“Big Mouth is actually a better name for this place, because these people love to talk,” “Big say former Gautengers Eric and Kayla van der Walt in reference to the meaning of Kleinmond, which translates to Small Mouth in English. The Van der Walts have barely lived here for three months and they say it’s a lot more sociable than what they had expected.
Like Platteland, it’s the young couple’s first visit to the Kleinmond Central Café, an alternative cultural hub in the town where complete strangers are, so to speak, “compelled” to chat about “the stories of the day”. “If you can’t talk to strangers, this is not the place for you because that’s our thing; we love a good story,” greets a beautiful, chatty woman who turns out to be Erika Janse van Rensburg. She and her life partner, Krige Visser, wanted to create a meeting place in the town, a home away from home. “Long ago, almost every town had a Standard Bank and a Central Hotel or Central Café. Our restaurant tries to pay homage to the cosiness and intimacy that one associates with the platteland,” they explain.
They both once worked in the corporate world in Cape Town; Erika, a skilled baker, with various food companies, and Krige, a born “foodie” and food mimic, in the marketing and advertising industry, as well as the wine industry. He still produces wine for the Arcangeli brand, as well as his own Mount Abora Koggelbos Chenin Blanc and Saffraan Cinsaut, together with business partner Pieter de Waal.
Erika spent many summer holidays in Kleinmond as a child and her parents retired here in 2000. In 2013, she and Krige, along with their family of adopted dogs and a cat, bade farewell to
