In Stellenbosch and Soweto, the taste of township life

Street vendors line up to their stations preparing for a day of braaing assorted meat from boerewors and chicken to Cape snoek. A kota shop employee opens a fresh bag of spinach while another restocks the condiments to squeeze onto the signature-style sandwiches in the township.

A few blocks from the entrance in Kayamandi is Amazink, a restaurant that challenges the perceptions of townships by inviting customers to explore traditional African cuisine.

In Xhosa, Kayamandi means “sweet home”. In the heart of the township, the chefs and staff at Amazink reimagine the meals made at home in the heart of the community. 

Near the entrance of the restaurant is an art design of a woman dressed in traditional Xhosa attire, wearing shades of orange, green, red and black. The woman is holding a bowl over her head with cooking tools such as a pot, and instruments such as a drum and guitar are placed inside to pay homage to the artistry and cuisine of the fiery Xhosa culture. 

Chef Loyiso Mbambo is one of the founders of Amazink. Born in Stellenbosch and raised in Kayamandi, Mbambo started Amazink as a small kitchen, taking the plates and pots from his family home to cook there. He learned how to cook from following instructions from his aunt. Over the years, Mbambo connected with founders including chef Bertus Basson, who helped fund Amazink. Amazink, formerly known as Roots African Restaurant, was the starting ground for his entrepreneurial spirit. 

Amazink used to be a beer hub during the apartheid era. The men who worked on farms or in construction used to live in communal houses provided by their employers. After work, men in the community would drink umqombothi, a traditional Xhosa beer whose ingredients include maize meal, the same maize mix used to make pap, with sorghum salt, water and some source of yeast to make the sour drink. 

Entertainment came in the form of drinking and playing drums for the men who dined at Amazink. The restaurant has been transformed and hosts live events such as poetry nights, offering locals an opportunity to showcase their talents. 

Inside the restaurant more afrocentric artwork and designs are seen on the ceilings and walls of the dining hall, including different-sized blocks used to form the continent of Africa behind a colourful backdrop. A sign that says Amazink is near the bar, the “m” replaced by a hairpick imitating the shape of the letter. 

A piano sits near the bar ready to be played during the live performances. Written with chalk on a board is a sign that displays the winter special, steamed beef, isbindi, uMleqwa, pap, rice, samp, steamed bread and veggies of the day. Other menu options include wings, fries, plates of grilled meat and chakalaka.

The outdoor space resembles a small-scale soccer stadium or concert venue for diners to enjoy the live events on a perfect sunny day in the township. Multicolored shipping containers complement the hues of the design of the Xhosa woman outside the entrance of the restaurant. 

During my first day in Kayamandi, my friend Dee took me to Amazink where we met Karin, a community organiser in the township, and Toby, the son of missionaries. The table shared the plated food of wings, fries and sausage. Since I am pescatarian, I was given my own meal – chakalaka, pap and salad. The fries also looked too appetising to pass, so I nibbled on those as I waited for my meal. 

My classmate Laurenne and her mom soon joined us for us all to enjoy our first meal together. You know a meal is good when everyone sits in silence. Before anyone could finish chewing their food, hands were extending to grab the next crispy wing. Meanwhile, I enjoyed the thick curried vegetable-like stew of the chakalaka and the warm white pap, plopped onto the plate.

Before we left, a group of five traditional singers from Amazink gave us a live performance and Laurenne’s mom got up to dance with the group, swaying gently to the soft hymns. 

My first taste of traditional South African cuisine from the Xhosa culture left me craving more. I visited Amazink three times during my month-long stay. My second visit was with my friends Bradly and Lee. The three of us went to enjoy a meal after I was raving about the cultural cuisine and afrocentric ambience. The three of us sat near the entrance of Amazink, and as a self-proclaimed regular I ordered my usual. Bradly and his brother shared tripe with chakala and steamed bread. 

The two brothers from Durban have helped create some of my favorite memories in Cape Town, our dining experience being one of them. I took out my phone, cleaned the camera lens and pressed record to remember the moment and also to document my Diasporic Dinner Dialogues series. The topic — navigating your 20s. Lee described Cape Town as a receptive city.

“I feel like you could be whoever you want to be,” said my friend Lee Jacobs. 

Bradly, a resident of Stellenbosch, describes the Western Cape as a place for “freedom”, and says Kayamandi is a “piece of home away from home”, which is fitting given the Xhosa translation of the name. 

With the three of us at different stages in our lives, Lee, 23, Bradley 27, and myself, 26, from different careers and backgrounds, we continued to converse while having a powerful culinary experience. Food has the power to foster community. 

My final visit to Amazink was a solo trip where I had the opportunity to interview the team at the dinner theatre. I have tried the same meal three times: hot chocolate, chakalaka, fries and a salad, and each time is like I am trying it for the first time. But I am not the only customer who feels a sense of belonging and attraction to Amazink.

A native of Kayamandi, Zukisani Xegwana remembers coming to Amazink every Thursday to enjoy the entertainment and the local food. Contrary to stereotypes, Xegwana says Amazink is considered a safe place in Kayamandi.

Khanyisa Kay Mhlakaza joined the team to help transform Amazink using her hospitality and tourism background, and most importantly her knowledge of Kayamandi as a local to encourage more customers to experience the restaurant. 

“We want them to connect with the broader South Africa, not just to the suburbs and to the restaurants and hotels. They need to know that there are also shacks around here, and that they are people who dance and sing and do poetry for a living,” said Mhlakaza.

Mhlakaza hosts hospitality and tourism training workshops at the restaurant. On my third visit, a meeting was hosted for community members with an entrepreneurial spirit to share business ideas. The restaurant was filled with locals eager to learn about various industries.

“Amazink is a training ground for those who are interested in pursuing hospitality and tourism,” said Mhlakaza.

Amazink is a place for locals to enjoy entertainment, tourists to support the economy, while employers empower through employment.

Mihlali Xolani Gxuluwe, a native of Kayamandi, owns a braai and meat business in the township. He was hired by Mhlakaza after she asked him to join the staff.

“I have always been here in Kayamandi and I never knew that Amazink hosts youth to be more innovative in the hospitality industry,” said Gxuluwe. 

The reality of township life is experienced through visitation and exploration.

“Coming here also gives you the opportunity to learn more of a real perspective of what the culture is really about,” said Gxuluwe.

Gxuluwe said that locals from the township might not be able to afford the food in town, so Amazink created a specialised menu with affordable prices to bring the town to the township. 

“They have us to accommodate them,” said Gxuluwe. Chicken feet cost R55. 

After I scooped up my last portion of pap and dipped it in the oily chakalaka stew, I wiped my hands on the napkin and walked out of Amazink for the last time, on a rainy day in Cape Town. 

From ‘sweet home’ to the City of Gold

After a month in Cape Town it was time for me to travel to Johannesburg to report on spaza shops for my fellowship with the Pulitzer Center. The place called sweet home has warmly welcomed me, and now it is time to join a new home in the City of Gold. TGIFood Editor Tony Jackman had asked me to write my thoughts on township life in Cape Town compared with Johannesburg.

Remembering my message from Tony, I thought about how I should spend my first day in Jozi. Scrolling through my phone, I found city experiences offered on Airbnb, where I found an eight-hour tour of Soweto. 

Prior to going on the tour, a peer had shared her opinion that township tours were exploitative. It dawned on me for the first time that I’d never thought township tours existed. Did people actually want to see the townships? Could this tour be both educational and exploitative? I was conflicted, yet wondered how I would learn more about the new (to me) city from which I would be reporting when I knew practically no one. I wrestled with this decision before booking the tour. Despite my initial conflict, the nearly eight-hour experience gave me a glimpse into the reporting I will be doing for a month.

Hosted by Curiocity, a travel movement and community space, guests or customers can enjoy different experiences such as backpacking-style views of the city and even walking tours.

At the industrial-designed site located on Fox Street, I met Dominic, the tour driver, and my tour guide Tshepo Mokone; Sanele, a mixologist, and new friend Bonga Zungu, a general manager at Curiocity. As the only person who’d booked that day, I received a one-on-one experience of Soweto, allowing me to fully immerse myself in its history.

We began our tour at Klipfontein, one of the first informal settlements in Johannesburg, before weaving our way through traffic in Naledi, and even visiting the Hector Pieterson memorial site. 

During the tour, I asked Tshepo about Naledi. He paused and asked me how I knew about Naledi, and after I said that I had learned about the township during my research, he told me he was from Naledi. Was this a case of serendipity in Soweto? Maybe I will find support and new friends after all.

At our rest stop on Vilakazi Street, I enjoyed kota for the second time — of course vegetarian style. The first time I tried kota, the quarter loaf of bread typically layered with french fries and polony, was with my host sister Piko and her brother Onako in Kayamandi where I walked through the hilly township to taste the street delicacy. The potato chips poke out of the massive sandwiches and need to be wrapped in thin plastic to prevent them from falling out, and even then the bread is no match for the crispy fries. 

I have had a meal similar to kota in New Jersey called fat sandwiches. The New Brunswick staple is a fan and tourist favourite in the suburb, so I was prepared to open wide for my first bite. 

The kota that I had in Kayamandi at Kota Queens had egg, cheese, and fries, but the ones at Tshisanyama Kota Dagwood and at Kek Restaurants Vilakazi in Johannesburg had vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers sprinkled with black pepper and salt, with fries. Two different shops, tastes and memories, but both enjoyable as a pescatarian-friendly alternative with a balance between the spicy peppers, saltiness and creamy cheese that is absorbed by the greasy pillowy bread.

My tour with Tshepo reminded me of the Bites & Sites Tour. His knowledge rolled off the tip of his tongue as if he were a historian. Though the tour only included one meal and many historical sites such as a visit to Nelson Mandela’s home and the Apartheid Museum, the amount of information was enough for me to sit, reflect and digest for a month in Johannesburg. 

Whether you are in Kayamandi trying tripe for the first time at Amazink, or trying a traditional kota during the Soweto tour, the cuisine in the township offers a celebration of culture through a true taste of the township. DM

Also read Naomi’s reflections of Dining Like Madiba in Soweto.