The Crypt Reserve a table

Cape Town, 5 Wale Street

Jazz lives down here

Five nights a week, the stairs at 5 Wale Street take you under St George's Cathedral into a candlelit room where Cape jazz is played live.

  • Open since 19 April 2013

An 1898 room

The crypt was built in 1898 and still carries its brick barrel vaults, stone piers and cool air. It forms part of the cathedral's Memorial and Witness Centre, where the 1989 march began.

  • Built 1898
  • A city landmark

Candles, cloth, close quarters

Small tables, white cloths, a candle on each one. Dinner is served from seven, and on a full night guests may be asked to share a table with strangers who came for the same thing.

  • Dinner from 19h00
  • Tables shared on busy nights

A platform for Cape jazz

The Crypt exists to give Cape jazz musicians a platform and Capetonians somewhere to hear them. Live sets run from eight until eleven, Tuesday to Saturday.

  • Live 20h00 to 23h00
  • Cover charge R110pp

Come down tonight

Bookings are held for fifteen minutes. Send a message, take the stairs, order dinner before the first set.

Reserve a table

Gig guide

Five nights of Cape jazz

The kitchen opens at seven, the band starts at eight. Cover charge is R110 per person, added to the table on the night.

Dinner before the first set

A short Cape kitchen with Franschhoek and Karoo produce, and a wine list built around the estates the founder cooked with for years. Every cut of beef comes from the Nguni herd at Sneeuberg Nature Reserve in the Great Karoo.

To open

  • Baba ganoush, hummus, guacamole, grilled tomato salsa, roasted red pepper and olive dip, with baby tortilla and bruschetta
  • Tomato soup with zest of orange
  • Blini with smoked Franschhoek salmon trout
  • Duck and chicken liver terrine with red onion marmalade
  • Dutch bitterballen

Signature notes

  • Grilled fillet of beef with mash and vegetables
  • Grilled Karoo lamb chops with salad or fries
  • The Crypt beef curry with condiments and rice
  • Linguine al pomodoro with fresh basil and matured Gruyere
  • Beer battered fish and chips with aioli

Sweet melodies

  • Soft cheese platter, brie, camembert, blue, goat's cheese, preserves
  • Chocolate mousse with Grand Marnier
  • Crepe with cinnamon apple and vanilla ice cream

On the list

  • The Crypt White, unlabelled sauvignon blanc from Clermont
  • Villiera chenin blanc, La Motte sauvignon blanc
  • Glenwood unwooded chardonnay, Tokara chardonnay
  • Chamonix Rouge, Porcupine Ridge syrah, La Bri merlot
Candlelit tables under the brick vaults of the crypt
The room, set for seven

The people behind The Crypt

A historic meeting place beneath St George’s Cathedral, where African and international jazz, cultures and cuisine fuse.
The Crypt Jazz Restaurant, open since 19 April 2013

Derk Blaisse, born in Amsterdam and a self taught pianist, moved to Franschhoek in 1995, started the National Cheese Festival in 2000 and ran Jazz on Friday at La Fromagerie for eleven years with his band, the Cape Dutch Connection. The Crypt is the jazz club he wanted for Cape Town.

Michael Weeder, Dean of St George’s Cathedral and a jazz enthusiast, sees the cathedral as the people’s church. The Crypt carries that idea downstairs, into a room where the shared language happens to be music.

The interior was designed by the late Charlotte Daneel, founder of La Grange Art and Interiors in Franschhoek, and the restaurant is run by Helene Collins with her daughter Creshanke, who spent more than ten years at La Fromagerie.

The crypt itself was built in 1898 under a cathedral completed in 1890 to Herbert Baker’s design. It forms part of Desmond Tutu’s Memorial and Witness Centre, marking the 1989 march that set out from these doors months before Mandela walked free.

Above the stairs

Directly above

St George's Cathedral

The oldest cathedral in Southern Africa, known as the people's cathedral for its part in the resistance against apartheid. Gabriel Loire stained glass, and one of the country's few labyrinths.

Two minutes

The Company's Garden

Shaded paths and old oaks running up from Wale Street to the museums, planted as a vegetable garden for passing ships.

Five minutes

Greenmarket Square

A market square that has been a slave market, a fruit and vegetable market and a parking lot. Now clothing, glassware, hand painted fabrics and curios, with buskers on Saturday mornings.

Fifteen minutes

District Six Museum

The record of a neighbourhood cleared under apartheid, kept by the people who lived in it. Pair it with the Slave Lodge on Adderley Street before dinner.

Visit

Reserve a table

5 Wale Street, corner of Wale and Adderley, beneath St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town.

Bookings are held for fifteen minutes. On a full night guests may be asked to share a table.

Reservations
WhatsApp 079 683 4658
Or write to
info@thecryptjazz.co.za
Open
Tuesday to Saturday, 19h00 to 24h00. Closed Sunday and Monday.
Live jazz
20h00 to 23h00, cover charge R110 per person.
Tue to Sat, 19h00 Reserve a table