A Churrasqueira, Rosettenville

One of the classics of Portuguese eating, this spot keeps on trucking, and curiously also looking younger all the time. The sign upstairs in the smoking section, with it’s sports bar personality, says a great deal about the management: ‘no feet on tables, no sleeping on the couches’. This is a working-class area after all.

The prices are refreshingly real too. Our hostly, gravel-voiced waiter brought our order of a range of starters, all in the R35 to R40 bracket: great chorizo, very tasty tripe with beans, good chicken livers and milho frito. Our mains were all- round successes: tender grilled chicken, delicious calamari, good prawns and crayfish. And again value at about R65. The wine list ranges through a few entry level Portuguese wines, then into basic local offerings, again at the right prices. This is the kind of restaurant that’s hard to find in the Cape, that Jozi does best – an honest “democratic” restaurant.

It’s pretty clear that it’s a place for the locals, and ready to keep them happy. Plus lunch here with a view of Jozi’s urban skyline is one of the city’s fine offerings. To add to the conversation between the real and the simulacrum is that part of your view is of one of the original Nando’s shops across the street – SA’s great Portuguese franchise food export.

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