Super-sized Superette

WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo PHOTOS Fay Jackson

Lees in Afrikaans.

VISI also visited the all-new Woodstock Exchange, see more here.

Cape Town’s forerunning artisanal, locavore eatery, Superette has relocated to Woodstock Exchange and gone much bigger. More space, more design, more food and more craft beer. Our ubiquitous editor-at-large, Malibongwe Tyilo reports.

When Superette first opened its doors in 2010 it was one of very few establishments to venture into Woodstock’s infamous Albert Road. However, its owner Cameron Munro was no stranger to the area, having started the hugely successful Neighbourgoods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill with his partner Justin Rhodes.

Fast-forward a couple of years. Albert Road is now one of the city’s most popular and hippest shopping, lunching, and dining areas. The old Woodstock Industrial Centre has been renovated into what is now known as the Woodstock Exchange. It’s filled with some of the trendiest clothing and furniture shops; not the massively huge corporate variety, but more of the local creative Cape Town-based artisan-designer kind. A celebration of the new school of SA design with a distinctly global feel, if you will. It is into this hip mix that Cameron and his team have relocated the new Superette. On the specific morning when I went for breakfast I ran into so-hot-right-now accessories designer Katherine Pichulik having a coffee there, and a couple of minutes later celebrated performance artist Athi-Patra Ruga walked in for breakfast, and those are just the two I know. I’m just sayin.

If you’ve been to the old Superette, the first thing you’ll notice is the much larger space, easily twice the size of the old one and more airy. Which means in addition to more tables and seats, there’s also more space for art, like the pottery and ceramics that Cameron collects. You’ll also notice flashes of pale yellow, a colour that Cameron carried through into the new space.

Should you choose not to use the wood and metal combination seats and tables, designed by the likes of Gregor Jenkin and Xandre Kriel, you can grab one of the stools by the window counter, plug your device, log on and work to the urban soundtrack that Albert Road has become. The large windows give a front row view to the buzz that is Woodstock, and the side window opens into the centre, for a seamless interior-exterior ambience.

You’ll also sense the much stronger focus on design from the moment you walk in until you walk out. From its open-plan European station feel to the Kokedama plants hanging from the ceiling, a style of pot-free planting that is currently experiencing fast growth all over the world. Marissa Pretorious’s company Opus is responsible for bringing it to this part of the world.

For all its craft beer, it’s wholesome menu and designer furniture, what gets VISI really excited about the new Superette is the amount of support it gives to local creators. Visit them and see for yourself that it’s not just lip service, and you’ll understand why those very same designers come back to support it.

Superette 7am to 5pm, Woodstock Exchange, 66 Albert Road, Woodstock, www.superette.co.za

Malibongwe “Mali” Tyilo is VISI’s ubiquitous editor-at-large, to be seen at all the fashionable openings snapping away for Skattie What Are You Wearing. Follow him on Twitter @skattie_what.