Le Bistrot de Jan, Cape Town

24 April 2026

 

LE BISTROT DE JAN

Table Bay Hotel, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town

 

When Von-Mari and I were chowing down at the OG Jan Michelin starred restaurant in Nice in April 2019, we said to ourselves, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have the privilege of eating Jan’s food in the comfort of our home town?

 

Well, fast forward a few years, and there is the seasonal pop-up Jan restaurant at La Motte outside Franschhoek, always sold out within hours after booking opens (and eye wateringly expensive) and Kleinjan in the Kalahari. Both, so to speak, so near and yet so far.  

 

But wait, there’s also the, so to speak, neighbourhood eatery  Le Bistrot de Jan almost snugly nestled inside the Table Bay Hotel in the Waterfront.

 

We have friends who are pretty well acquainted with the Cape Town culinary scene, more so than Von-Mari and me, anyway. They’d compiled a short list of upmarket nosheries to take her sister to on a visit to the City and gracefully invited us on an exploratory run to test drive the local Jan.

 

The quickest access to the bistro is through the V & A Mall into the rear of the hotel, where one passes through a very stylish, modern and slick lounge and bar area to reach the bistro.

 

The restaurant is beautifully elegant, with dark wood, subdued lighting, half-moon banquette seating and starched table cloths. If  I were to imagine an old school, luxurious Parisian restaurant, this room would be it. 

 

I think there’s an open kitchen somewhere to the side of the space but it was so far from where we were seated, I couldn’t be sure.   

We kicked off proceedings with very quaffable  sparkling wine served in those charmingly retro “breasts of Marie Antoinette” champagne glasses that one hardly sees anymore, unless equally retro avocado Ritz starters are served in them. I stayed on the bubbles, the other guy pivoted to beer and our respective wives share a bottle of Jan’s eponymous red wine. I suppose referring to it as the house wine would be confusing the ridiculous with the sublime.

 

The amuse bouche consisted of delectable miniature cheese muffin bites and we ordered bread and butter for the table (R25).

 

My entrée was the pickled octopus with radicchio and hazelnut pesto (R185)

and Von-Mari picked the chicken liver parfait with quince jelly and sourdough bread (R160).

I’m quite fond of octopus, which is a marvel when done right and this dish was done pretty okay, with juicy and tender octopus discs and the sublime combination of slightly tart radicchio and mildly sweet hazelnut.

 

The smooth, deeply flavourful parfait was possibly the best Von-Mari had ever had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of. It was a deeply emotional communion between woman and food.

 

One friend opted for the “who’s your daddy” beef tartare (R180)

and her husband had the crispy duck (R185).

They had no complaints.

 

Our friends shared the allegedly famous tort au poulet (aka good ol’ fashioned chicken pie) with truffle sauce and a side (included in the price) of crunchy salad with bacon, croutons and pine nuts (R720 for two).

The chicken pie was impressively presented as a small dome on a star-shaped base but there seemed to be a surfeit of pastry in relation to chicken, however plentiful, succulent  and tasty the latter was. I had a taster and the pie was fair, nothing like my mom’s chicken pie, though, but not extraordinary and the truffle sauce didn’t bring much to the table either. The salad, basically a beautifully fresh, crunchy boat-shaped leaf filled with the savoury bits, was, to me, better than the pie.

 

Von-Mari and I are fiercely individual. Her choice was beef cheek braised in red wine with creamy mielie pap and Parmesan (R350).

I went for the seabass with preserved lemon, aioli and beurre blanc(R380) and added a side of lentils with crème fraiche and salsa verde.

 

The beef cheek is what would call crowd pleasing comfort food par excellence, with its deeply rich flavour and melt-in- the-mouth succulence, not to mention the smooth as silk mielie pap (though one would’ve liked some textural contrast in the dish) and yet one must have a tolerance for such rich food to be able to do justice to the dish. It was a smidgen too much for Von-Mari and I cleared her plate.

 

The seabass was up there with the best seabass I’d ever eaten (at Caelis Michelin starred restaurant in Barcelona). The fish was cooked to masterful perfection. I barely needed to chew. The accompanying greens were super fresh and pleasantly acidic but the revelation of the night was the lentil dish. This was a dish I never knew I’d want in my life but as soon as I had a mouthful, I knew it was true love. Super creamy, flavourful and just utterly captivating.  

 

I could’ve eaten another bowl of lentils as dessert.

 

The desert options were malva pudding, crème caramel. Fruit and almond tart, a rice pudding (something I’d normally choose almost automatically), chocolate mousse, Madeleines and créme Anglaise.

 

Alternatively, there is the Tour de Fromage through the restaurant’s “dedicated cheese room.” (R280 per person).

 

The last time I’d been invited to visit a cheese room, it was at Chorus and it was a major disappointment, as the “room” was merely a couple of shelves in the wine room, with a sparse variety of cheese. 

 

At Le Bistrot de Jan, we have a proper room with floor to ceiling display fridges and a central table where cheese, preserves, fresh fruit and bowls of nuts are displayed amidst a sumptuous, colourful array of tall candles, stacked books, apples, cheese knives, flowers and other beautiful things. It is exquisitely stunningly styled and almost a sensual overload of rich colour. 

 

The one friend and I spent perhaps 15 minutes in the cheese room, mostly pointing out details, marvelling at the elegant, opulent perfection and laughing giddily at how almost ridiculously wonderful it is. Eventually, I collected myself and picked out some cheese and green fig preserve. The friend had come along only for the ride.

 

I know, my reaction to this cheese room is a tad over the top but, seriously, I thought experiencing the theatrics of it was worth the price of admission to the Tour de Fromage.  The photographs don’t do it justice.

Our waiter  brought me a bread selection, of which I ate only the melba toast.

 

Von-Mari and the other friends chose 6 Madeleines à la Giles (R90) and all of us tasted them. They were dark, delicately spongy and very yummy. One could understand how Proust was inspired to write a multi volume novel from just one bite.

Our share of the bill came to roughly R2200,00 (including tip).

 

It was a wonderful evening, with excellent company, top quality food (that might as well have a Michelin star), efficient and friendly service and one of the best appointed dining rooms in the City. It is pricey, though, and not quite the neighbourhood joint one pops around to on a whim.

 

However, if you want to impress a visitor from abroad or a hot date, and budget is not an impediment, treating them to  the Jan experience should merit serious brownie points