Nita’s Kitchen brings culinary delights to artsy Nirox Sculpture Park
The serene oasis that is Nirox Sculpture Park, near The Cradle of Humankind in Gauteng, has a new ace up its sleeve: a summer pop-up restaurant.
Nita’s Kitchen is the brainchild of French Corner Catering’s Byron Krynauw and executive chef Clive Rodger, and it’s being run in collaboration with the Nirox Foundation for the coming summer months.
We caught up with Djamila Grosch from French Corner Catering to find out more.
How did you come up with the Nita's Kitchen concept?
The idea behind it was to offer Nirox Sculpture Park guests a fully-fledged dining experience.
Nirox is one of the most spectacular venues in the country and up until now, the one thing missing was an on-site culinary offering, which had to embrace the essence of Nirox, and had to be in keeping with the park’s ethos.
For that reason, we use locally sourced ingredients for everything except the wines we serve.
What is your vision for the pop-up?
We want to create a space that inspires our guests to regularly experience Nirox as more than just a beautiful space dedicated to the arts, but one that can deliver culinary delights as well.
We want to create a space that our guests will be able to frequent as a weekly outing, when they can take in all that our beautiful city has to offer.
How long will it be open?
We’re open every weekend and public holiday until the end of February next year. We will, however, be closed for the festive season – from December 17 until January 11. See
How did you decide on your menu?
Nita’s Kitchen menu is driven on the local, seasonal produce available to us. The harvest table idea came about to encourage the public to taste a variety of vegan and vegetarian dishes in addition to meat options.
Essentially, we want our guests to experience something new and innovative: you’d be amazed where you can get your protein from other than a beautiful piece of meat – which is on offer as well.
What are some of your featured menu items?
Our menu changes frequently to keep up with our ever-changing seasonal produce. Aside from main dishes of pork, lamb and chicken, we serve a variety of meze, and our plant platters include things like sweet potato cakes with lemon and coriander yoghurt; pea, quail egg and mint salad; marinated mushrooms with rocket, walnut and tahini yoghurt; and a sticky black pepper, baby gem lettuce and soy tofu salad.
Peruse the latest menu at niroxarts.com
This article was originally published in the Sunday Times Neighbourhood: Property and Lifestyle guide. Visit Yourneighbourhood.co.za