If you're headed to Johannesburg, South Africa and are looking for somewhere to eat then here are three restaurants with totally different styles to suit different tastes. MAMASAMBA is a glamourous playground vibe with projected wall murals and a curved mirrored staircase. Rockets is a VIP bar and restaurant serving up a mix of things including enormous fried platters while Gigi features ones of South Africa's top chefs with a kitchen and floor brigade who are new to working in hospitality.
MAMASAMBA
The vibe at MAMASAMBA is eclectic. A curved velvet green stair case leads you upstairs where a DJ plays and a video wall mural features a woman’s face with fluttering butterflies. There's also disco balls, a jungle theme, more green velvet curtains, semi circular cane booths and a circular bar and plants everywhere. If a toucan flew past I wouldn’t be surprised. It's the sort of place where people take selfies on the curved staircase and you go there to be seen.
Food wise, the menu is international and crosses continents from Argentinean steaks and sushi. Start with the soft tacos: the calamari with pineapple is delightful as is the oxtail with avocado. If you want to impress though go for one of the platters.
The sushi moriawase arrives at the table in a cloud of dry ice. There’s a huge range of sushi and sashimi and sushi tacos on the platter but nothing is as good as the classic salmon sashimi. And the price for this enormous platter of sushi is just AU$100.
Meat platters are also good, particularly the barbecue pork and portions are also very generous.
Rockets - Time Square
Rockets is located at the Casino in Menlyn in Pretoria. It's hard to draw an equivalent to a restaurant back home and perhaps that's where the tagline "Not just a restaurant. It's a lifestyle" comes from. If anything it reminds me of Las Vegas with women in a bright green slinky dress greeting you with a big smile.
Despite the nice booths and glam fit out, the food is similar to a sports bar with plenty of enormous platters. It's an international menu with platters, tapas and sushi. There's a vegetarian platter with deep fried zucchini fries, spring rolls, onion bhaji and the most delicious halloumi fries (seriously, these are probably the best halloumi fries I've ever eaten - the halloumi is SO soft).
The meat platters include hot wings, fried chicken wings, pork ribs, panko prawns and a really tasty and surprising chicken liver cream sauce. After this we head to the VIP section in a cordoned off section opposite the main bar.
Gigi Waterfall Corner
We are staying in Waterfall Corner, a new area of Johannesburg that is popular place to eat especially with the black middle class, which now comprises anywhere from 40% to 60% of South Africa's middle class. Gigi is the new restaurant by Chef Moses Moloi that opened in February 2024. Moses was born in the Free State province in South Africa and trained at the Olive Chef School in Bloemfontein.
Having worked with some of South Africa's best chefs he is the chef Patron at Gigi. In 2023 he was the only African chef to be listed in the top 100 on The Best Chef Awards and his focus is on New African cuisine. Indeed looking at the menu you will see familiar dishes like oxtail but with African ingredients like morogo spinach and vetkoek (donuts). What is also very unique about Gigi's is that the entire kitchen staff and floor staff have been trained by Moses himself. None of these chefs and waitstaff have worked in hospitality before. This accounts for the baby faced staff in the open kitchen.
I start with the pork belly, all meltingly soft cubes with roasted pineapple to give it a zing and a gochujang sticky sauce that gives the pork belly a gorgeous sticky texture. It's not often that I devour everything on a plate but not a scrap goes back to the kitchen.
The sea bass is braised and served with mussels in a creamy potjie sauce (a three legged cooking vessel) with a vermicelli and bean salad with Brussels sprouts. The sea bass has a lovely crispy skin on it and is perfectly luscious underneath that crisp skin especially paired with the sauce and noodles.
The malva pudding is a no brainer. The name Malva comes from Afrikaans malvalekker, meaning "marshmallow" used to describe the spongy texture of the pudding. Gigi's version is paired with toasted coconut flakes, salted caramel and a scoop of tangy amansi sorbet. Amansi is a traditional fermented dairy product and a major protein source.
So tell me Dear Reader, which restaurant would be your vibe for decor and food?
If you would like to book transport or a tour (which I recommend), we used Tshuku Tours (mpho@tshuku.co.za). If you want a specific food tour, you can also contact Anna Trapido @trapidoterritory or email her here
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