{"id":825181,"date":"2025-05-25T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=825181"},"modified":"2025-05-23T16:42:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T14:42:56","slug":"the-couple-putting-south-african-food-on-the-map-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/825181\/the-couple-putting-south-african-food-on-the-map-in-london\/","title":{"rendered":"The couple putting South African food on the map in London"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amy Corbin and Patrick Williams, a husband and wife duo, are running the Kudu Collective in London, infusing modern European cooking with South African flair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple<\/a> opened their flagship Kudu restaurant in Peckham, South London, in 2018 and have since expanded into several other restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They wanted a small neighbourhood restaurant close to where they lived that served high-quality food that showcased Williams’ South African roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams is the executive chef whose main influences on his food come from his parents. His dad was a braai master, while his mom knew her way around a spice rack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in Durban, Williams would go with his mom to markets to buy spices for her recipes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although South Africans are known to be fans of meat, the restaurant takes a different approach to South African food, with Williams adding South African influences to modern European cuisine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corbin, the daughter of a London restaurateur, is credited with incorporating a family feel into the collective’s restaurants. With the success of their flagship restaurant, the group opened several spinoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2020, the group launched the Smokey Kudu, with the pair trying to capitalise on the lack of a location for a pre- or post-dinner drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cocktail bar served South African-inspired drinks and sharing platters, but has since closed down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the pair opened Curius Kudu in 2020 when the previous tenant left and asked if they wanted to take over the lease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the lockdown, they changed the restaurant’s concept and decided to create a private dining room. Kudu only accommodates tables up to six. During the day, it serves as an art gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pair did not let the second UK lockdown get them down, and found a site for their grill concept, Kudu Grill, a speciality braai location in the nearby Nunhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South African influences are clear to see at the group’s restaurants, with the flagship offering kalahari-spiced biltong, stuffed peri-peri chicken wings and rooibos pickled carrot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Curious Kudu also highlights the South African-European fusion with a Cape Malay velout\u00e9, while the KuduGrill clearly shows its South African roots with its Lamb potjie Melktert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big changes coming<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Despite being recognised as one of London’s coolest, up-and-coming areas, the group is leaving Peckham for the chic Marylebone<\/a> in central London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new restaurant will continue to offer seasonal-led European cuisine with a South African twist, but it will have a new menu format, with new dishes alongside favourites from the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new site brings all three of its current restaurants under one roof, marking a new era for the group after close to a decade in Peckham and the nearby Nunhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the original team will remain on board as part of the move, with the new location having a refreshed interior design that includes a private dining room and bar area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to bring Kudu to central London, it\u2019s something we\u2019ve dreamed about for a long time,” said Williams<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The move to a larger site with a bigger kitchen opens up so many exciting opportunities to share and celebrate our South African cuisine with our guests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the move, the Kudu and Kudu grill will offer a limited-edition ‘Best of Kudu’ menu throughout July, celebrating dishes from the past eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes Parmesan churros with miso mayo and smoked paprika, as well as whole black bream with zhug butter rotis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new Kudu will open in Marylebone this September, and the South London locations will remain open until early August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Images<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amy Corbin and Patrick Williams, a husband-and-wife duo, are moving their restaurant collective into one location in a posh area of London. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":825213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[22632,22630,22631],"class_list":["post-825181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-curious-kudu","tag-kudu","tag-kudugrill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825181"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":825434,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825181\/revisions\/825434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}