{"id":855406,"date":"2026-04-03T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=855406"},"modified":"2026-04-07T09:08:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:08:30","slug":"we-went-to-south-africas-first-luxury-designer-cafe-which-offers-a-lobster-sandwich-for-r350","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/855406\/we-went-to-south-africas-first-luxury-designer-cafe-which-offers-a-lobster-sandwich-for-r350\/","title":{"rendered":"We went to South Africa’s first luxury designer caf\u00e9 \u2013 which offers a lobster sandwich for R350"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The new Marc Jacobs Caf\u00e9 in Hyde Park Corner, Johannesburg, officially opened its doors to South Africans on Friday, 27 March 2026\u2014a first of its kind in the world, with the next one set to open in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The luxury caf\u00e9 offers a curated halaal menu featuring a range of specialised dishes cooked by dedicated chefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BusinessTech sampled various items at an exclusive tasting experience hosted by the designer caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While hot drinks such as various lattes, cappuccinos, and mochas are under R70, the “Marc Melt” hot chocolate is priced at R120 and features dark chocolate, French whipped cream (imported), and toasted marshmallows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other drinks range from a specialised selection of alcohol-free mocktails, various ceremonial-grade matcha, and soft drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The food menu features bagels, waffles, salads, sandwiches, desserts, and pasta\u2014with nothing exceeding R350. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The caf\u00e9 features a one-of-a-kind La Marzocco coffee machine, specially painted yellow by the coffee brand for the caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La Marzocco is an Italian brand of handcrafted coffee machines, made from materials such as copper and stainless steel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Marc Jacobs Caf\u00e9 sits at the centre of the Maison Deux store, fully integrated into the retail environment through a \u2018continuous architectural language\u2019 that connects the store to the caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maison Deux, which opened in December 2025, is a family-run department store founded by the luxury menswear retailer Al Capone Group, aiming to blend fashion, design, and hospitality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name Maison Deux, which means \u201cthe house of two,\u201d in French, signifies the integration of Al Capone\u2019s retail history with an experience-focused retail model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by European department stores, the concept features a retail format still uncommon in South Africa that combines fashion, interiors, and caf\u00e9 culture within a single space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designed as a social hub within the retail environment, the Marc Jacobs Caf\u00e9 combines a design-focused interior with a curated menu to encourage visitors to spend more time in the space rather than just walking through the store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe concept was created to bring the spirit and energy of New York City to South Africa, with a subtle Parisian influence inspired by the caf\u00e9 culture of Paris, while ensuring the menu and experience are suited to the South African palate,\u201d said the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fragrance-inspired food<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The chefs behind the halaal Marc’s Caf\u00e9 have been specially trained in French cooking to match the Marc Jacobs theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The caf\u00e9 boasts a selection of Marc Jacobs Fragrance-inspired entremets, which are cakes or desserts composed of multiple layers or components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These artistic dishes range from R45 for a macaron to R345 for a slice of “Downtown Decadence” cake made from dark chocolate, salted caramel, and hazelnuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In medieval French cuisine, entremets were traditionally artistic dishes served between courses. At the Marc Jacobs Caf\u00e9, the entremets are similarly designed, with different components and artistic quirks\u2014all inspired by Marc Jacobs Fragrances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prices at the caf\u00e9 range from R60 for a plate of hand-cut golden fries to R350 for an “East Coast Summer” sandwich made with lobster, celery, chives, dill, and brioche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The menu also boasts a set of bagels, with the lowest price at R130 for “The Brooklyn,” which has peppadews, goat’s cheese, seasonal greens and avocado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most expensive bagel on the menu is “The Downtown,” at R265, which offers smoked brisket, seasonal greens, caramelised onions, honey mustard aioli or homemade barbecue sauce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The menu also boasts all-day breakfast waffles, including the “Strawberry Dream,” at R180 and the “NYC Brunch Edit,” at R195, which consists of smashed avocado, poached eggs, macon (non-pork bacon), mushrooms, chilli, sesame, nori, and souffl\u00e9 potatoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are photos of the food we tasted from the menu<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Below are photos of the Marc Jacobs cafe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The new Marc Jacobs Caf\u00e9 in Hyde Park Corner, Johannesburg, officially opened its doors to South Africans on Friday, 27 March 2026, a first of its kind in the country and on the continent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":855592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[24953,25120,24954],"class_list":["post-855406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-al-capone","tag-marc-jacobs","tag-marcs-by-marc-jacobs-cafe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855406","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855406"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":856082,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855406\/revisions\/856082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}