THE KITCHEN
Chef Jacques Grove
Head Chef & partner, Seasons at Brenaissance
Before
Kitchens people save up for
foxcroft·La Colombe·Chefs Warehouse·The Shortmarket Club·The Clove Club·The Ledbury
Jacques has spent his career in some extraordinary kitchens, from Constantia to London. Places where the standard is set every service, and nothing leaves the pass unless it’s right.
YZERFONTEIN 2024
In 2024, Jacques joined Tom Breytenbach and Darren Bardenhorst at The Beach House in Yzerfontein. He established the kitchen, built the team and laid the foundation for what it is today: a local favourite on the West Coast.
The Beach House stays in good hands, with Foster, from Jacques’s own brigade, now leading the kitchen.
Now he’s come inland, to the farm
Jacques first sat down with Tom and Sam in The Old Pantry here on the farm in 2024. Even then, the idea of a new restaurant at Brenaissance was beginning to take shape: not something to rush, but something to get right.
THE APPROACH
Â
Honest food, cooked properly
Â
At Seasons, the farm comes first. Eggs from the coop, herbs and fruit from the garden, and Boran beef from the family’s own herd, raised on our sister farm in the North-West Province. The Bull biltong is made right here at Brenaissance, and the wood-fired oven carries on a pizza tradition that began on this farm in 2012.
Â
The cooking is simple on purpose
in his words
Five questions for Jacques
The first dish you remember cooking?
​
In my second year at Silwood, my first stint in a real restaurant was at La Colombe. I was nervous, so I put my head down. They put me on the oyster section: shucked oysters in a porcelain oyster shell, with pickled daikon and calamansi granita. That’s where I learned to shuck oysters. I got really good at it.
​
What did London teach you?
​
Efficiency and intention on another level. I thought I could work quickly until I got to The Ledbury, and with seven years of working in a kitchen, I was the slowest. It taught me systems: ferments and pickles made a month ahead, so nothing ever runs tight and service is seamless. And it made me resilient. It made me fall in love with South Africa again.
​
Your favourite season on the farm, and why?
​
Two answers. To look at, spring: the restaurant is surrounded by plum orchard, and when it flowers white it’s the most magical sight. To run, summer by a long shot. Greenery everywhere, shade over every seat, long days, and everyone in a good mood.
​
What should every first-time guest order?
​
A Taste of Our Herd: three cuts from our own cattle, raised by the same family up in the North West, and the sauce is a godsend. Then the pizzas with Bull biltong, a farm tradition people have loved for years. And at breakfast, the biltong Benedict.
​
What do you eat after service?
​
Two-minute noodles. Sometimes takeout, sometimes a basic pomodoro. After service I just want to eat and get to bed. On an off day it’s different: we’ll spend the whole afternoon cooking, taking it slow.