About Us

The family
Behind the bar.

Our story / 01

our origin story.

Opened in 2019, The Dark Horse Bar was the natural next step after opening The Black Sheep: we already had the neighbourhood gastropub bistro, so now it was time to create the bar to go with it. 

Today, we’re happy to say that we’ve made the kind of place we like to hang out in; a place with a retro-eclectic interior filled with vintage finds we’ve collected over the years, the music we like listening to, the events we like going to, and of course, the food and drinks we love to share.

FIND YOUR FAVOURITE SPOT. THEN STAY A LITTLE LONGER

THE FAMILY FORMULA

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

Meet the family / 02

The heartbeat of The Dark Horse.

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

The VIBE / 03

GOOD PEOPLE. GREAT SPACES.

The Dark Horse defies Cape Town cliques: walk through our doors and you’ll find an age-agnostic mash-up of local and international regulars from all walks of life. The thing connecting us all? We all like quality drinks, great food and cool vibes. And you’ll find all kinds of spaces to suit you: bar nooks, outside shared tables, lounge comforts and sundowner brilliance under the wide African sky on our rooftop terrace. There’s something for everyone here and our crew can’t wait to meet you.

View our food menu

GOOD COMPANY • GREAT NIGHTS

The People

SMALL PLATES • GREAT DRINKS

the drinks & Food

ROOFTOP VIEWS • COSY CORNERS

The space

Jonny 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.