Mmabatho Molefe welcomes Johannesburg into her world with Umcimbi, a culinary experience that transforms the familiar flavours of South African family gatherings and ceremonies into a magical celebration of cultural memories and identity.
Recently relocating to the city, the 30-year-old chef introduces herself to Joburg’s culinary scene through a spellbinding pop-up residency that invites diners to indulge in African storytelling through food.
Sampling flavours from after-church Sunday lunches, township snacks, fermented staples and cherished childhood flavours, Molefe tugs on the heartstrings of diners by preserving the familiar emotional connection we have with food.
“The best way to introduce yourself to a city or invite people into your space is to have an umcimbi [isiZulu name for ceremony], celebrating African and black South African culture – and the menu is meant to be a representation of that,” she says
Molefe invites diners into a personal and immersive culinary experience at The Residency by Nook, a speakeasy discreetly housed in Solo restaurant in the heart of Sandton.
“A huge part of what we are trying to create within the room at Nook is simply general hospitality. Umcimbi is one of those events that you would define as hospitality for black people, where everyone is considered, and everything is intentional. We are trying to create a space that feels familiar and considered, and that feels welcoming to every guest that comes in and joins us,” says Molefe.
Molefe’s accolades include the Eat Out Rising Star award, a place on the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans list, as well as an inclusion on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ prestigious 50 Next list, recognising 50 people globally shaping the future of gastronomy.
She founded the famed Emazulwini dining concept in 2020 and soon garnered formidable admiration in Cape Town’s dining scene for its contemporary reinterpretation of indigenous African dishes. Sadly, it closed two years back. Molefe moved to Joburg last year, where Nook approached her to lead this dining experience.
“When Emazulwini closed in 2024, I felt as if my time in Cape Town had reached its point and I was looking for the next city where I could settle in and become a grown-up, calm down and focus on work,” she says.
“During that time, a popular magazine said that Joburg was the number two food city – and I took that as a sign to go to Joburg. I moved here about a year ago, and then a couple of months later the team at Solo restaurant approached me and told me about the space [Nook] and if I could resonate with it.
“I was given residency in the space, which was a blessing for me because now I can go to a speakeasy-slash-cocktail bar and go to work at the same time.”
The ambient-lit interiors of Nook, contrasted by distressed and velvet-textured walls and opulent furnishings, marked the space as the perfect companion for an intimate food journey.
“The inspiration behind the menu: I wanted something that still speaks to my style of cooking and my style of the menu that is familiar to a Joburg crowd but is new,” she says.
“There aren’t many fine dining experiences in Joburg, but I also thought that there is such a huge supply of traditional South African food and huge representation of African food, but not within the context of fine dining.”
With every spoonful, murmurs of delight rippled through the room as diners swapped nostalgic stories across the table, comparing childhood food memories sparked by each course. By the end, it was clear that Molefe had succeeded at what she had set out to do, leaving diners wanting more.
The tasting menu, scripted with playfully quaint isiZulu titles, featured dishes including izoso (a play on idioms reinterpreted as a selection of appetisers including chicken gizzards with masala mayo and lumpfish roe). Served as a cold dish was ulimi noshatini (corned beef tongue, tomato puree, Amasi, habanero jellies, crispy onions and tomato water) and igwinya nopholoni (chicken ballotine, white cheddar espuma, pickled onions and vetkoek) as a hot dish. And for dessert, guests were served the sentimental ujelly nocustard (mixed berries Swiss roll, vanilla custard, berry jelly, white chocolate cremeux and blueberry cheesecake on a wholewheat streusel).
The first instalment of the Umcimbi dining series will run for three months. “Then if that goes well, we can transition into different themes and menus as we go along,” says Molefe.
Molefe grew up in Nagina, outside Pinetown in KwaZulu-Natal, in a middle-class family. Her parents were teachers.
“One of my favourite parts of playing house was getting ready for dinner or breakfast. We would make mud cakes or chop up grass and make a random dish. From there, that was when I enjoyed cooking in general,” she says.
Between the ages of 10 and 12, inspired by the television cooking show, Ready, Steady, Cook, she started to experiment in the kitchen. In high school her father randomly chose consumer studies as part of her subject selections.
“In varsity, after four years of doing law, I dropped out and realised that law isn’t something that I’m interested in. And then it was a time when I decided to go to culinary school [at Capsicum, Cape Town] and sort of focus on cooking as a profession,” she says.
