The restaurant that became an empire, by the man who created it

Ash roasted vegetables at the Foodbarn. (Photo: Caleb Crowster)

By Tony Jackman

31 May 2024

The pressure of accolades is real, says Franck Dangereux, who created La Colombe and its name. Not the ‘Group’, nor the restaurants in its stable today, but the original La Colombe at Constantia Uitsig. He shares the story of this phenomenon, and his views on the restaurant empire it has become.

The name La Colombe has for many years had nothing to do with the original restaurant that gave birth to the name. The two words have become an entity in their own right, an idea, a concept, and even that concept no longer has anything to do with the original restaurant.

Because the very first meal served at La Colombe restaurant on Constantia Uitsig farm was made by its French chef for his mother – and for the roomful of Press, including myself, who were privileged to eat the meal that launched ‘La Colombe’, one sunny day in 1996. And that meal was cooked by Franck Dangereux. For his mom. And for us. And ultimately for the world.

This week, I asked Franck to refresh my memory of those early days, and when he replied in a series of voice notes the memories came flooding back. He was fulsome in his replies to all of my questions, including some that I had thought he might choose to skip, such as: could I get him to open up about what he thinks of the La Colombe Group now?

“I was most definitely the first chef at La Colombe, because I actually created La Colombe,” he said this week in the French accent that he has never lost. “If you remember, I worked with Frank [Swainston] at Constantia Uitsig first. He was the manager and head chef at Uitsig, and I ran his kitchen for him when he was ill.

The late Frank Swainston was the celebrity chef of the day in Cape Town, making smashing Italian food after having relocated from Johannesburg, where he had been an equally celebrated chef for years.

“It was through working there and meeting the owner at the time, David and Marlene McKay, that the idea was born to open another Provençal-style restaurant in the pool room, and that became La Colombe,” Franck said.

“And that first Press lunch I remember too; it was amazing. For me the way I approached it was that I literally wanted to cook something delicious as if I was cooking for my mom. And I hadn’t seen her in a long time. That was the sentiment behind that meal.”

Franck Dangereux’s way with pork belly, at the Foodbarn. (Photo: Caleb Crowster)

At the inaugural meal at La Colombe in 1996, we enjoyed crudités with anchoïade, the garlicky Provençal anchovy sauce, truffle-stuffed courgette flowers, grilled sea bass with ratatouille and a dark chocolate terrine. A culinary legend was born, though we didn’t know it.

“In those early days at La Colombe, the idea was very much to cook simple Provençal fare. All the ingredients were starting to materialise, and the setting reminded me so much of the south of France.”

In time, he started to cook more seriously, “and there was budget, so I was able to buy some nice plates and to hire some really qualified people”. The dining experience was elevated, the menu became more “fine dining”, and the Palm Room was added to extend capacity.

“I created it in 1996 and I ran it for 10 years. During that time we got blessed with many many accolades; we were six times the best restaurant in the country and voted, I think it was 28th or 27th in the world, on the top 50 list which was a first for South Africa.”

Since then, Cape Town restaurants in particular have featured often in the World 50 and 100 Best Restaurants lists, including The Test Kitchen and FYN (which is currently in the top 100).

‘The pressure of accolades is real … you start to focus on all the wrong things.’

But the hoopla surrounding this level of acclaim has its downside.

“And then, basically, that was the end for me. I came to the end of my creative cycle there. I really believe that creativity and adventures like that are very, very cyclic, and I had a young family, and I was really exhausted.

Steak tartare at the Foodbarn. (Photo: Caleb Crowster)

“The pressure of accolades is real, and after a while I was really obsessed with the outcome, which is a horrible place to be for a chef because you start to focus on all the wrong things.”

Needing to “re-centre”, he and his friend Peter de Bruin bought a farm stall in Noordhoek, which later became the Foodbarn and has been Franck’s restaurant ever since. And where, 28 years after La Colombe first opened, he still serves some of the dishes from those early days.

The rise of the brand, which is what it became, was inevitable, he says, “because 2006 was quite a turning point for world gastronomy. It was becoming very infused with molecular gastronomy and suddenly the chefs became rock stars at that time. So young guys like Luke [Dale Roberts] came back from Singapore to take my place, and then Scot Kirton worked with him and basically they ran La Colombe for a year together, until Luke decided to open his own restaurant, The Test Kitchen, and Scot stayed on.”

The Test Kitchen went on to become world-famous and Luke grew an empire of his own. Scot Kirton steered the La Colombe brand towards the behemoth it was to become, and a host of its chefs turned into “rock stars” in their own right. Awards were racked up year after year, and still are. The brand became associated with high-end cuisine served with extraordinary presentation, often with theatrics for added impact on the senses, not only the palate. Dining at a La Colombe Group restaurant became an “experience”, not merely popping out for dinner. And multiple-course set menus became de rigueur.

When Constantia Uitsig was sold, Franck says, “they called me to ask me if I was okay with them keeping the name as they were about to move La Colombe restaurant to Silvermist at the top of Constantia. And I said to them, you know what, absolutely, because La Colombe is an institution. It’s a much-loved name and I’m happy that it continues.”

But how does he view the rest of the La Colombe story that continued without him?

“There’s a bit too much theatre for me in the new La Colombe. Among the group that they’ve created, the ones in Franschhoek are the ones that I think are the best, Protegé and La Petite Colombe are absolutely amazing. The ones at the Waterfront I haven’t really tried but I know the style. And you know what, good for them. I’m really happy that they have gone on to create an empire with this, and that they’re managing to make people really happy in their dining rooms.”

But have they lost the essence of what La Colombe once was?

“Of course!” he replied with a chuckle. “The essence was my essence. It was southern France, in a little nugget in Constantia, and that kind of stayed with me.”

Salmon Emince at the Foodbarn. (Photo: Caleb Crowster)

Then came the Foodbarn story. The Noordhoek Farm Village has grown and matured over the years. The Foodbarn Café & Tapas has none of the fine dining culture about it, and this is intentional. This is not to say that the food is not superb, because Franck Dangereux is not capable of serving a less-than-impressive plate of food. There’s also the Foodbarn deli. If La Colombe restaurants are for the rich (and the tourist), which they undeniably are, the Foodbarn is for the rest of us.

Franck has stayed true to his original concept: “I wanted to create somewhere that you can come with your sandy bare feet, your children and your dog, the kind of restaurant I wanted to go to, and I could never find it. And it has stayed exactly that; it’s never gone on to be more fine dining. We cook delicious food but it remains a very, very casual environment.”

Even so, some of the essence of the original La Colombe remains in his blood and on his menus.

“There are definitely some dishes that I used to make at La Colombe that I make occasionally at the Foodbarn. Things like my steak tartare, my fish tartare, my prawn beignet, certain items that are deeply anchored in southern French food.”

Franck shares one of his favourite recipes with us here.

His food reflects the colours, textures and tastes of the seasons. “It’s important to represent the seasons on the plate and obviously colours are driven by that. In summer and spring you’re going to have an explosion of colours, whereas in autumn and winter you’re going to have more subtle colours. It’s much more exciting to let nature be the driver when it comes to putting things on the plate.

Ash roasted vegetables at the Foodbarn. (Photo: Caleb Crowster)

“Nowadays most of the menu developing happens around food and wine pairing, because I do those events regularly I end up creating a lot of food to pair with the wines that are presented to me. At the moment there is an eight-course menu. I always taste the wines and the wines will dictate what food I serve with it. There’s always a dish or two at these events that come onto the menu.”

I would sooner eat Franck’s food than anything I have found on a La Colombe Group plate, which is not to say that their food is not fabulous in many, many ways. One of the finest meals I’ve eaten in recent years was at Epice in Franschhoek, where chef Charné Sampson performs kitchen miracles inspired by traditional Cape Malay cuisine. The Group’s accolades are deserved, in context of the fine dining milieu.

But, ironically, the food of the original La Colombe restaurant is still with us. Not at anything that answers today to the name “La Colombe”. It’s at the Foodbarn that you’ll find it now. DM

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