Innholdsfortegnelse for Autumn 2025 i Cape Etc

After the intensity of summer – the packed beaches, the endless events, the sometimes overwhelming energy of a city in full swing – autumn arrives gently, coaxing us indoors without shutting the door entirely on the outdoors. It’s a subtle shift, not a sudden stop. And that’s part of what makes this season so special. The mornings arrive crisper now, and the evenings start a little earlier. You’ll still catch the occasional golden afternoon that invites a stroll or a spontaneous wine farm lunch. But more frequently, we gravitate toward the warmth of galleries, bookstores and tucked-away neighbourhood restaurants that come alive as the air cools. Cape Town never quite hibernates – she changes tempo. This issue reflects that seasonal rhythm. We’ve leaned into the pleasures of slowing down: think…

In a quiet upstairs atelier above an old ballet shoe factory in Somerset West, the scent of leather mingles with the distant hum of Cape Town life. Here, Jean Teplitsky sits at his workbench, coaxing form from rawhide and memory. His hands, battered from years of precision work, move instinctively – pulling thread, shaping silhouettes, tracing lineage. He isn’t just a shoemaker but a man who has turned his life’s meanderings – through web design, film school and the ateliers of Paris – into a singular pursuit: crafting custom sneakers that channel the rigour of classical shoemaking through iconic silhouettes. His origin story doesn’t begin with sneakers or even leather. It starts with performance. Jean grew up in a world of classical expression: his grandparents were concert pianists, and his…

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND Ryan Vrede is in his feelings about HiBall, a New York-style risotto and cocktail bar set to become a Cape Town staple Full disclosure: New York is my favourite city in the world. The nature of my job has allowed me to travel extensively, and I have yet to find a city that captures my heart like The Big Apple does. I love many things about the place, most notably the potential to discover only-the-locals-know culinary gems. I’ve had a banging gourmet hot dog at 2 am in the Lower East Side (LES). There’s no shopfront, and you must descend stairs leading from ground level to enter. Best ‘glizzy’ ever. Inside the hot dog joint is a telephone booth to the right of the service counter. You…

Lorraine van Wyk is a self-taught artist who blends contemporary portrait photography with impasto-style painting on the human form, transforming her subjects into living works of art. ‘I see my life in two phases. The first feels like a vivid, cinematic memory, albeit one I enjoy looking back on. The second is about self-discovery, a shift inward. I see my work as a literal unfolding of my story, reflecting how I see myself and the world around me,’ Lorraine begins. Growing up in Cape Town’s Northern Suburbs, she was a tomboy, always on her bicycle. But with the support of her mother and her South African agent, Lorraine took her first-ever flight to Hamburg, Germany, at age 15. By the time she finished high school, she’d signed with top modelling…

CHECK IN Manor House at Brookdale is currently running a ‘Hibernation Season 3-for-2 Getaway’ until 31 August 2025, which includes a full breakfast and a selection of in-room beverages for R8 400 per double room per night. ‘What leaves an indelible mark and keeps them coming back is the personal touch’ A PLACE OF PEACE Manor House at Brookdale, set on a historic estate in the foothills of the Klein Drakenstein mountains near Paarl, is a gateway to serenity, says Ryan Vrede ‘Welcome home.’ At Manor House’s entrance, House Manager Candice greeted me. Upon departure, it indeed felt like I was leaving home. It’s the homely atmosphere that makes Manor House unique. As a kitchen cowboy, I enjoyed strolling into Chef Jaylon’s kitchen and chatting through what he was preparing for…

SPICY SITUATION A warming feast awaits at the Palm House Boutique Hotel and Spa, says Megan Paulse ‘Did you punch the address into Google Maps?’ asked my husband as we drove toward Palm House Boutique Hotel and Spa at 10 Oxford Street, Wynberg. ‘I know where we’re going,’ I quickly and confidently responded. Having driven past the road leading to the hotel more times than I could count, I was 99.9% sure of where we were heading. ‘Left at the robot and now a right. There it is!’ I said excitedly. We were there to savour the Spice Route menu at the Palm House Terrace. It promised to be ‘a voyage along East Africa’s Spice Route’, and as a lover of spicy food that’s flavourful yet doesn’t rank so high on…

It is 24 December, two days before my first trip abroad, although it feels odd calling it that, considering the distance is no more than a quick flight from Cape T own to Joburg. I’m sitting on my suitcase, struggling to close the zip. I have never been a last-minute packer; I honestly don’t know how people can leave it until the day of their trip. The zip finally gives way, and I am ready to go – for the third and final time. As usual, I’ve packed as though I am never coming back. But, I believe in being prepared, always taking extra stuff, just in case. My bag weighs 19.8 kg, successfully under the limit, minus two jackets and a pair of shoes. I ditch my exercise clothes…

‘I think I’d be six feet under if I’d stayed in the corporate world,’ Tygerberg Mountain Bike Club’s (TMTBC) Trail Manager Patrick Roberts admits. ‘I love gravity, the rough stuff, the gnarly stuff, the big rocks, those mountain-bike trails where you get to the top, you’re in the middle of nowhere with the whole world stretching beneath you, your heart’s going boom, boom, boom, and you’re thinking, will I end up in the local ER? Then you hurtle to the bottom and realise you’ve never felt more alive.’ The story goes that Patrick quit his high-level construction job in 2011 and travelled to Valencia, Spain, with clothes and a mountain bike, where he spent a carefree one-year-long sabbatical riding with los hombres (as he calls them) on unmanicured trails forged…

Cape Town, a city once known more for its breathtaking vistas and iconic landmarks, has quietly, though resolutely, transformed into one of the world’s premier food capitals. No longer just a stopover for tourists searching for wine and nature, this coastal city has become a global gastronomic destination, drawing food lovers from worldwide. The story of how Cape Town became this culinary juggernaut is as layered and multifaceted as the dishes served at its finest tables. From its humble origins to its current status as a mecca for food enthusiasts, the city’s rise to culinary prominence is the result of a perfect storm of factors – talented chefs, an abundance of local ingredients, a shift in local tastes, and a growing demand for authenticity and innovation. Cape Town’s history is…

‘If you’re doing a piece on vinyl, you have to chat to Jacques (Vosloo) from Mabu Vinyl,’ said my friend Josh, whose main prerogative on a holiday to Berlin a few years ago was to scour the city for hard-pressed PVC. So, one sweaty afternoon in March, I rocked up at the top of Long Street to meet Jacques and his boxes of weird and wonderful records. Vinyl records are flat, analogue discs with spiral grooves that hold audio recordings. When played on a turntable, a needle (or stylus) traces the grooves’ variations, converting them into sound. They are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and the production process involves melting PVC pellets into ‘biscuits’, applying heat and pressure with stampers to create grooves and then trimming the edges. Before these…

Less than two hours of driving, a few good road trip tunes and, in our case, not even a full tank of petrol, and you’ll be escaping the hustle of Cape Town and sliding into the slower paced Greyton. From the Mother City, it’s an easy and beautiful drive – a straight shot along the N2, if you will. Beyond the traffic of Somerset West, over Sir Lowry’s Pass, through the Elgin Valley, past the Theewaterskloof Dam turn-off at Grabouw, over Houw Hoek Pass until suddenly, open fields for as far as the eye can see. Every so often, a windmill, tractor or farmhouse; and if you’re travelling between July and September, the landscape is bright yellow, with the canola fields in full bloom. Be warned, if you blink, you…