Our STory

Once upon a time, 2009, to be precise, The Duchess of Wisbeach, was born, in a little side street off the main road in Sea Point, Cape Town. It’s owned and run by a team that have had restaurants in Johannesburg for 20 years. It’s everything you would expect from a NYC speak easy or something you might discover in a side street in Paris, with or without Woody Allen’s Picasso, Dali and Hemmingway . It’s nostalgic, discreet, slightly glam and romantic. The intimacy and honesty feel like a by gone era where old fashioned food of the best quality gets served with passion and humor. Porcelain dogs sit on all the tables and intelligent waiters keep a discreet watch over their customers. Service is professional , quick and without pretension.

"A restaurant that attracts the coolest crowd in Cape Town and turns into a fat party once the kitchen closes"

Duchess Decor

The crisp, white interior, which the urbane Craig Kaplan, an architect and designer, had a hand in, is elegant, playful and pleasantly camp: paintings far too large for the room; ornate French mirrors; an enormous cow’s head over the entrance bar, and on every table small porcelain and china dogs of various breed.

Duchess artworks
(art at the parlour)

Alberto Rodriguez is a Cape Town based curator/ collector and the curator of the on-going exhibition Art at The Parlour. After years collaborating with this unique and special restaurant doing the weekly flowers,decorating, the Parlour room concept was born.

The parlour room is used primarily for dinner but now guests have the opportunity of dinning surrounded by art and sculpture which has given the room an interesting different layer. The artworks can be purchased as you are having a delicious meal or enjoying your drink. The exhibitions host a varied selection of artist from South Africa, the African continent and international.

From Brett Murray, Sanell Aggenbach, Kevin Mackintosh, Norman Catherine and Lakin Ogunbanwo to mentioned few. A vibrant, provocative, and inspiring feast for your eyes and imagination. Following the first successful exhibition, a new exhibition is due to open at the end of November.