The Girolo name was synonomous with Cape racing for many years. Last month we reported on the sad passing of Linda and Aldo within days of each other.
The Daily Maverick published this fascinating background on the couple last week by Dominique Herman and we felt that some of our readers may enjoy the additional background read on a Sunday morning.
Aldo Girolo, one of the original Italian restaurateurs in Cape Town, took over one of the city’s oldest establishments and reshaped it with his wife, Linda, into a booming family business.
Last month Linda died in hospital through complications from Covid-19. Aldo died a few days later in the same ward.
Hildebrand was the kind of restaurant that doesn’t exist any more. Each table would have not only its own waiter but its own wine steward. Diners would be served by men in bow ties and black shoes that shone. In a display of dinner theatre, dishes such as tagliatelle carbonara and zabaione al marsala would be prepared at the table.
Aldo Girolo, on the far left, and other members of the banqueting team at the Hotel Heerengracht from 1970 till 1973 (Photo: Daily Maverick / Supplied)
And in the front, but really everywhere, was Aldo Girolo.
“He was one of the best front of house people I’ve ever come across in my very long career,” says Mary Mcleary, whose combined stints working at Aldo’s restaurants and in her own have kept her in the hospitality industry for 45 years.
“What the customer wanted, the customer got. People came back for Aldo.”
“He was always diplomatic in his approach to clients even when they were unreasonable and demanding,” says Aldo and Linda’s daughter, Lisa.
“He came from a five-star hospitality environment overseas and he brought that training through in his approach locally.”
Former Mount Nelson executive chef, Garth Stroebel, said Aldo was extremely determined to make it.
“You certainly had to work your ass off in those days and Aldo was one of those guys who certainly worked his ass off. I do think that he was a bit of a perfectionist in a way and I think that he wasn’t the easiest guy to work with, but he certainly made it and just by the mere fact that he’d made it in those days shows you how determined he was.
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