Ten years after opening the Chefs Warehouse & Canteen on Cape Town’s Bree Street, Liam Tomlin will bring back the original along with two new concepts at 91 Bree Street, the current location of Tomlin’s three-story operation, The Bailey.
The new Chefs Warehouse & Canteen will be joined by Merchant, a restaurant that highlights local producers, and Room 91, an indoor-outdoor events space for private and business functions. David Schneider, chef partner in Chefs Warehouse Maison in Franschhoek and The Red Room at Belmond Mount Nelson, will be partnering with Tomlin in these three ventures.
On May 15, what is currently The Bailey will take an extended winter break, closing its current operations and commencing its transformation. It will be a complete renovation of the restaurants operating in the space: Chefs Warehouse at The Bailey, The Brasserie at The Bailey and The Old Bailey Lounge. The new restaurants and event space will open at a date to be announced soon.
The change comes at a time of dynamic growth in Cape Town’s CBD, with large-scale residential and lifestyle developments currently underway, like the redevelopment of Christian Barnard Hospital into a multi-use redevelopment, with lifestyle-branded hotel, apartments, office space, retail space and parking. Also joining the ranks of completed CBD developments 16 on Bree, The Barracks and The Rubik will be The Fynbos, a 24-story residential building with 689 apartments, set to open in 2025. All of these will add significant foot traffic to the immediate area.
Tomlin is going back to basics with the revival of Chefs Warehouse & Canteen on the ground floor of the building. It will mark the return of the communal long tables the original restaurant was known for, besides banquettes and smaller tables. One floor up will be Merchant, a restaurant that will champion local producers. Old-school practices of zero waste, fermentation and preservation, and honoring the whole animal will be integrated into Merchant’s modus operandi. Merchant will offer regular Producer Dinners hosting local food producers, with multiple course menus featuring their products. Room 91, on the top floor, is being reconfigured as a multi-purpose indoor-outdoor event space, available for any private or business occasion: from product launches and business conferences to musical performances and DJs to cocktail parties and weddings, and even film and commercial shoots.
Three generations of chefs—Liam Tomlin, David Schneider and Adrian Hadlow—will work together, sharing knowledge, experience, motivation and management to make these entities a success.
For more information, visit www.chefswarehouse.co.za.
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