Leano Restaurant &Live Music, a place in Braanfontein for great food, music and art

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

When you walk into Leano Restaurant &Live Music , the new upmarket eatery that opened in Braamfontein with little fanfare late last year, the first thing you will notice is its art theme that exudes throughout the eatery. There art works on its walls by contemporary artists in South Africa, most of them emerging visual voices looking for market access. You are also likely to bump on to a familiar jazz musician, either dong sound check in preparation for a show in the evening, or  actual performing by jazz musicians at the time you arrive in its upstairs venue. And  If you happen to pass near the kitchen, you will of course smell inviting food flavours emanating from there.

Welcome to Leano Restaurant% Live Music, the new place to be in Braamfontein If you are looking for fine dining in that area, which until now had odd eateries, particularly the fast food chain type and clubs whose main offering is not really food but a dance floor for the young and energetic, food being served as just an excuse for selling alcohol and the dance floor experience., try this new kid on the block. You are likely to fall in love with what they offer and its relaxed ambience.

This is in sharp contrast to what Braam is often associated with, a busy place mainly popular with students and the hippy type, and the entertainment venues that cater for this market.

Leano Restaurant& Live Music since it moved into the area in December last year, has disrupted that lifestyle by offering something suited to those with discerning taste for good food In a fine dining environment, an ear for good jazz sounds and an eye for  good art. These are all offered at Leano Restaurant & Live Music.

The combination of great food dishes, live musical acts for a mature crowd and affordable  art for a collector, especially for those aiming at building up their collection by looking out for fresh emerging artists is what makes this eatery to stand out in the area.

CITYLIFE/ARTS visited this establishment recently and we found a gem for good food, good music and fresh art right in the middle of Braamfontein, a place known for attracting mainly the young crowd from around the tertiary institutions around the area, such as Rosebamk College, Damelin and Wits university. Leano Restaurant &Live Music, therefore offers something distinctly different aimed at satisfying the needs of professionals in this area. The atmosphere is calm, the waiters are friendly  and attentive, the food is offering is amazingly delicious, making you feel like you are in a restaurant in one of the top northern Johannesburg suburbs, yet you are actually right in Braam. Not to talk about the musical offering, as the selection of the live acts is always thought through carefully by management at this venue.

In fact this venue is playing a very important role in bringing back the culture of live music during a time when many venues that used to host live performances have closed down, leaving musicians without an income, audiences thirsty for live acts as they enjoy a delicious dish of good food. The past two years of Covid-19 devastation has made the situation worse.

In fact the place taken over by Leano Restaurant & Live Music used to be the home of the Orbit Jazz Club, which unfortunately closed down, long before even Covid-19-hit due to the difficulties of running a live music venue in a sustainable way in the face of the scaling down of corporate sponsorship for the arts in the country in recent years.

“When we took over the place, we knew its history of hosting the internationally reputed Orbit Jazz club. We respect that history and heritage. What we are doing here is to pick up the button from where the orbit left it and run with it, of course putting our signature to it. We respect what was here before and what we are doing is to bring the Leano Restaurant &Live Music elements and build  up this place, adding the elements that have been left behind by  Orbit Jazz Ckub,” says Chef  Absalom Kotsokoane, who runs the place with is partner Keitumetse.

Chef Absalom explained that the concept of combing food, art and live music started at another restaurant called Moeng that the couple ran at Oxford Parks in Rosebank before closing it down to open Leano Restaurant &Live Music.

“What we noticed at our previous restaurant was that in as much our customers loved the dishes we served, they also loved live music and art. We therefore decided to look for a place  and area suitable for  accommodating all the three elements. Braamfontein, which has a diverse population and cultures suits that very well. Most of our customers are professionals, even though we cater for everyone looking for a great experience in food, music and art,” Chef Absa, as he fondly is called by people in the profession,  emphasized the point in an interview with CITYLIFE/ARTS.

During the interview, Chef Absa also revealed that Leano Restaurant &Live Music also acts as a place where young culinary art students can polish their skills as the establishment has a mentorship programme which offers an opportunity to students to gain practical experience.

“We are passionate about development, and therefore we have introduced this mentorship programme that aims at teaching culinary students that there is more to running a restaurant than cooking as there is a business element to it.

“We also reach out to emerging visual artists to offer them an opportunity to exhibit their works here, making their works accessible to collectors, and so far the response has been good. For example, recently an American tourist bought two paintings that touched him immensely as he explained that he could not sleep thinking about those two paintings he had seen the previous day when he was here.

“We are currently in discussions with the fine art departments of Wits University and the University of Johannesburg to see how we can involve them in the art activities here. Keitumetse is driving that conversation with the universities,” Chef Absa added.

Chef Absa’s journey into the culinary art is as interesting as it had its twists and turns. Born in Garankuwa a township outside Pretoria, the first born of two children, including a younger sister, his family were foodies, including mother, father and aunts. It therefore became natural that he would be interested in cooking as he grew up. But when it came to a career choice, he studied landscaping technology at Technikon Pretoria, (now Tshwane University of Technology), instead  where he was  the only black student in a class of predominantly white Afrikaans speaking students.

“I actually studied my courses in Afrikaans as I did not have much of a choice. I did not mind however because I could write, read and speak Afrikaans. Even when I finished my studies, I went to work in an Afrikaans environment in a landscaping company, and that was actually not a problem because I was familiar with the language and the culture,” he said.

But because he was born in a family where cooking was part of the daily culture, he continued to cook at parties and events as a side job he did on weekends.

“However I got frustrated that I could not cook at major events as they required me to produce a qualification, which I did not have of course even though I knew how to cook. Eventually a friend of mine told me about a bursary opportunity to go and study at the University of Johannesburg in the School of Hospitality. I was accepted and I excelled so much that when an opportunity came to go to Metro FM to speak about this programme at the university, the lecturers chose me to go and speak on radio. That is when my career trajectory changed for the better in the industry. I have not looked back,” he said.

In fact with the exception of a detour working for an NGO teaching rural healers traditional plant knowledge and the time he spent working for a landscaping company, preparing and serving delicious food has been his business ever since. He has worked as a consultant to several restaurants before he, and his partner opened their own restaurant businesses, the latest being Leano Restaurant &Live Music.

While in the restaurant,  I enjoyed such a great treat of home made ginger beer, washed down with a tasty chakalaka concoction as a starter. I found their ginger beer to be tasty, chilli like. My main was a delicious dish comprising grilled beef fillet, beetroot infused pearl couscous, grilled beetroot, butternut and Orange purée, glazed carrot, broccoli finished with beef jus. 

I found this dish to be delicious. Unfortunately because of time constraints as I had to rush elsewhere, I did not have time to taste more dishes and I promised myself that I would go back there and enjoy Leano Restaurant &Live Music’s great  hospitality, diverse food dishes, feast my eyes on the art on its walls properly and enjoy watching the band in action another  time.

The Menu

The restaurant has exciting options on the menu that include the following:

Ox liver and Dumpling (R110), Phuthu&Inkomazi (R75), Tshotlho / Pulled Beef served with starch of choice (R130.00), Leano Tapas (Mogodu, Pulled chicken breasts, Pulled beef) (R160), Quinoa salad with vegetables crisp (R100), Maotwana / Chicken Feet (5) in Orange Sauce – (R65), Wings (4) and potato wedges( R110), Grilled Chicken kebabs, potato wedges and salsa (R150), Bean and Potato Curry served with starch of choice (R120 (V)), Couscous and vegetables of the day (R100 )(V), Chicken and Coconut Curry with Basmati Rice (R120), Pap, gravy, wors and chakalaka R130, Pap, gravy, scrambled eggs and atchaar(R75), Pap, gravy, pork chops (2) and spinach/chakalaka (R120).

For desert you can kindly ask your waiter for dessert options.

.Leano Restaurant & Live Music, which is on 81 De Korte Street in Brammofontein opens from Thursday to Sunday, serving lunch and dinner. Wednesday are reserved for special, events. On Monday and Tuesday, when the restaurant is closed, you can still order food for deliveries though. The place also takes booking for events.

Contact : 071 664 9253

Trading : Thursday – Sunday 

Monday – Wednesday open for bookings / events / launches