Many tourists have heard of Mzoli’s in Gugulethu, a butchery which barbecues one’s meat, and then one eats it in a dining section, usually accompanied by township music, especially on Saturdays, when it is said to become very festive. On Friday I experienced Mzoli’s as well as Nomzamo Butchery in Langa, offering a similar service. Neither of these were very good nor would be likely to appeal to the taste and hygiene standards of a tourist!

I’m doing a Tour Guiding course, and we were taken to Mzoli’s Meat & Grill in Guguletu for lunch as a practical, preceding a Township Tour. We lasted there for ten minutes, they having no fresh meat, and our guides not being happy with the quality of the meat they saw in the butchery. We were told that Mzoli the owner is ill, and has handed over the business to his children. It has gone downhill, we were told. Mzoli’s started the Butchery Barbecue Service about 20 years ago, and established a reputation for good quality meat and a festive atmosphere whilst eating it. 

 

So we drove to Langa, where a Township Guide Jimmy showed us a similar set up, Nomzamo Butchery, where one orders meat cuts in a butchery, and then another section barbecues the meat. One is allocated a number, stapled to the slip. One pays extra for Chakalaka (a relish) and pap, described as delicious, charged at R23 for the two together, large potions which one can share with others.

 

The meat is served on a tray, with a sheet of paper over it, with a serrated knife to cut the meat, and a plastic teaspoon to eat the pap and Chakalaka. One eats the meat with one’s hands, paper serviettes being provided.  One waits for the meat to be barbequed, and then staff bring the trays of meat into the dining section, calling out the order number. 

 

The regular meat eaters felt the meat to be expensive, compared to Woolworths prices, at R171 for beef and lamb per kg, and R99 per kg for sausage. The beef was felt to be too thinly sliced, and the beef and lamb was felt to be tough. Most ate the Chakalaka and pap an hour or more before the meat, being so hungry. And then the Chakalaka ran out……I had a small bite of beef and lamb each, and was not excited about the taste, having a slight curry taste to it. Funny was the VAT Registration number on the invoice, ten numbers ranging from 1 to zero. 

The disappointment was the inordinate length of time it took to be served one’s food after it was barbecued, up to 2 hours. There was no logical order by order number as to when one received one’s food, some receiving their meat before others who had placed the order ahead of them

The guys in our class slipped into a bottle store next door, buying quarts of Carling Black Label, bottles which weren’t allowed to be brought into the venue where we were eating.

A classmate bought a Stoney ginger beer in a can, and noted that it is a 400 ml size (compared to the standard 340 ml), and that it has the price of R8 on the can, a bargain price. 

After posting this on a Cape Town Facebook Restaurant Page, a number of recommendations were received for far better township eateries: Rands in Khayalitsha, Lelapa in Langa, kwaAce, and Jordan Ways of Cooking n Langa. Rands appears to be the best Township Restaurant in Cape Town.

While many of my classmates were excited to visit a township for the first time, few of them would be likely to return to eat here. 

 

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein