Africa’s tallest building, the newly-built The Leonardo, will host AURUM Restaurant on its 7th floor – the restaurant is set to open its doors in late 2019. The restaurant, which is independent from the hotel brand, has been conceptualised by chef and culinary consultant, Paulo Santo, previously of Cube Tasting Kitchen, in collaboration with the Legacy Group and its chairman Bart Dorrestein.

The restaurant will be in the hub of The Leonardo’s lifestyle mix, overlooking its pool terrace, and has both interior and exterior seating, private dining facilities and a wine library stocked with some of South Africa and the globe’s finest wines.

“AURUM represents luxury, but not in an intimidating, pretentious or ostentatious manner. Just as gold is timeless in its appeal, we too wish to exist beyond time as a successful, renowned business serving a cosmopolitan African city; the City of Gold,” says Paulo Santo, MD and Senior Partner of AURUM.

The kitchen will be headed up by Darren O’Donovan as Head Chef and Lisa de Beer as Sous Chef and Sommelier, both of whom worked with Paulo at Cube. Darren and Lisa have just completed a 4-month-long gastronomic tour around Europe, and their menu has been inspired by these travels. “A meal at AURUM will aim to engage our patrons on an emotional level. We want to create experiences, share memories, build strong relationships and gain the trust of our patrons through our product and service offering. AURUM stands to take an Old-world approach to service with a modern, New-world approach to cuisine,” says Paulo.