Gordon Ramsay to debut in Africa with Maze restaurant

Gordon Ramsay Holdings is to launch its first venture in Africa, with the opening of a Maze restaurant in Cape Town, Caterersearch can reveal.

Located at the 131-room One & Only Resort at the city's Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, the restaurant will open on 1 May.

It will be Gordon Ramsay Holdings' (GRH) fourth international Maze outlet after sites in London, New York and Prague, with a fifth to follow in Melbourne, Australia, in February 2010.

Maze executive chef Jason Atherton told Caterersearch that entering the partnership with One & Only Resorts had been a "no brainer".

"It's a great brand and we're delighted to be working with them," Atherton said.

He added that GRH was in discussions to roll out further Maze restaurants in Europe and Australasia. "We are in talks to continue Maze's international expansion," he said.

Maze Cape Town will be a 140-cover restaurant with a 10-seat chef's table overlooking a show kitchen. It will also include a raw bar, tapas bar and wood-fired oven as well as a 44-seat outdoor terrace.

The restaurant will offer the largest wine list in Africa, with 4,500 bins, which will be shared with the One & Only Resort's other dining outlets.

These include the first African outlet of Japanese restaurant group Nobu as well as tapas restaurant Plate, poolside eatery Island Terrace and lobby bar Vista.

"Maze Cape Town will very much focus on local ingredients including local meats such as kudu, ostrich and beef as well as fish such as kingklip and snoek," Atherton said.

"It's the future of Maze and we want it to be a concept that works anywhere in the world with local ingredients rather than one that just slots in and serves the same dishes everywhere."

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By Kerstin Kühn

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