Where can we find South African flavours at their best?

A. Township restaurants:
We all know Wandies but it is very touristy and on heritage day one wants to experience real home style soul food township style rather than an exploitative tour bus experience. Here are 2 good ones:

1. Kliptown Hotel restaurant - Walter Sisulu Square, Kliptown, Soweto 011-527 7300

This restaurant has recently undergone a really charming transition. It used to be just the same old, same old posh Eurocentric fodder but the owner Lindiwe Sangweni Siddo has been encouraging her kitchen staff to incorporate recipes from their home experiences into the menu.

What’s on offer to eat? Delicious buttery samp, three separate chakalakas (including a really interesting courgette and lemon one that I had never seen before), isonka sombhako pot breads, trifle and ginger cake for pudding.

What’s on offer to drink? They have a home made ginger beer from heaven. Plus all the smart drinks you would expect from a 4 star hotel.

2. Nomalizo Xhoma Catering, Alexandra : 076 2460352
What makes the Xhoma’s unique: You can either go to Nomalizo’s home in Alexandra for your feast or she will bring her catering skills to your home. Both are lovely but you might want to do the former because the Xhoma family are the people who took in the young Nelson Mandela when he first arrived in Johannesburg and you can eat in the house in which he stayed. What’s more you can actually eat the same food because Nomalizo has all her Great Grandmother Harriet’s recipes. Nomalizo’s mother remembers Madiba as a young man and can regale you with stories about eating peanuts with him when she was a child.

What’s on offer to eat?: you will decide together when you book but the pork stew, amadombolo dumplings, sweet pumpkin, tomato gravy, lamb stews are all highly recommended.
Drink is BYO at no charge