“THE slogan of the restaurant is ‘From Cape Town to Creeslough’,” explains Claire Williamson who alongside her husband Jubal owns and runs the Co Donegal South African-inspired restaurant Braai.
“Jubal was born and bred in Cape Town and the word ‘braai’ is from the Afrikaans language and essentially means barbecue and grill,” Claire adds.
Inspired by Jubal’s life in South Africa, Braai serves up a combination of traditional South African delicacies and classic western dishes (with a South African twist) all cooked over an open fire.
“Cooking over fire and that sort of outdoor living is ingrained in the South African culture and Jubal has been exposed to it his whole life so when the opportunity came up, we always knew in the back of our heads we wanted to do something that represented his home,” explains Claire.
“South African people have been cooking over fire for centuries, it’s in their DNA, so it only felt right that when we started on this venture that it was going to be a braai.”
The husband-and-wife duo met around 10 years ago. Jubal had left Cape Town after studying at the South African Chefs Academy and spent six years working in different country clubs and hotels up and down the East Coast of the United States.
It was during this time that he met Claire, who was studying hospitality and tourism at Ulster University and had applied to do a year-long placement in the US.
“We worked in the same place in West Palm Beach,” she recalls.
“And our relationship kind of formed through working together. From there we moved to New York and worked with each other there.
“Then Jubal came to Ireland with me for a couple of months and then I went to South Africa with him.
“I ended up living in South Africa for three years and we were working in restaurants the whole time.”
It was this experience that inspired the pair to start thinking about their own restaurant.
“It was almost like we’d take ideas and keep them in our back pocket, just waiting for any opportunity.”
In 2018 the couple made the permanent move back to Donegal where Jubal spent a year working for chef Derek Alcorn in the famed Mill Restaurant in Dunfanaghy.
“The Mill was a family-run restaurant and what they did was just incredible,” says Claire.
“They had a menu that changed with the season and used all local ingredients and the knowledge that Derek had on the produce he was using really inspired Jubal.”
Jubal went on to work for chef Tony Davidson, owner of Fisk Seafood Bar in Downings, before moving to the Olde Glen Bar in Carrigart and working under chef Ciaran Sweeney.
“Working in Fisk gave Jubal ample experience working with seafood and local fish. And he absolutely loved working with Ciaran at the Olde Glen and he learnt a lot from him as well,” explains Claire.
“And when the opportunity of a space opening up in Creeslough came up Ciaran couldn’t have been more supportive or encouraging - he really believed in what we were doing, which was amazing because you have so much self-doubt and it’s so scary to take the leap.
“The support that we’ve had from both the community and other local restaurants and chefs has been amazing – it’s felt like everybody is backing us.”
It was the owner of Rose’s bar in Creeslough, Lorcan Roarty, who suggested the couple set up shop round the back of the traditional Irish pub, which overlooks Sheephaven Bay.
“The idea was you’d get your drinks at the bar and the food in our restaurant,” Claire says.
“We would be two separate businesses, but we’d be working hand-in-hand.
“We’d seen that dynamic work well before, in bars and restaurants which are owned separately by different proprietors, but the food and the drink go together.”
Claire admits when the restaurant first opened in December, it was “quite scary” to be doing something different. However, now seven months in, the couple are glad they stuck to their guns.
“We’re really pleased we stayed true to ourselves and what we wanted to do,” she says.
“The idea of a braai is that family come together, friends come together and celebrate special moments through food.
“In South Africa if you go to a braai, you’d be round at someone’s house all day and that was something we wanted the atmosphere of the restaurant to reflect.”
In addition to creating a relaxed and friendly atmosphere the duo also wants diners to have an authentic South African experience when they visit.
The core menu consists of three snacks, four small plates, four large plates, three sides and two desserts with specials running every weekend.
“We always have a South African twist or influence within all our dishes,” Claire explains.
“Jubal and the chefs are really creative. For example, a few weeks ago we did a Tiramisu, and the sponge was marinated in a South African coffee liqueur called Amarula – the twist can be something as subtle as that.”
But if you want to be fully transported across continents there are several traditional dishes from the main menu Claire strongly recommends.
The first is one is one of Braai’s snack dishes, called biltong – thin slices of meat that have been marinated in balsamic vinegar and different spices before being dried, smoked and cured.
This should then be followed by their cape malay curried chicken vetkoek small plate which Claire describes as a “savoury donut which has been fried with the chicken curry in the middle – definitely one to get stuck into with your hands”, she laughs.
“For main it has to be Jubal’s homemade Boerewors which is a traditional South African sausage but it’s from beef instead of pork.
“It’s cooked on the fire and served with smoked tomato smoortjie which is a bit like a tomato sauce,” she adds.
To round off the experience it’s the homemade melktert for dessert which consists of pastry, custard, egg and cinnamon.
“Taste and texture wise I’d say it’s similar to a pastel de nata – that sort of southern hemisphere cooled down dessert.
“I think those four dishes give you a really good idea of all the different types of flavours and textures with South African cooking.”
Claire and Jubal’s authenticity and commitment to quality has clearly been a big hit so far as the response to Braai has surpassed all their expectations.
“The idea of Braai was something that was quite personal to Jubal, so we were definitely putting ourselves out there and we didn’t really know what to expect,” Claire confesses.
“But we’ve been blown away. When we opened in December everyone thought we were mad, but we really wanted to figure out our flow fine tune it, spend time with our staff.
“And because of that we’ve also been able to spend time with the locals which has been amazing.”
Already the couple have become part of the community in Creeslough which is particularly comforting as Jubal’s father, Brian Williamson sadly passed away on June 5 before he ever got the chance to see the restaurant.
“The support from everyone has been brilliant, we feel incredibly lucky to have had such a fantastic first few months” says Claire.
Although there are many exciting ideas and projects going on in the background, for now the couple are focusing on enjoying the rest of Braai’s first year open.
“Once we get the year behind us, I think we’ll have better idea of the monster we’ve created,” laughs Claire.
“And from there we can build on the restaurant and make it as good as it possibly can be.”
