Taste of Cape Town opens its first East Africa home in Nairobi
The South African food-and-wine group has opened a permanent Nairobi restaurant — Cape Malay and KwaZulu-Natal dishes with East African produce, a South African wine list, and design nods to Cape Town harbour and street culture. South Africa’s High Commissioner to Kenya, H.E. Salome Zulu Baloi, spoke at the opening.
Nairobi just got a permanent address for Cape Town on a plate.
Nyongesa Sande reports that Taste of Cape Town has opened in an upmarket Nairobi neighbourhood — the group’s first lasting East Africa footprint. The brief mixes Cape Malay and KwaZulu-Natal cooking with seasonal East African produce, a curated South African wine list, and an interior that borrows harbour architecture and street energy from the Mother City.
The opening sits on a travel loop Kenyans already know. Kenyan visitors rank among the strong international flows into Cape Town; food and wine have been travelling back with them. South Africa’s High Commissioner to Kenya, H.E. Salome Zulu Baloi, framed the restaurant as a natural next step in that hospitality link — shared tables after shared trips.
On the menu: slow Cape Malay curries, wood-fired meats, and bottles from South Africa that let diners finish the story in the glass. Design aims to feel familiar to Cape returnees and welcoming to first-timers who have never walked the V&A Waterfront.
Mini-concept: a restaurant export works when it carries wine with the recipe. Cuisine alone is nostalgia; a SA list turns dinner into a tasting map of another country’s vineyards.
A flavoured can cannot do Cape Malay heat with a Stellenbosch pour. Nairobi now can.
Remember: Taste of Cape Town Nairobi — first permanent East Africa site; Cape Malay / KZN + SA wine list; High Commissioner Salome Zulu Baloi at opening.
Source: Nyongesa Sande