LocalPlaces

22/09/2024

Delectable cuisine, inspired by farmlands north of Namaqualand, served at Sibling private kitchen studio in the Bo-Kaap. This is part of the menu for the LocalPlaces Cape Town Storytelling Dinners hosted at Sibling.

Namaqualand 'Vaalvleis' Lamb Stew.
Bean, Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry.
Beetroot salad
Honey-glazed Pumpkin.
Paptert with tomato and spinach.

Open for Summer Season bookings till 15 December 2024

22/09/2024

Nothing can be more enjoyable than a night of farm-style South African cuisine, served in an astonishing city venue and combined with mesmerizing storytelling about the history and making of Cape Town and South Africa.

Experience this at a LocalPlaces Cape Town Storytelling Dinner, hosted at the Sibling private kitchen studio in the Bo-Kaap.

Join us for our Summer Season dinners till 15 December. Sibling will be closed from 15 Dec - 13 Jan as the chefs are booked for private cheffing over the festive season. This means there are only 8 weeks of storytelling dinners to go! Book now as seats are limited.

16/09/2024

LocalPlaces Cape Town Storytelling Dinners at Sibling Louw and Lou in the Bo-Kaap

Thursday evenings: Part 1 – Ancient times to 1902
Wednesday evenings Part 2 – 1902 to 2024

Private group lunches or dinners (minimum of 10 guests) can be booked for any other time or day.

Here is what some recent guests had to say about the experience:

“Morning Gerald, thank you for a magnificent evening. That helicopter view of SA history was extraordinary. Delicious food and lovely venue too. Well done! My husband is raving about you and the evening in general!” – this group has already made a second booking for Part 2!

“Hi Gerald, last night was just wonderful. I loved it so much and have received the loveliest messages from everyone to say how much they enjoyed it too. It really was a magic, fascinating evening. Thank you so much to you and the team. I don’t know when last I enjoyed an event so much.”

15/09/2024

It was a busy weekend for Charlie Moyo, guiding three LocalPlaces city and Soweto tours, including guests from all over the world and a few locals too.

LocalPlaces - Johannesburg & Cape Town.
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15/09/2024

Summer season loading for LocalPlaces Storytelling Dinners at Sibling!

Exciting news! Bookings are open for the summer season of LocalPlaces Storytelling Dinners at Sibling Louw and Lou private kitchen studio in the Bo-Kaap. Enjoy the most sought-after immersive experience with mesmerizing storytelling and delectable cuisine. Perfect for locals and tourists alike.

So much to learn and discover about the astonishing story of Cape Town and South Africa. Listen with bewilderment and admiration to our history - so complex and shocking, but also inspiring and delightful. Get to understand the city and country you are living in or visiting. No scriptwriter could ever have imagined this story!

From ancient societies to storms and sunken ships. From lost ship pilots to desperate harbour construction, we narrate how Cape Town became a city. From indigenous agricultural societies to the arrival of new farmers. From slavery, conflicts and battles to industrialization and the Scramble for Africa. From massive wars and foreign occupations to the forging of a nation. From an agricultural settlement to a British colonial city and beyond, onto a modern industrial city in the Union of South Africa. From famous resistant leaders such as King Cetshwayo, Prophet Makhanda Nxele and the Rivonia Struggle Heroes to the dark days of Apartheid and the dawn of democracy. And on to 30 years later, when we imagine the future of Cape Town post 2024.

Public storytelling dinners (guests can book per seat) available in two parts:

Thursday evenings: Part 1 – Ancient times to 1902
With a menu that include delicacies such as Namaqualand Lamb Stew and Butter Bean Chicken Curry, as well as vegan alternatives.

Wednesday evenings Part 2 – 1902 to 2024
With a menu that includes delicious Traditional Cape Bobotie and Kingklip in a creamy Cape-Malay inspired sauce, as well as vegan alternatives.

Private group lunches or dinners (minimum of 10 guests) can be booked for any other time or day.

A corporate lunch or dinner option with a shorter storytelling focusing on the history of 10 astonishing buildings and places in Cape Town is also available.

It is a privilege to host guests at Sibling, an erstwhile industrial building dating to 1903 on the edge of the Bo-Kaap. We honour the Bo-Kaap community by starting the dinner with delicacies (Samoosas and Dultjies) sourced from a famous local establishment. While Sibling is not Halaal certified, the meat is sourced from Halaal establishments, while the many vegetarian and vegan side-dishes cater for most dietary requirements. In line with the neigbourhood character, Sibling does not sell alcohol. Guests can therefore bring their own wine and enjoy a superb evening without paying restaurant prices for those!
Here is what some recent guests had to say about the experience:

“Morning Gerald, thank you for a magnificent evening. That helicopter view of SA history was extraordinary. Delicious food and lovely venue too. Well done! My husband is raving about you and the evening in general!” – this group has already made a second booking for Part 2!

“Hi Gerald, last night was just wonderful. I loved it so much and have received the loveliest messages from everyone to say how much they enjoyed it too. It really was a magic, fascinating evening. Thank you so much to you and the team. I don’t know when last I enjoyed an event so much.”

For all the details on prices, menus and what to expect from the experience, click on this link to visit our website: www.localplaces.co.za/cape-town-storytelling-dinners/

To make an enquiry or to book your seats, send a WhatsApp to +27 82 894 5216 or email to [email protected]

11/09/2024

10/09/2024

LocalPlaces Johannesburg Storytelling Lunch at Sadies Bisto on Sunday 29 September.

LocalPlaces is excited to announce this storytelling lunches at Sadie’s Bistro, overlooking historic Main & Hollard Streets in Marshalltown. An extraordinary indoor/outdoor bistro under the trees, in the city.

Join us for an extraordinary lunch, combined with captivating storytelling by Charlie Moyo on the 7-Phases of Johannesburg’s history and development.

The experience
A LocalPlaces Storytelling Lunch at Sadie’s Bistro does not only involve delectable cuisine. Instead, it is an integrated experience, involving astonishing storytelling, an exceptional city venue, and the extraordinary food of proud Joburger, Chef Julian Ribeiro.

This is not merely another restaurant meal, but a feast eaten together in the heart of the city. The cuisine inspired by Johannesburg’s migrant culture and the South African chef’s Lebanese ancestry. It is entertaining and inspiring and will leave you with a new perspective of South Africa’s extraordinary diversity, heritage, people, places and cuisines. It is simply a must-do experience for anyone living in or visiting Johannesburg.

Charlie’s storytelling delves into the astonishing events that have shaped Johannesburg as it is today. It makes you understand the incredible City of Gold & Migration. A place that has evolved from ancient times through the 1886 gold rush to its glory days of fast growth. On to rapid sanctions-induced decline during the struggle against apartheid, and its re-emergence since democracy. A city that is still facing enormous challenges, trying to find its way to becoming a thriving metropolis once again.

It is the story of Johannesburg, South Africa and Africa, set within the context of international relations in the world. It is astonishing, perplexing, shocking and inspiring all at the same time!

Find more info here: https://www.localplaces.co.za/joburg-storytelling-dinners/

To make a booking, send a WhatsApp to +27 82 894 5216 or email [email protected]

09/09/2024

Did you know? LocalPlaces hosts private immersive events, experiences and tours in both Johannesburg and Cape Town – perfect for a business year end function. It is September already and now is the time to plan your year-end event.

From walking tours to foodie and bar tours by bus, and storytelling dinners we are ready to host you. Find more info on our many options on www.localplaces.co.za

CAPE TOWN EVENT IDEA
While settle for a standard lunch or dinner in one venue only? Let us create a customized foodie tour for you, taking in several venues with storytelling, food tastings and drinks included. Travelling by bus between venues. We have done this for up to 80 guests already!

09/09/2024

Did you know? LocalPlaces hosts private immersive events, experiences and tours in both Johannesburg and Cape Town – perfect for a business year end function. It is September already and now is the time to plan your year-end event.

From walking tours to foodie and bar tours by bus, and storytelling dinners we are ready to host you. Find more info on our many options on www.localplaces.co.za

JOBURG EVENT IDEA
Host an extraordinary lunch or dinner event on the historic trading floor or the erstwhile Diagonal Street stock exchange: space for several hundred guests and the opportunity to setup a themed experience of your choice.

09/09/2024

“Cape Town only grew up and became a city by the time of British occupation and colonial government. Before then, it was really an agricultural settlement. It was with the discovery of diamonds and the establishment of Kimberley that Cape Town started to industrialize and expand. The most spectacular growth came by the time of the discovery of Gold in the Transvaal and the consequent Anglo-Boer War.

Walking around Cape Town’s inner-city today, there are plenty of British Colonial Victorian and Edwardian buildings dating to the late 1800s and early 1900s still standing, with only a few examples of Cape Dutch architecture from earlier.

One of the most significant buildings in this regard, is the city’s first theatre, the African Theatre, later converted to the St Stephen’s Church. It stands on Riebeeck Square along Bree Street. Built in 1800 during the first British occupation of Cape Town (1795-1803), the African Theatre briefly became the Afrikaansche Schouwburg or Komediehuis during Dutch Batavian rule from 1803 to1806, before the Cape became British again in 1806. In 1838 the Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed Church purchased the theatre to create a congregation for freed slaves.

Today the building still houses the church but at times it apparently also hosts theatre productions, while the retail and storerooms below the church along Bree Street is again filled with eateries, bars and retailers – as it was when it was a theatre.”

- Gerald Garner of LocalPlaces

Did you know that LocalPlaces hosts regular storytelling dinners at Sibling kitchen studio in the Bo-Kaap? Part 1 dinners focusing on ancient times till 1902 on Thursday nights. Part 2 dinners focusing on 1902-2024 on Wednesday nights. Private group dinners can be booked for any other night. Or you can listen to the same fascinating stories on a LocalPlaces walking tour. Explore and learn so much more about Cape Town, and South Africa, with us.

- The building is visible in the middle left of the accompanying picture.

04/09/2024

We can never get enough of sharing the stories and places of Johannesburg on our LocalPlaces tours - and especially so inner-city spaces. Last week Charlie Moyo hosted many international travellers on such tours.

LocalPlaces - Johannesburg & Cape Town
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04/09/2024

Joburg's modern history is simply astonishing. A city of migrants built overnight when gold was discovered in 1886. And rebuilt up to 7 times since! The city's history can clearly be traced through its various stock exchange buildings, with the JSE having moved 5 times since the 1880s.

Our new series of LocalPlaces Joburg Storytelling Lunches will be hosted in the building that once was the home to the third stock exchange. Here Sadie's Bistro overlooks the tree-lined Hollard & Main Streets - beautiful, pedestrianized city streets.

Be sure to book for our next Sunday Storytelling Lunch on 29 September. Find more info here: https://www.localplaces.co.za/joburg-storytelling-dinners/

LocalPlaces - Johannesburg & Cape Town
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04/09/2024

We are delighted with the support our LocalPlaces Cape Town Storytelling Dinners have received from Capetonians and travelers alike. We had a bumper August and September is fast filling up. Hosted at the bespoke Sibling Kitchen Studio in the Bo-Kaap this is simply a night of delectable food and mesmerizing historic storytelling that must be experienced.

We usually host public storytelling dinners (Part 1: Ancient times to 1902) on Thursday evenings and Part 2: 1902-2024) on Wednesday evenings. BUT THIS SATURDAY 7 September, we have a special extra Part 1 public dinner with a few seats still available.

Join us for sure.

PART 1 – Saturday 7 September: SPECIAL SATURDAY DINNER: AVAILABILITY.

PART 2 – Wednesday 11 September: AVAILABILITY.

PART 1 – Thursday 12 September: 4 SEATS AVAILABLE

PART 2 – Wednesday 18 September: 12 SEATS AVAILABLE.

PART 1 -Thursday 19 September: 6 SEATS AVAILABLE.

PART 2 – Wednesday 25 September: AVAILABILITY.

PART 1 – Thursday 26 September: 11 SEATS AVAILABLE.

PART 2 – Wednesday 2 October: AVAILABILITY.

PART 1 – Thursday 3 October: SOLD OUT.

We can also host private storytelling dinner bookings on all other nights.

Find more info here: https://www.localplaces.co.za/cape-town-storytelling-dinners/

LocalPlaces - Johannesburg & Cape Town
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28/08/2024

Did you know that Chapman’s Peak is named after the pilot of a British ship, the Consent, that anchored in Hout Bay in 1607? Yes, a lot happened in the Cape long before 1652! I always imagine that the crew was aiming to turn at Cape Point on their way to the East, but turned too quickly when they saw the Sentinel, confusing it with the Cape of Good Hope. No wonder the ship captain told his pilot, John Chapman, to row to the shore and collect fresh water!

Learn much more about the fascinating, contested, complex and inspiring history of Cape Town and South Africa at a LocalPlaces Storytelling Dinner, hosted at Sibling in the Bo-Kaap.

Public Part 1 Storytelling Dinners on Thursday nights (covering ancient times till 1902).

Public Part 2 Storytelling Dinners on Wednesday nights (covering 1902-2024).

Private group dinners of 10 or more guests can be booked for any other night.

28/08/2024

LocalPlaces Johannesburg Storytelling Lunches are back!

We are delighted to announce that LocalPlaces has partnered with Sadie’s Bistro to host Johannesburg storytelling lunches on the last Sunday of each month (as of September). Sadie’s is a beautiful restaurant on the corner of the tree-lined and pedestrianized Hollard & Main streets in historic Marshalltown. An apt location to listen to Charlie Moyo recounting the tumultuous past of the City of Gold.

Charlie traces Johannesburg in its 7-phases of development, looking back to ancient times before delving into the 1886 goldrush and the resultant Victorian mining town. He swiftly moves on to the Edwardian British Colonial Empire City, the Art-Deco New York of Africa and the Modernist-Brutalist Apartheid City. Then the cliff-hanger of the struggle against Apartheid, sanctions and urban decline, but on to democracy and the construction of a fifth, new city in the north. Ending with the attempts since to regenerate the ‘old’ city and how the City of Migrants could become the African city of the future

It is a mesmerizing, surprising and utterly inspiring story. Best enjoyed over a delectable but casual lunch and drinks with friends or family.

Space is limited to a maximum of 30 guests for each lunch. Be sure to book straight away if you want to secure your seats.

27/08/2024

Tonight I have a question. In September we are starting Part 2 of our LocalPlaces Cape Town Storytelling Dinners, hosted at the bespoke Sibling kitchen studio in the Bo-Kaap. While Part 1 is also continuing. Part 2 is focusing on recent history, 1902-2024.

This means I am reconsidering the story I am telling. Adding details to my established script. What in your opinion is the most pivital moment in South African history during the 20th and 21st centuries, that relates to Cape Town?

LocalPlaces - Johannesburg & Cape Town
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21/08/2024

Legendary LocalPlaces Storytelling Lunches are returning to Johannesburg. Hosted at Sadie's Bistro, overlooking historic Main & Hollard Streets in Marshalltown. An extraordinary indoor/outdoor bistro under the trees, in the city.

Hosted on the last Sunday of every month, as of 29 September. Join us for an extraordinary lunch, combined with captivating storytelling by Charlie Moyo on the 7-Phases of Johannesburg’s history and development.

Find more information here: https://www.localplaces.co.za/joburg-storytelling-dinners/

17/08/2024

What a lovely message from a guest who attended our Thursday LocalPlaces Cape Town Storytelling Dinner at Sibling in the Bo-Kaap.

"Gerald just wanted to say on behalf of us three that we had the most fabulous and interesting evening on Thursday. The combination of the food, the venue and of course your very entertaining and fascinating talk was delivered perfectly in balance with fact but also great humour. Congratulations. We also made lovely new friends who we are planning to meet for Part 2 in the coming months. Perhaps Wednesday 16 October?"

12/08/2024

One of the best places to stay in Jozi.

Thank you, Siya, for this outstanding review of AtholPlace Hotel & Villa. We're so glad you enjoyed all our luxuries – big and small – during your stay.

11/08/2024

We have completed the first month of LocalPlaces storytelling dinners at Sibling in the Bo-Kaap already. What a wonderful privilege to host four dinners so far, meeting incredible people, sharing exceptional South African food and telling the history of Cape Town and South Africa along the way. Thank you to everyone who has joined us so far.

On Friday we hosted an international tour group for a private dinner. They had been travelling through South Africa for three weeks already. They proclaimed Chef Louw Kotze’s food the best they had in their entire time in this country!

It really is a meal to cherish. Starting off with a hearty, creamy roasted tomato and red pepper soup, with coconut cream. Then, to pay homage to the Bo-Kaap, guests devour Cape Malay-style vegetable samoosas and dultjies (chilli bites) sourced from a famous community establishment.

The main course is served homecooked style, in the middle of the table as a delicious feast. Guests, after all, genuinely get to eat in the home of Louw and Lou! The food is casual but exquisite. encompassing slow-cooked Namaqualand lamb, stewed with onions, red wine vinegar, coriander seeds, salt and pepper. The purest, simplest and most delicious meat! As well as a melt-in-the-mouth white bean and chickpea curry, topped with roasted cauliflower. Add to that fragrant white rice, crispy green beans with tomato smoor, and the showstopper, roasted, honey-glazed pumpkin.

However, it is the malva pudding of which guests cannot get enough. The creamiest malva pudding I have ever tasted! As stunning is the raw dark chocolate cake. Goodness, it is a meal that will make you long for Sunday feasts with family and friends. Reassuring comfort food, prepared to the highest culinary standards!

A great bonus of dining at Sibling is that it does not have a liquor license, and guests can therefore bring their own wine along. A perfect excuse to enjoy some of best, premium Cape wines with your meal, without paying a fortune on site!

The storytelling is presented by Gerald Garner, the Cape Town-based raconteur and guide of LocalPlaces. The storytelling is intense and detailed and leave you astonished by the complex, contested, controversial and fascinating history of Cape Town. It will make you understand this city and country so much better.
LocalPlaces Cape Town Storytelling dinners are split into two parts. Part 1 is presented on Thursday nights and covers the history of the city from ancient times till 1902. Part 2 storytelling dinners, focusing on the 20th and 21st centuries (1902-2024) will start on Wednesday nights as of 11 September – and be complemented by a fish-based menu. Private group dinners can be booked on any other night of the week.

Be sure to join a LocalPlaces Cape Town storytelling dinner. A night of absolute enjoyment and astonishment, that will leave you inspired.

10/08/2024

Charlie Moyo guided a stellar, customised LocalPlaces full day Joburg tour on Thursday. Art, shopping, Fashion District, Ethiopian food and coffee, and the old stock exchange among others.

LocalPlaces - Johannesburg & Cape Town
Explore and learn with us.