Our Story
How Nocturne came to be, and what the kitchen and the bar are trying to do.
Where It Began
Nocturne started as an argument about closing time. Too many good rooms in Johannesburg push you out at half past nine, just as the evening has found its shape. So we took a narrow room in Braemar Quarter, painted it the colour of a late hour, and built a kitchen and a bar that keep going while you do.
See the menuWhat We Stand For
Four things we decided early and have not talked ourselves out of since.
A Short Menu
Fewer dishes, cooked properly. The list is deliberately small so nothing sits on it out of habit, and it changes as the season gives us a reason to change it.
One Set of Hours
The bar does not wind down while the kitchen is still working. Both run to the same clock, so a late table gets the same attention as an early one.
Room to Talk
Tables are spaced further apart than the floor plan would like, the music sits under the conversation, and nobody is asked to give up their table twice in an evening.
Bought Close to Home
Produce from growers we can drive to, fish only from the green list, and a wine list that leans on the Cape before it looks anywhere else.
The Bar
The bar is not a waiting room for the dining room. Eight cocktails, each of them built rather than assembled, sixty bottles of wine with the Cape doing most of the talking, and six drinks without alcohol that were designed rather than improvised. Sit at the counter if the room is full. It is the better seat anyway.
See the drinksCome and See the Room
Tuesday to Sunday, from five in the evening. Later on Friday and Saturday.