PROFILE: SA’s ‘boeremeisie’ wins over New York

Suzaan Hauptfleisch, who grew up on a Free State mealie farm, considers herself a raakvatter, someone who grabs an opportunity when one comes along. It has taken her from the farm to university at Stellenbosch and to New York, a journey that began on 9/11.

Hauptfleisch, then 23, had bought a ticket to New York a few hours before TV images started to appear of the Twin Towers collapsing. A desperate call from her mother followed, but none of this discouraged her.

Her intention in 2001 was to become an actress, so she auditioned for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the oldest acting school in the US, but reality soon set in: the fees were $40,000 a year, which she couldn’t afford. “To survive, I worked in restaurants,” she tells the FM. “I take over and get things done, you know, ’n boer maak ’n plan kinda gal.” Her work ethic and ability were quickly noticed, and she was promoted to manager.  

Restaurant jobs were not new to her; in her student days she worked at Decameron, a restaurant in Stellenbosch that won an Italian government prize for “most identical Italian restaurant in the southern hemisphere”, according to Andrea Ladu, who runs the restaurant with her partner, Mario. She remembers Hauptfleisch as a vivacious, effervescent person who never forgot a regular customer’s name. “She also knew which wines they liked and would never serve, say, someone from La Motte wine from another estate.”

It was at Decameron, where Anton Rupert and Jannie Mouton were regulars, “where I got my wine education”, Hauptfleisch tells the FM. This helped when she became the private events manager for award-winning French restaurant La Grenouille in Manhattan; Hauptfleisch oversaw parties for the likes of Vogue editor Anna Wintour. “My 20s were a ridiculous experience with all these fantastic American icons … I threw a party for Sigourney Weaver once.”

The experience persuaded Hauptfleisch to strike out on her own. Thirteen years ago on New York’s Upper East Side, she opened Kaia, a name inspired by the Zulu ikhaya (home). Last year it even got a favourable review in The New Yorker magazine, with flattering photographs of some dishes.

Her restaurant and wine bar, which opens only at 5pm, has a touch of Cheers, the TV show from the 1980s “where everybody knows your name”. “We have people who sit in our restaurant for a glass of wine every single day of their life,” she says. One woman in particular “just comes in, being among the people she loves, and we love her. She’s in her 80s. It’s a wonderful experience with her.”

It’s not just the patrons. Hauptfleisch says it’s also the staff. “What makes Kaia special, first and foremost, are the people who work for me.” Most have been with her for a long time and that’s unusual for the restaurant business in New York.

The menu is SA inspired and always evolving. “We do a seasonal menu, and we have our staples,” she says. “The rooibos tea pork ribs and carpaccio never come off the menu. I sometimes make a bunny chow and I have my own version of a gatsby [a sandwich with a variety of fillings].”

The New Yorker critic was impressed, mentioning the bobotie that is served with elk meat in the absence of SA game like kudu, springbok and ostrich. The wine list has between 60 and 75 SA varieties. In 11 years, she has moved more than $7m of SA wines and believes she is the biggest buyer and seller of such wines in a New York restaurant.

She says the SA wines are a marketing coup. A local Australian-owned bottle store has now — begrudgingly, she says — begun stocking SA wines. “There’s a whole section dedicated just to SA wines,” she says with a hint of triumph. “It’s my mission to influence more palates and the stores will then purchase more.”

Now, having survived Covid without laying off any staff, Hauptfleisch is looking at expanding in the next 12 to 18 months, but she won’t let us in on that little secret just yet. Byt vas, she says.