About us

The family
at the table.

Our story / 01

our origin story.

When the four of us returned to Cape Town in the 2010s from our respective travels, we started looking around for a place whose food and vibes we could enjoy.

We didn’t want the cost and formality of fine dining, but at the same time we wanted something slightly more sophisticated and eclectic than the traditional neighbourhood pizza, pasta, and steak houses so popular in Cape Town at the time.

We wanted somewhere a little rowdy and fun, a place that didn’t just offer a great meal with the mad, eclectic flavours we loved, but also offered a great vibey night out. When we struggled to find it, the seed of The Black Sheep concept was sown.

It took a few more years before we took the leap, but in 2013 The Black Sheep was officially born. Our goal was simple: to create the space that we would feel comfortable in, that we would have fun in, and to serve the food that we enjoyed eating.

What emerged was what you see today. A relaxed, always vibey, home-away-from-home, open-kitchen gastropub bistro with a blackboard menu serving modern global cuisine: simple, wholesome, authentic, bold flavours from around the world made with the freshest ingredients.

We’re all a bit older these days, and there’s a lot more working than partying, but The Black Sheep Restaurant is still the best way we know of welcoming you into the fold.

Our goal was simple: to create a welcoming space serving food we love.

THE FAMILY FORMULA

two sisters + Two brothers-in-law
= Two establishments + good times.

Meet the family / 02

The soul of The Black Sheep.

The Black Sheep Restaurant and The Dark Horse Bar are a family affair. Different personalities, one shared passion: creating spaces where people feel at home.

Read Jonny's story
Read Sherry's story
Read Nina's story
Read Jorge's story

Jonathan Japha

Jonny is chef patron at The Black Sheep Restaurant and The Dark Horse Bar. As the son of two traveling architects who loved to cook, he grew up wild and well-travelled, and at the ripe old age of six he took up the chef’s knife. At 18 he began his chef’s training.

For two decades, Jonny established himself, first in the fine-dining restaurants of the UK – most notably under Ross Lewis in the Michelin-starred Chapter One in Dublin and Jeremy Lee at The Blueprint Café in London – and then in the popular gastropubs of the culinary underbelly of the UK and South Africa. The shift from fine dining to gastropub was an important one for Jonny: gastropubs held the heart of his culinary curiosity and the essence of authentic sharing.

These 20 years’ experience is ultimately what he drew on when he turned his attention to opening The Black Sheep Restaurant in Cape Town; to creating a gastropub bistro with all the attention to detail in the food of a gastropub and all the comfort and simplicity of a bistro.

An ethical hedonist, Jonny is all about the pleasure of cooking for community, savouring the good things in life, and the beauty of nose-to-tail gastronomy.

Sherry Japha

The delight and enjoyment with all things cooking, food, and family started at a young age for Sherry. Her early childhood saw her making soetkoekies and mince pies at her ouma’s elbow (no Ultramel in that kitchen, only custard from scratch) and she spent her teen years working in her parents’ catering company.

As a young adult, she went to study psychology and communications, but when she met Jonny her early childhood passion was rekindled, and they opened a catering company to fund their planned travels overseas.
Cooking was an excellent way to make those travels last. She spent 6 years in the U.K and Ireland working in the food industry, much of it with Jonny in gastropubs. At the birth of their son in 2006, the lure of mountains, oceans and a family support structure proved too much, and they moved their new family back to Cape Town, bringing with them their vast wealth of experience and excitement to make something beautiful.

When it came time to bring The Black Sheep Restaurant to life Sherry joined the team as the CDC and deals with the staff and prep production during the day. She’s also
dubbed the queen of found objects and is responsible for the mid-century stylings of both The Black Sheep and The Dark Horse.

Nina Silva Cortez

Anyone who’s met Nina will know she has a natural gift for making people welcome. What they might not know is that she started in the restaurant business at 17 working in fine-dining restaurants.

Her natural talent for people and love of the industry led her to study hotel management and when she travelled to England she ran a few hotels and restaurants along the south coast. When the travel bug continued to bite, she moved to working on luxury liners where she met and worked with Jorge.

When it came time to start a family, her and Jorge returned to Cape Town and helped to bring The Black Sheep to life. Today, Nina juggles her talents between being a hostess and managing the back of house and administrative aspects of the business.

Jorge Silva Cortez

Jorge has been in the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years and brings these years of experience to bear as the operations manager at The Dark Horse and The Black Sheep, keeping the two establishments functioning as one, coherent system.

Having studied sociology, he’s all about the team, the people and the collective, and this shines through in his philosophy of creating unpretentious spaces where people can relax and be themselves. He’s the godfather of the wine list, the play list and the cocktail bar. He’s the guy you speak to, to book your special occasions and your events; whatever you want, Jorge will do his best to make it happen it for you.