In this Special Thursday episode of A Table in the Corner, Russel sits down with brother and sister team Danillo and Chiara Turilli, the operators behind Lello’s Deli, to talk about inheritance, identity and building something deeply personal in a city that is moving as quickly as Cape Town is right now.
Raised within a family restaurant business run by their father, the Turillis describe themselves as restaurant babies who tried, unsuccessfully, to escape hospitality. Danillo left for fashion photography in Hamburg. Chiara moved into food styling and corporate work. Yet both found themselves drawn back to the rhythms of service, family recipes and the particular weight of Italian food culture.
The conversation traces the evolution from Scarpetta, their father’s final and most personal restaurant, to Lello’s original De Waterkant deli and now its move to Sea Point. We talk about counter service in a culture that resists it, charging properly for ingredients whose price reflects their authenticity, and refusing to dilute tradition for comfort. Mortadella is the real thing. Amatriciana is made with guanciale. Coffee is served the Italian way.
They speak candidly about legacy, grief and closing their father’s restaurant after his passing, choosing instead to carry forward the parts that mattered to them. There is no master plan here, only instinct shaped by upbringing: seasonal tomatoes jarred for winter, pizza al taglio sold by weight, pasta made the way their family remembers it.
This is a conversation about diaspora, stubbornness and the responsibility of doing things properly, told by two operators who understand that authenticity is not a marketing position but a lived inheritance.
Thumbnail image by Soh Bang
Contact me with thoughts or suggestions for the show on russel@rwm2012.com
