A Table in the Corner – Details, episodes & analysis

In this Special Thursday episode of A Table in the Corner, Russel sits down with brother and sister team Danillo and Chiara Turilli, the operators behind Lello’s Deli, to talk about inheritance, identity and building something deeply personal in a city that is moving as quickly as Cape Town is right now.

Raised within a family restaurant business run by their father, the Turillis describe themselves as restaurant babies who tried, unsuccessfully, to escape hospitality. Danillo left for fashion photography in Hamburg. Chiara moved into food styling and corporate work. Yet both found themselves drawn back to the rhythms of service, family recipes and the particular weight of Italian food culture.

The conversation traces the evolution from Scarpetta, their father’s final and most personal restaurant, to Lello’s original De Waterkant deli and now its move to Sea Point. We talk about counter service in a culture that resists it, charging properly for ingredients whose price reflects their authenticity, and refusing to dilute tradition for comfort. Mortadella is the real thing. Amatriciana is made with guanciale. Coffee is served the Italian way.

They speak candidly about legacy, grief and closing their father’s restaurant after his passing, choosing instead to carry forward the parts that mattered to them. There is no master plan here, only instinct shaped by upbringing: seasonal tomatoes jarred for winter, pizza al taglio sold by weight, pasta made the way their family remembers it.

This is a conversation about diaspora, stubbornness and the responsibility of doing things properly, told by two operators who understand that authenticity is not a marketing position but a lived inheritance.

Thumbnail image by Soh Bang

Contact me with thoughts or suggestions for the show on russel@rwm2012.com

• www.rwm2012.com
• On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner
• Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson
• All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited
• Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, Russel travels to Boschendal to sit down with Travis Finch, head chef of Arum, to talk about cooking inside one of the Cape’s most ambitious agricultural ecosystems. Travis reflects on a career shaped by formative years with Peter Tempelhoff’s team and long stints abroad, before returning home to cook at the intersection of land, produce and restraint.

The conversation centres on what it means to cook on a regenerative farm at scale, with direct access to gardens, livestock and orchards, and how that proximity reshapes menu thinking, waste, seasonality and responsibility. Travis talks about breaking down formality without lowering standards, working with whole animals and vegetables alike, and designing food that reflects abundance rather than excess.

We also explore the realities of running a restaurant across breakfast, lunch and dinner, collaborating with farming teams, and feeding produce back into the wider restaurant group. This is a thoughtful, grounded discussion about provenance, process and pace, told by a chef who understands that the future of cooking is inseparable from how the land beneath it is treated.

Learn more about Arum at Boschendal here

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• www.rwm2012.com
• On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner
• Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson
• All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited
• Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

In this episode of A Table in the Corner, Russel sits down with Tasmin Reid, the young, fiercely thoughtful chef behind Melfort, a seasonal farm to fork restaurant on Marianne Estate near Stellenbosch. Tasmin shares her journey from Silwood Kitchen to working with Ryan Cole at Salsify, her plans for Australia, and how an unexpected autoimmune diagnosis reshaped both her life and her style of cooking. Now the owner of a popular winelands restaurant, she speaks openly about healing through food, foraging, running pop ups on farms, building a kitchen team in the middle of nowhere and creating a menu that is as nourishing as it is delicious. This is a powerful conversation about resilience, seasonal cooking, youthful ambition and what it really takes to open a restaurant on your own terms.

More about Melfort

Every booking is a first impression. Make a good one with Novel
Message me here with comments or guest suggestions.
Treat yourself - order direct from Zuney Wagyu
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Chat to Mischa or Sash of Socially Unacceptable here 

• www.rwm2012.com
• On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner
• Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson
• All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited
• Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

Lindile Ndzaba is a young man I admire tremendously. He has built a wine brand with nothing but an idea and his drive to do something extraordinary in his community. Khayelitsha's Finest Wines started as a project to bring decent wine to his neighbours 'elokshini', in the sprawling township of Khayelitsha outside Cape Town. Working in the city, exposed to fine wines in his role as a front-of-house staff member, he was frustrated by the shoddy wines on offer in the taverns and eateries around his home.
Working in his spare time he learned about wine and started seeking out unique and interesting wines he could bottle under the KFW label. It's been a long and hard journey, juggling his dream with a full time hospitality position in Cape Town, but it really took off when he was able to resign and focus full time on KFW in 2021.
He's just returned from a trip to the USA where he was promoting KFW and I managed to sit him down for a chat about the road he's walked.

Khayelitsha's Finest Wines
Thumbnail portrait by Brandon de Kock

• www.rwm2012.com
• On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner
• Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson
• All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited
• Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

I initially reached out to Tania Olivier of ATE Eatery when she posted online about working on a cookbook. I've been wanting to talk about cookbooks on the show for a while. Turns out her publishing project is another thing entirely, but we started talking about South African food and how she cooks her experiences of being South African for guests in her home. Tania is fascinating and such an enthusiastic and patriotic cook that this episode could have gone on for hours. Some interesting perspectives on welcoming people into your home and serving them food derived from your own life experiences.
Follow Tania on Instagram here.

• www.rwm2012.com
• On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner
• Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson
• All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited
• Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

There are such wildly conflicting views about salt, and the seasoning of food. Depending on where you look or who you ask, salt is either beneficial for your health or an ogre to banish from the table. Years ago I read a fascinating book on salt, and it's role in human history, by Mark Kurlansky, so I'm a bit of a salt geek. I found another one, Samantha Skyring, who owns Oryx Salt and we sat down for a natter about this seasoning element and what it brings to the table.

• www.rwm2012.com
• On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner
• Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson
• All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited
• Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

I read a fantastic article in Daily Maverick by Kit Heathcock about Zuney Burgers in Kloof Street. It also touched on the wagyu industry and an interesting trend in farm-to-consumer eateries that are popping up. I have an abiding love for burgers, have written about them and eaten probably more than my fair share. I reached out to Kit to strike up a conversation about her story and burgers in general. It sort of differs from the more biographical content on food producers and chefs that appears here, but I thought it would be a great chat. I was right.
Because Kit live a fair way from the city, we recorded this show remotely on a mobile connection, so there are a couple of wrinkles later on in the audio. Hopefully that won't detract from your enjoyment of a very informative natter about wagyu beef and tasty burgers.
You can find Kit Heathcock's Daily Maverick piece here.
Image supplied

• www.rwm2012.com
• On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner
• Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson
• All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited
• Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

Chef Liam Tomlin is about to open a revamped Chefs Warehouse & Canteen at 91 Bree Street in the CBD along with Chef David Schneider. Also in that gorgeous old building, they're opening Merchant - a restaurant dedicated to the suppliers and producers of fine local ingredients. I've been waiting for a chance and a reason to sit down with Liam Tomlin for a chat. And while we did discuss replacing The Bailey with an 'old school' Chefs Warehouse, of course we ranged over other topics like his erstwhile Sydney restaurant Banc. with questions I couldn't resist asking. Sitting down with a chef whose work I deeply admire is definitely cause for excitement. The fact that he is returning the space to the original CW concept - even going to his stunning book 'Tapas' for the recipes - helped ramp up the joy, and I can't wait to eat in the new space.
Thumbnail image by Claire Gunn supplied.

• www.rwm2012.com
• On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner
• Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson
• All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited
• Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

One of the joys of running our restaurant 'The Table at de Meye' was my regular visits to Dalewood nearby to collect cheese for the weekend menu. I've always loved their cheeses - especially the 'Huegenot'. Theirs is a singular farming philosophy which has attracted global attention and numerous awards. All their cheese is made with milk from a herd of Jersey cows pastured exclusively on Dalewood farm. There isn't a cheese more rooted in its terroir - or traceable to the pasture - as Dalewood. While building and nurturing this exceptional cheesery, Rob and Petrina Visser have also raised two lovely daughters and I got to chat to the older of the two, Georgina Visser, about the farm and growing up a farmer's daughter.   
Dalewood Fromage - Estate Cheese
They have an incredible box delivery scheme called Kaas Club where you receive regular deliveries of their incredible range of cheeses. 

• www.rwm2012.com
• On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner
• Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson
• All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited
• Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay

Regular listeners will have picked up my abiding interest in the 'regenerative agriculture' movement. While science is teaching us more and more about the world and providing the tools to understand it better, it seems we are returning to more traditional ways of producing food. This is true of the great undertaking that is Babylonstoren, where natural farming methods lead and very clever and dedicated people like Alex Bosman - head gardener on the estate - are pushing and teaching better ways of looking after our soil and the food we eat. This was a really enlightening chat, and I hope to sit with hime some time in the future to learn more.
Babylonstoren Gardens 
Thumbnail image provided by Babylonstoren

• www.rwm2012.com
• On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner
• Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson
• All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited
• Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay