June, 2025 - March, 2027
THE HUNDRED AND ONE NIGHTS
24th of June, 2026
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My team and I have been serving food and creating memories under many names, including "Sepial’s Kitchen", "The Ugly Dumpling", "allium", "The Fermentary", and “In the Meantime” for almost ten years. We never stopped, not even during lockdown. Every moment shared with our wonderful guests has been so memorable and we are grateful we were able to make your occasions a little bit more special.
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By the end of March next year, we will conclude our journey for good, with no plan to continue any form of food service afterwards.
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From July this year until our final service, we will have approximately one hundred and one nights of service left. If we average ten guests a night, that means we will welcome only about one thousand more guests before we close our doors.
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At the moment, we are serving a four-course set menu, with an option of a reduced three-course meal. As soon as the summer season begins, the menu will expand to showcase a more formal expression of Korean cuisine, created with the context of being in Cape Town.
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I want these final months to be a thank-you note for your support over the past decade. I would love to pour everything I have into them, leaving nothing unsaid and nothing left behind.
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Please don't take it as sad news. Like all good stories, this journey simply has to come to an end, and we are very lucky that we have enough time to properly goodbye to everyone.
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We have opened bookings five months in advance, just in case you would like to plan ahead and avoid missing out at the last minute.
We look forward to seeing you one last time (or perhaps a few more times) before the end.
Our Story:
This is our story. It would not have been possible without the support of all of you.
We hope to add many more chapters in the years to come.
2018
Sepial’s Kitchen opens at Salt River in December.
2019
19 February/ Sepial hosts a rice cooking workshop in collaboration with the WAZA Shop.
1 September/ Sepial’s Kitchen is featured in The Sunday Times.
19 September/ Sepial makes meju (dried soy bean blocks) for making soy sauce.
3 October/ Chung-Sik (Master Yoda) passes away.
8 October/ Sepial makes the first batches of kombucha. The flavours are lemongrass, jasmine, coffee and hibiscus.
1 November/ Sepial hosts a team building kimchi workshop for Studio H.
6 November/ Sepial’s Kitchen opens a stall at the Oranjezicht City Farmers Market.
2020
16 January / Sepial’s Kitchen is featured on EatOut’s list of 144 restaurants to visit in Cape Town.
31 January / Sepial gives a short presentation to WoolWorths on kimchi making.
20 March / Coronavirus arrives in South Africa; Sepial’s Kitchen takes steps to adhere to safety regulations.
16 April / Sepial starts supplying kimchi and frozen dumplings to the Olive Branch Deli in Life Style on Kloof.
16 May / The first online workshop is held; guests learn how to make kimchi.
27 May / Sepial makes a batch of handmade gochujang, lacto fermented cucumber and soy beans to make soy sauce.
17 June / Sepial collaborates with Frankie Fenner Meat Merchants to release a special bulgogi burger.
2 July / Sepial partners with Studio H and Between10and5 to release a bibimbap-themed poster designed by Anja Venter-Rausch.
20 July / Sepial and other female-centric food businesses (Janse. & Co, Jason’s Bakery, Reverie, Tjing Tjing) partner with various female winemakers in Cape Town to offer a food and wine pairing set for delivery during the lockdown to find a way of connecting people though food.
1 September / Sepial is featured in the September 2020 issue of Taste magazine.
22 September / Sepial provides the food menu for the launch of Saurwein at Wine Cellar.
10 October / Sepial partners with UCOOK to supply Korean-style chicken soup.
18 October / The Ugly Dumpling opens at the V&A Food Market.
2021
28 January / Allium opens in the Cape Town CBD area.
16 February / Sepial makes an appearance on the Afternoon Express on SABC3.
26 May / Sepial and the Wine Cellar host a wine and Northeast Asian food pairing evening at Allium.
25 August / Sepial hosts the Tanuki Sake’s shochu tasting evening at Allium. Guests are treated to a presentation of the locally made shochu and served a tasting menu of food to pair.
4 December / Sepial and the WAZA Shop host a rice cooking workshop at Allium. Guests are shown how to prepare different kinds of rice in different ways.
7 December / Sepial and The Kraal Restaurant at the Joostenberg wine estate host a dumpling making workshop and lunch.
2022
22 March / Sepial and The Kraal Restaurant at the Joostenberg wine estate host a kimchi making workshop and dinner.
6 April / Sepial hosts a pop-up event at the Publik Wine Bar, featuring a variety of Korean foods served in a tapas style.
20 May / Allium in Cape Town closes its doors.
10 June / Sepial hosts a Korean cooking workshop in collaboration with The Chef’s Studio; the guests learned how to make rice, bibimbap, bulgogi and kimchi.
9 August / Sepial visited Korea to research current food trends and developments in Korean cuisine. It was a trip to experience the developments in Korean culture and bring new and interesting foods and cooking techniques to South Africa. The journey was shared to all of our followers on Instagram.
26 November / Multiple break-ins occur at the prep kitchen at Salt River.
5 December / The K-WAVE Festa is held in Cape Town, commemorating the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and the Republic of South Africa. Many Korean chefs from Johannesburg make their way down to host a function with the Korean embassy. Sepial’s Kitchen organized local ingredients, equipment and the industrial kitchen space for the visiting chefs and together, they prepared and served food for 1000 guests.
6 December / Sepial’s Kitchen re-opens at the Constantia Uitsig Wine Farm.
2023
23 January / The closing of The Ugly Dumpling as part of the closing of the V&A Food Market.
20 February / Sepial collaborated with Meuse Farm to host a workshop on how to use locally grown perilla leaves.
30 December / The closing of Sepial's Kitchen at Constantia Uitsig