- 📍 Where · Palm House Boutique Hotel & Spa, 10 Oxford Street, Upper Wynberg, on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, Cape Town
- 🗓️ The date · 24 September 2026, Heritage Day, the South African public holiday
- 🔥 The new addition · an outdoor wood-fired kitchen on the main lawn, an extension of the Palm Terrace restaurant and Bar1920
- 🍽️ The launch · a Fire Feast at 895 rand per person, approximately 45 euros, created by Executive Chef Gregory Henderson
- 🏨 The property · a 1920s mansion, 13 keys between the main house and the Garden Suites, the Açaí Spa and two restaurants
- 🌳 The setting · historic gardens shaded by century-old palms, with Table Mountain as a backdrop
In Cape Town, the ember season opens in the garden. On 24 September 2026, on Heritage Day, Palm House Boutique Hotel & Spa is inaugurating an outdoor wood-fired kitchen on the main lawn of its Wynberg mansion, an open-air extension of its Palm Terrace restaurant and Bar1920. The property is turning this into a new way of dining rather than just a single evening: the Fire Feast on 24 September, priced at 895 rand per person, marks its debut.
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A wood-fired kitchen on the lawn
The project extends the hotel’s two indoor dining venues into the garden. Palm Terrace, the everyday dining room, and Bar1920 gain an open-air kitchen where meats, fish and Cape vegetables are grilled over embers in front of guests, beneath the property’s century-old trees. The hotel describes it as a reinvented braai, the quintessential South African grill, served with the precision of a hotel restaurant.
The design has been conceived to last beyond the event. Lightweight structures, wood, local stone and wrought iron fade into the background against the mansion’s white facade and the greenery, with the ambition of hosting Sunday lunches as well as private receptions during the fine season, which begins at the end of September in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Heritage Day Fire Feast
Heritage Day on 24 September is the public holiday that South Africans enthusiastically celebrate around a braai, to the extent that it is nicknamed National Braai Day. Palm House is making it the focus of its launch evening: a Fire Feast at 895 rand per person, approximately 45 euros, cooked entirely over wood fire by the team led by Gregory Henderson, the Executive Chef who already oversees the seasonal menu at Palm Terrace and the more creative cuisine at De Tafel, the 24-cover fine dining restaurant.
Palm House’s cuisine claims a distinct Cape Town inspiration, blending foraging, seasonality and global influences. From this date onwards, the outdoor kitchen becomes a permanent fixture of the hotel’s offering, alongside the Sunday Roast, Friday night Steak Club and daily afternoon tea.
| Keys | 13, including 5 Garden Suites |
| Palm Terrace, indoor | 26 covers |
| Palm Terrace, garden marquee | 80 covers |
| De Tafel, dinner only | 24 covers |
| 24 September Fire Feast | 895 rand per person, approx. 45 euros |
| Açaí Spa | 3 single treatment rooms, 1 couple’s room, outdoor jacuzzi, banya |
A 1920s mansion in Wynberg
Palm House occupies a 1920s residence in the residential neighbourhood of Upper Wynberg, on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, a 15-minute drive from downtown Cape Town. The main house features eight rooms and suites, complemented by five one-to-three-bedroom Garden Suites set within the gardens around the outdoor pool. Each room is individually decorated, complete with a Nespresso machine, Healing Earth amenities and a smart TV.
In a secluded corner of the grounds, the Açaí Spa & Wellness Oasis houses three single treatment rooms, a couple’s room, a manicure and pedicure studio, an outdoor jacuzzi and a banya sauna. Two event salons, the Lady Anne Barnard Room and the Sir Herbert Baker Room, accommodate up to thirty guests for everything from seminars to intimate weddings.
Cape Town, capital of outdoor dining
This initiative comes during a busy season for Cape Town hospitality, coinciding with the opening of the Cape Town EDITION at the V&A Waterfront in October and the inauguration of the Club Med resort in KwaZulu-Natal. Facing major international names, the boutique hotels of the Mother City are relying on what large groups cannot replicate: a historic garden, a kitchen team you know by first name, and fire.
Our perspective
A wood-fired kitchen in a Cape Town garden is not a revolution; it is South African tradition brought to a charming hotel at just the right time of year. The appeal of Palm House lies in making this a daily offering rather than a one-off event, integrating it into a setting that few hotels in the city possess: a true park, sheltered from the wind, with Table Mountain on the horizon. For a stay in Wynberg, a stone’s throw from the Kirstenbosch Gardens and the Constantia wine route, this is a compelling selling point.
We have not yet stayed at Palm House. We will be going to taste this live-fire cuisine as soon as the season launches, and we will let you know whether the braai at a mansion table lives up to its promise.
Practical information
- Palm House Boutique Hotel & Spa, 10 Oxford Street, Upper Wynberg, Cape Town, South Africa, +27 21 745 5008
- Fire Feast on 24 September 2026, 895 rand per person, reservations via email at restaurantreservations@palmhouse.co.za
- Palm Terrace: breakfast from 07:00 to 11:00, lunch from 12:00 to 15:30, dinner from 18:00 to 21:30
- 15 minutes from downtown Cape Town, close to Kirstenbosch Gardens and the Constantia wine route
Photo credit Palm House Boutique Hotel & Spa · Peartree Photography
