heart of the city.

With its mood-forward concept, brand-first design and layered experiential approach, Ocaso is fast becoming a new kind of flagship – one where guests don’t just consume a brand, but live it.

Bookings essential. Walk-ins welcome.

Ocaso is located at 1 Oxford Parks, 199 Oxford Road,  and is open for lunch and dinner from Mondays to Sundays from 12pm to 12am.

To view menus and to book a table, visit www.ocaso.co.za or WhatsApp +27 78 762 5532.

HUNTING AND GATHERING

South Africa, Cape Town, 13 August 2025: As we enter the last stretch of this year’s Cape winter season, DUSK’s kitchen is firing on all cylinders – inspired by primal flavours, personal journeys and a deep respect for the land. This season, Chef Callan Austin brings back more than just stories from his annual hunting pilgrimage to Cookhouse in the Eastern Cape. He brings flavour – wild, untamed and thoughtful.

Click above to watch the magic unfold. 

POLE POSITION

But first! Chef Callan has unashamedly been down the F1 rabbit hole, watching a dazzle of F1 races, highlights and reels – being pretty much convinced that McLaren is going to take home 2025’s championship trophy. Whilst glued to the screen, Callan was also keeping his eye on the ball about which seasonal produce is now coming into play. Oranges and Papayas are á la mode – and these happen to also be the colour theme of McLaren’s logo – Papaya Orange. And bingo, the proverbial penny dropped!! Screen time was promptly ditched and replaced with Callan spending many a dark night creating an edible McLaren emblem. He had custom silicon moulds made in the shape of McLaren’s logo and started working on the components – Scotch bonnet chilli caramel, papaya and white chocolate namalaka, papaya sherbet, papaya and orange glass, orange shortbread – in Callan’s classic words, “I basically just went ham with anything papaya and orange”.

The final result; a fine dessert bite that’s fast and full of flavour – this one’s definitely for the podium!

FROM THE HUNT

During his recent walkabout in the Eastern Cape, Callan returned to his primal roots — hunting buck, hauling the game back to camp, and ultimately sending 225kg of whole carcasses to DUSK, where he and his team broke it down with precision. The time spent in the veld proved creatively enriching: from discovering naturally occurring slate that now serves as near-perfect plating canvases, to drawing inspiration from the winter palette of wild foliage.

The result? DUSK’s new ‘Cookhuis’ Venison Tartlet – a dish that captures the essence of the Eastern Cape. Kudu and zebra loins are flash-seared in the Diablo and served tataki-style, nestled in a tartlet filled with wild mushroom and truffle custard, and topped with fresh mustard cress. Rich, gamey, and deeply evocative.

A NOD TO NOSE-TO-TAIL

Callan has given the – now famous – Peppa Pig’s Golden Dome a 2.0 by replacing the pulled pork shoulder with a duck liver parfait with orange marmalade and pistachio. A bite size snack that truly packs a punch.

The Duck Offal Dombolo honours traditional African steamed bread, stuffed with a rich duck offal ragu and glazed with our 2022 house beef garum, finished with molasses and thyme. A warm, soulful bite that pays homage to full animal respect.

FRESHNESS, REIMAGINED

A bright starter featuring avocado and cucumber gazpacho poured tableside over a lime leaf panna cotta. Expect steamed prawns, seasonal herbs, and the zing of spekboom and finger limes – foraged, floral, and locally rooted.

ICONIC, BUT MAKE IT DUSK

Taking inspiration from home-cooked classics, the Line Fish & Chip dish elevates nostalgia. Think kombucha beer-battered fish, tartar beurre blanc, and vinegar-soaked spiralised chips. Technically brilliant, yet comfortingly familiar.

OLD FAITHFUL

An ode to South Africa’s beloved chutney, this lamb rump dish is finished over the flames and plated with a savoury tomato chutney, quince jelly, anchovy parmesan Bearnaise, and smoky kale. A contemporary braai on a plate.

NOT ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD

Coined by the wizard of the word, Shakespeare himself, “Not all that glitters is gold” emphasises that appearances can be deceiving, which fits well with DUSK where the venue is tucked away and hidden from sight. According to Callan, the phrase can also allude to chefs who should start looking inward or within their close proximity when procuring ingredients because who knows, they might just find gold!

Tiramisu gets a DUSK makeover with a Kalahari Truffle liqueur and mascarpone  mousse, lady finger tuiles, and Disaronno jellies – a deeply local dessert with soul, satire, and a nod to the unexpected.

To reserve your table at DUSK, email reservations@duskrestaurant.co.za

Call  +27 21 023 4100, or WhatsApp +27 71 942 3724

 Book direct via www.duskrestaurant.co.za.