Cape Town – also known as the Mother City – has been a magnetic force in Rachel Nicholson’s life, enticing her back to be part of exciting collaborations with Irish-led projects in cutting-edge restaurants.
The newest, a three-story dining experience in the heart of Cape Town, is the most ambitious to date. “I guess all aspects of hospitality are in my blood. Growing up in Bansha in Tipperary, my parents had a guest house so we were always busy.”
“As children we’d mow the lawn, cook, clean, look after guests. It’s great, because now as a general manager, I have to wear many hats and I use all those skills.”
After completing her Leaving Cert, Nicholson attended hotel management school in Leysin Switzerland. “The Swiss hotel management school is a private hospitality school close to Lake Geneva, which trains students in hotel and hospitality industries, offering BA and master’s programmes. I was there for two years, completing my degree in 1998.”
Nicholson first arrived in South Africa in 2004, where she completed a six-month chef’s training course and ended up staying for a year and a half working in various restaurants in Cape Town and Franschhoek, with Irish restaurateur Liam Tomlin.
On returning to Ireland, mid-Celtic Tiger, Tomlin and his wife were setting up Café le Serre and the Mill restaurant at the Village at Lyons and Nicholson joined them to manage the bistro.
After two years there, a return to Cape Town to once again work with Tomlin followed. “I came back to Cape Town in 2009 to work with Liam and his wife Jan and we opened the first Chefs Warehouse, which was a cookery school and kitchen shop. I lived in Cape Town for two years, before returning to Europe.”
Nicholson worked in the United Kingdom as a freelance caterer in 2012, focusing on baking and working in Brixton, London, before going to Verbier in Switzerland to work as a private chalet chef during a ski season.
“I subsequently cheffed for two seasons on a yacht in Beaulieu-sur-Mer in the south of France, before returning to Cape Town again,” she says.
Nicholson was reunited with Tomlin, working as a corporate general manager at several of his now five Chefs Warehouse restaurants, including Tintswalo Atlantic Chefs Warehouse on Chapman’s Peak en route to Cape Point. “The drive to Chapman’s Peak is one of the best in the world. It’s absolutely stunning and to work in a beautiful venue offering fine dining with splendid views was such a pleasure.”
In 2019, she was offered the opportunity to train the front of house team at Singita lodges in southern Africa and Rwanda, close to the Burunda Mountain range. “I worked with the award-winning Singita lodges in the Kruger National Park before helping to open the incredible Singita Kwitonda Lodge in Rwanda. It’s located at the foothills of Volcanoes National Park, where more than a third of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas find refuge and where primatologist Dian Fossey famously lived and worked. It was an incredible time.”
A position in Chefs Warehouse at Maison in Franschhoek, a small town in South Africa’s wine country, north of Cape Town, followed. “Each Chefs Warehouse is different in its own right, so it’s always an experience to work in different locations with different staff and chefs.”
By 2020, however, her career was put on hold due to Covid-19. “Luckily I was on a farm in Franschhoek with some friends, spending my savings. In South Africa, we didn’t have the same financial support as European countries during the pandemic. Employees got minuscule compensation and many hospitality businesses had to shut indefinitely. However, people kept their spirits up and we supported each other.”
Nicholson says soup kitchens opened in Franschhoek and anyone in the community who was in a position to help the less fortunate did. “We were involved in helping to prepare food for the soup kitchens as our restaurant was closed,” she says.
In early March 2022, Nicholson started working with Tomlin and the owners of Tintswalo on a joint venture in Bree Street, Cape Town, called the Bailey.
“It’s a three-in-one culinary destination, set in a historic building, which is inspired by all day cafes and restaurants in Europe. It comprises a brasserie, whiskey bar and restaurant. It’s old school, we make food at the guests’ table from the gueridon trolley. We only opened in June, but it’s been very well received. Because we have three floors, with a rooftop bar, there’s something for everyone. It’s very exciting, but obviously there are many variables. We opened our doors in June so it’s brand new. It’s great to hire over 80 staff after a pandemic from junior to senior level.”
When she’s not working in hospitality, Nicholson enjoys life in Cape Town. “I live in Sea Point, which is a lovely spot close to everything and with wonderful views, beaches and hotels and restaurants,” she says, although power cuts are a feature of life in the region.
“It seems to get worse every winter, there is a scheduled time that our electricity is turned off for a couple of hours depending on where you live. This makes life for the majority and small businesses incredibly difficult. However, in true Capetonian style people just get on with life. There is no other choice but most people have an upbeat attitude and that’s what I enjoy. We have excellent restaurants and wine farms, incredible scenic landscape and much more. Throw in sunshine, hiking, wining and dining, what more could one want?”
