THE LOCAL KITCHEN CO — Restaurant in Gauteng

Yummy and comfy is just some of the words that come to mind when thinking of The Local Kitchen Co in Bryanston.

Most of the menu contains café type dishes, pizzas and burgers. We decided to order two dishes off of the Chef’s Specials menu that mainly include food that is not available on the regular menu. To start the evening off we thought we would try the Saldhana starter which is fresh mussels in a light cream, wine and garlic sauce. The sauce was very salty on its own but together with everything wasn’t too bad. We couldn’t resist ordering a Fillet steak with Creamy Wild Mushroom sauce next, which was so juicy and tender, the only problem was that they didn't rest the steak properly so after a few moments blood was bleeding out of the steak, was still delish by the way. Now this place is famous for their burgers, their many many burgers. We grabbed The Bacon Cheese and let us tell you, this burger was probably created by the gods themselves. As a side, we got ourselves some beer battered onion rings, which were golden and crispy, but barely tasted like anything. Seems like the seasoning is kind of all over the place.

Our waiter was very well informed and knew the Chef’s menu off by heart. He also gave a few of his own suggestions which we really appreciated. The odd thing was that our waiter seemed to forget about us right after he gave us our doggy bag, he was attentive all night, but right after our main meals he never came back to us. Quite disappointing.

We really enjoyed the atmosphere inside as it had a casual craftiness to it, and the chairs definitely gave them brownie points, as it must have been the most comfortable chairs we have ever sat on in a restaurant, none of that wooden church seats, but a soft wild leather chair made by a warrior for a king. Also, they had unique decor in the form of cutlery lampshades which is only a plus to the atmosphere. On top of all of this, they also had good music playing in the background all night long.

All in all, everything was reasonably priced. The items on the Chef’s Specials menu was a bit more expensive than the regular menu but nothing too extreme. We can’t wait to go back for breakfast as it also looks oh so YUM.

TTT’s rating out of 5: Food - 4 | Service - 3.5 | Atmosphere – 5 | Value – 4.5 The Local Kitchen Co gets a 'Fist Bump’ from Two...

It’s been easily 6 years since I was last at The Local Kitchen Company. I am really glad they have survived all this time, even with the surrounding restaurants.

To be honest they are like a hiddem gem, very simple, low key, and underrated. My friend has been a firm fans of theirs for years, and she always told me about the Bokkie Pizza, with Biltong and Feta. I had the Hot Chick one, years back and I see they are still firm favourites on the menu. My friend has a new favourite menu item, so as a result we decided to stick with old faithful and have a ladies catchup here for dinner.

Decent selection on the menu, with some funky additions, limited Cocktail menu, but not too bad. So let’s get down to it, we had the Sticky BBQ Wings with Fries, Salt and Pepper Calamari, BBQ Pork Loin Ribs, Posh Fish and Chips (Kingklip with Mushy Peas) and Rump and fries. Delicious, comfort food at its best. Proper FOOD. I think our only gripe was my friends steak was meant to be medium well and it came rather medium i.e. it was kinda winking at me. But the Wings were hitting the spot. The Calamari was cooked well and spiced right. My other pal enjoyed her Fish and Mushy peas, and the sauces were the perfect accompaniment to their FRIES.

Service was great, we had a rather chilled evening, (yes it was storming) and the restaurant wasn’t overcrowded and we could hear ourselves speak. No place for dessert, maybe on my next visit and hopefully it wont take me another 6 years to come back. A definite spot to check out for some good wholesome food with friends or...

My wife and I tried their burgers. They looked so good.

I had the Blue Cheese Bomber. The patty was done medium as I wanted it, it was very tasty and juicy. The blue cheese sauce makes the burger nice and saucy but the sauce itself hardly has a blue cheese taste. I guess some people like the stronger stuff and others don't, in my case I could taste a slight hint of blue cheese but would have preferred more. The caramelised onion on my burger was burnt and very bitter. It was so unpleasant I had to scrape it off. I enjoyed my burger after scraping that off. The buns are big but very light and fresh. Overall it was a decent burger.

My wife had the Bacon and Cheese burger. She was disappointed and said it was just an average burger, nothing really stood out.

The chips here are banging, I could eat a whole plate of those on their own.

I have been here a few times before and their food is usually exceptionally nice. This was just not their day.

Update: 07/07/2025

I had the DOUBLE TROUBLE: Two 120g beef patties, double cheese, streaky bacon, mustard mayo, lettuce, pickles, and red onion

This burger is possibly the tastiest burger I've eaten this year. Flavour profile is similar to a King Steers. There is a ton of bacon on each patty. The mustard sauce and smokey BBQ sauce pair well to create on insanely delicious burger.

It's a big burger, so be prepared to dislocate your jaw to...