Johannesburg, where to eat?
- Tania
- 19 jul 2017
- 3 Min. de lectura
South Africa’s biggest city has renewed itself during the last years, seeking to leave its bad reputation behind, as it was once the most dangerous city in the world and although it has improved in recent years, it’s still among the first fifty places of the ranking. New restaurants and bars are opening in neighborhoods in which no one would´ve ventured to go before and more are joining the ones that already existed in the neighborhoods frequented by the locals and tourists. Johannesburg is experimenting many changes, hipster ones though, because in addition to these new restaurants and bars, the graffitis and artistic interventions have increased throughout the city, thus, wandering around the neighborhoods of Maboneng or Braamfontein sometimes feels like being in Melbourne.
One of Johannesburg's many grafitis
The food in South Africa is excellent and very cheap in comparison to Chile. Therefore, we took advantage of the month we were there to do a "culinary tour" around the city. These are our favorites.
URBANOLOGI – Newtown
This tapas restaurant shares roof with the Mad Giant brewery. It is very spacious, has excellent lighting –as it is surrounded by windows- and some graffiti that give a spice to the place. It is ideal for large groups and it is not uncommon to meet friends at lunch time or sipping beers at night. Service is fast and the staff knows the dishes well and what beer they go better with. There is also a shop where you can buy beers, t-shirts, hats, and other Mad Giant’s merchandising. As if that were not enough, there is an art gallery at the front of the restaurant, which is worth a visit.
The food and the beers are delicious. We had some tapas with a sample of Mad Giant beers (five 100ml beers at ZAR$10 each, USD$0,80). It's one of the more expensive places we ate in Joburg, but the experience was definitely worth it.
PRON – Linden
Northern-Chinese food, nothing fried and no western dressings. This is part of the introduction to this “tapas” (more than tapas, they sell snacks or starters) and noodles restaurant's menu. Located in Linden, one of the neighborhoods experiencing an increase of restaurants, bars and nightlife, its owner greets every table to recommend dishes and ask if everything is ok. The menu is simple (12 tapas and 12 main dishes - all noodles), but delicious. For ZAR$480 (USD$38) Jeremy, Nata and I ate and drank.
ESCONDIDO – Ilovo
A must. Despite being hidden away in the basement of a small shopping mall (that’s why it’s called Escondido, hidden in Spanish), this place is always crowded. The menu, written on a blackboard on the wall, is constantly changing. It is best to go with a group of 4 or more people, order several tapas and try a little bit of everything. You won’t regret the visit; it is so far, our favorite.
HUDSON’S – Parkhurts
Great place to eat burgers and share drinks with friends. It is on a corner of the 4th Avenue, a street full of restaurants and bars. It has a wide variety of burgers, but it also serves snacks, salads and tacos.
BRIAN LARA – Linden
This small bar with a mix of decoration styles is always crowded, so book early. They have a small menu of well-prepared snacks and cocktails, and the pina coladas are served inside a pineapple.
NEIGHBORGOODS MARKET - Braamfontein
During the week there are several markets in Johannesburg: Wednesdays, in the evening there is one in 27 boxes, Melville; Sundays, a crafts and curios one in Rosebank Mall and Saturdays, in Braamfontein and Maboneng.
We liked the one in Braamfontein very much and although it is not a restaurant, but two floors of stalls with different types of food, drinks, juices and handicrafts, accompanied by live music, we include it here because it is a good opportunity to get to know what Joburg culinary and nightlife is like, in one place. The market opens early, around 9 or 10 in the morning and closes at 3 pm.
More pictures and videos of our time in Africa can be found in the instagram account @travesia_al_infinito
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