Ja Well, very Fyn

Fyn Restaurant 

Speakers Corner

37 Parliament Street

Cape Town

Monday — Saturday lunch and dinner

Reservations: 021 286 2733 or info@fynrestaurant.com 

A long walk to a restaurant alongside a fellow food writer is the ultimate way to get the creative juices flowing to experience a multi-coursed/wine pairing feast as we headed out from the harbour terminal in Cape Town to Fyn Restaurant in the City Bowl recently. Both greedy gourmands we salivated as we trudged along the busy pavements with the temptations of master chef Peter Tempelhoff’s creativity foremost on our minds.

Described as a “neoteric Japanese menu where boundaries are crossed and blurred”, it is a once-in-a-lifetime gastronomic experience of the standard to be listed at No 60 in the World’s Best Restaurant list released recently.

We’d been on a short cruise from Gqeberha to the Mother City and this was our port day — a great escape from cruise-style buffets where volume is the name of the game, of course we’d fallen into the trap, we’d loosened our belts a notch or two and breathed a huge sigh of relief in anticipation of gastronomic excellence.

At Fyn Restaurant the much-celebrated Tempelhoff trio — Peter, executive chef Ashley Moss and sommelier extraordinaire Jennifer Huge have conjured up pure magic. With floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides of the restaurant, the bustling open kitchen centre stage, one is drawn upwards to a jaw-dropping art installation, large wooden discs linked bead-like, raining down magnificently from the ceiling. Simple, effective and so very clever.

A welcome by the main man Peter is humbling, we proffered a Fyn martini made with a Japanese gin with sansho peppercorns and lime bitters by the warm Jennifer, and our waiter is the affable Dustin who raises the curtain on what can only be described as a show-stopping performance. Service is slick, the courses extraordinary, the wines, limited local labels, way too many even for our greedy selves, yet stupendous, as we were ushered through a mind-altering gourmet experience.   

The culinary performance is studded with so many surprises that evoke all the senses right from the selection of plates, each so different and appropriate for each course, the ingredients — they pride themselves having sourced some extraordinary network of small-scale farmers, foragers and fermenters — think Madagascan black caviar, Mozambican blue crab, Lamberts Bay abalone, soutslaai, salt salad from Hout Bay, KwaZulu-Natal langoustine, Ken Forrester’s Wagyu beef and what’s more you even get to select your choice of designer handmade knife for the meat courses.

There are so many highlights it’s as difficult to choose one, we both salivated on the delectable array of exquisite seafood, two memorable courses, one of blue crab, abalone, yellowtail nigiri with tamagoyaki egg roll topped off with Madagascan caviar — Africa’s first caviar, we are told, and another the sashimi platter of paper-thin slivers of yellowfin tuna with the tiniest paper-thin nylon shrimps in a film of hot olive oil. Seafood aside, I still ruminate on the burnt mushroom crème brûlée with hokkaido milk bun. A stunning piece of food art, they all are, featuring the softest round of exquisite milk bun in the centre next to an upturned ramekin which reveals the most decadent savoury burnt mushroom custard that you clean every corner of the ramekin with nuggets of heavenly soft bun.

And if after the feast there’s more, yes a sweet finale of small portions of pure decadence — chocolate cheesecake, a mango and yuzu sherbet, and of course a hint of one of South Africa’s best export, a refreshing rooibos, lemon and honey sorbet. And as my young granddaughter would say, WOW! It is a world-class restaurant experience. 

The Dinner Menu Experience R1,975 p.p. Wine Pairing R1,550 p.p.

Lunch Menu Experience R1,375 p.p. Wine Pairing R1,150 p.p.

MEET FYN’S CHEF PATRON PETER TEMPELHOFF

We are extremely happy with the recognition with FYN’s 60th ranking in the World’s 50 Best Restaurant extended 51-100 list and are proud to be able to represent South Africa in the listing. The more South African spots on the list the better it is for all of us. The team has been pretty amped, but they also know the pressure of accolades that comes with it will mean more focus and attention to detail. 

My cheffing career started 28 years ago, but that’s too far and boring to look back at, looking forward is where it’s all happening. I’m so excited about where the teams are in their own journeys at the moment, each restaurant is so unique with their own food identity, customer base, vibe and even business model. I suppose that’s the most exciting thing for me, that our trio of restaurants FYN, beyond and Ramenhead are like comparing apples to oranges to avocados. Having three of the same restaurants would bore the living tarnation out of me!

What gives one the edge in a competitive environment? I don’t think we have an edge, I just think we have a unique offering that is well accepted and we’re doing the most with it that we can. If any one thing has to take more credit than another, I’d say my palate is my secret weapon. It all starts and ends there! From chef to guest.

In celebrating this win brings enormous pressure and the accolades and awards are real, you can’t deny it — everyone feels the pressure. Bea, Lucas and the team are great at absorbing that pressure and not losing their heads. It’s important for young staff to see this and learn from them. Improving the menu is simple, once you’ve found the concept of a new dish you start the rigorous process of cooking it off for tasting then you be super critical and ask yourself, “Is it better than the dish you are replacing it with?” You only put the new dish on if it’s a resounding “Yes”!

Our restaurants are well known for supporting a network of small-scale farmers, foragers and fermenters. Without these amazing and diverse group of craftsmen and women, suppliers, farmers, foragers, fishermen, hunters, thinkers, designers, chefs, waiters, managers and many other talented individuals who contribute to our success daily we’d be nowhere. Three ingredients that are uniquely FYN:

Our plates — Roche from Clylat with the first to join us on our journey- he’s incredible and has made a range of plates for us that you won’t see anywhere else.

Indigenous ingredients grown by Iming of Meuse Farms — being able to order ingredients that she’s growing for us at our request is incredible, especially as they aren’t being used in most restaurants here in South Africa, let alone the world.

Nicolas from Nihon Ichiban in Odawara Japan — sends us the most unique ingredients which he sources from fully sustainable old Japanese companies. A lot of these ingredients can’t be found in Japan, we’re just lucky to have them available to us through his work of preserving the legacy of some of these incredible legacy-threatened companies!

As a family man balancing family and work life is not easy, invariably either work suffers, or family doesn’t see me, I haven’t got the perfect balance yet and still working it out! 

I have three children, two boys and a girl who are 12, 16 and 18 years old. I would never push them into a career in food, they must find their own happiness. Two of them like to cook, I tell them all the time if you love what you do as a career you will never work a day in your life. There are too many people in the world who hate their jobs ... don’t be one of them. We don’t have any of the three restaurants open on Sunday evening, so a braai is usually on the cards. Ha ha ha.

I do enjoy my wine and have made my own over the years and for a celebration I would probably pop open Ryjks pinotage or chenin blanc Gold if I wanted to really spoil myself. For an easy drinking beaut the latest Buitenverwachting sauvignon blanc. Chardonnay Blend 2023 is absolutely sensational value. My wife Angela drinks bubbly, so probably may have to pop one of Matt Day's MCCs from Klein Constantia first. LOL I sound like a lush, but it is a celebration...