The Restaurant

Mundo Vida seats approximately 100 people. The main seating area is a covered wooden deck, with 180˚ views of the Indian Ocean. Being next to the ocean, the focus of the menu is on mainly seafood, however we do offer a wide selection, both in terms of menu options and pricing structure. The ambience is trendy, relaxed and casual.

Our aim is to give our customers the pleasure of gathering around a table to share delicious authentic meals, professional, warm and friendly service in a casual and beautiful environment.

The extended Wilkinson family has been in the restaurant industry in the greater Durban area since 1984. We have always endeavoured to stick to our core values of establishing connections with our customers, not only by serving consistently delicious food but also by personal service.

The Team

Joni Wilkinson: Joni runs front of house, finance and administration. She is an experienced restauranteur, with over 20 years experience in the industry. Prior to the establishment of Mundo Vida, Joni had co-owned and run, together with her late husband, Don Wilkinson, several other restaurants, including Gina’s Restaurant in Sunningdale; the Don, Berea, Durban; Mamba Grill, Hillcrest KZN; Razzmatazz on Robson, Vancouver, Canada.

Duke Garratty: Head Chef and co-owner trained at the Institute of Culinary Arts, Stellenbosch, South Africa and holds a City and Guilds Diploma in Professional Cooking. After completing his training at ICA, he worked for 3 years at the world renowned La Colombe Restaurant, Constantia, under Luke Dale Roberts, who currently owns amongst others, the multi award winning restaurant, The Test Kitchen, Woodstock, Cape Town. Luke was an inspirational mentor for Duke and a great influence on Duke’s “oeuvre”.

Duke has also worked in many other top establishments in South Africa, including The Oyster Box Hotel, the Beverley Hills Hotel and Granny Mouse Country House in KZN Midlands. His menu is inspired by world food culture and tastes, great contemporary chefs and culinary traditions that have passed down through the generations.

His drive and vision has resulted in Mundo Vida’s proud reputation of serving consistently delicious fresh food with quality service.

The kitchen brigade at Mundo Vida is dedicated, experienced, loyal and long serving - many joined our team when the restaurant first opened 11 years ago. The front-of-house team offer knowledgeable, efficient, welcoming service and they too, have built excellent and long-standing relationships with our clientele.

History

Mundo Vida Restaurant was established in December 2008 by husband and wife team, Don and Joni Wilkinson. Don Wilkinson was extremely well known in the industry, particularly for his award winning restaurant Razzmatazz, which was established in Amanzimtoti in 1984, later moving to Umhlanga in 1994..

Sadly, Don Wilkinson passed away in June 2013, after a long struggle with cancer. For Joni, his widow, the decision to continue running the restaurant was only made possible by her son, Duke Garratty’s decision to leave a promising career as sous chef at the Oyster Box Hotel, and take over the reigns in the kitchen at Mundo Vida.

Mundo Vida is thus still a “hands on family-run” restaurant, we believe that the resulting“attention to detail”, is what sets us apart.