Description
Welcome to the Quarter Kitchen. Let us take you on a journey of history, flavour, and a hint of passion, where creativity meets tradition and the East blends with the North, the South, and the West The Cape Colony was established in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company as a resupply and lay-over port for trading vessels on the lucrative Spice Route. The trading post quickly grew into a permanent settlement, and as farming operations expanded, the need for cheap labour increased. This need was met by importing slaves from the East Indies - predominantly political exiles from Indonesia and Malaysia. Many of these people were skilled artisans, such as silversmiths, milliners, cobblers, singers, masons and tailors. Slavery ended in the early 1800's, but their cultural heritage survives to this day. The Cape Malay, as the descendants of these slaves came to be known, still practice the Muslim faith and their cuisine remains deliciously aromatic with the spices of their various ancestral homelands - cumin, coriander, tamarind, cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, star anise and many more. While they no longer speak the languages of their ancestors, many Malay words have been assimilated into the Afrikaans language. The Quarter Kitchen occupies a section of the original Breakwater Prison, built in 1860, known as the Good Conduct Ward. Some of the original features of the prison can still be seen today, most notably sections of the restaurant wall, built with local bluestone, and the well in the hotel foyer, which supplied the prison complex with water. The Boardroom at the far end of the restaurant used to be the prison chapel.
