Lekgotla @ Johannesburg

I wanted to try something African on my first day in Johannesburg. There are many restaurants in the Sandton area in downtown Johannesburg that I stayed. However, most of them are European restaurants. Strangely, It is not easy to find African restaurant in Johannesburg. There is only one in the Nelson Mandela Square nearby  called Lekgotla.

There is a huge statue of Nelsie (as South African called him) in Nelson Mandela Square. Of course, most businesses in South Africa are owned by the whites who are very good in protecting their business interests and exploiting everything from Nelson Mandela, high crime rate,etc to their business advantage. Perhaps, South Africa should consider more Asian immigrants to challenge the monopoly of the whites. Asian will undercut their high price for everything.

Char grilled vegetable. A bit disappointing though.

Zanzibar kingklip. Zanzibar archipelago is known as spice islands of East Africa. It is part of Tanzania. Kingklip is an ugly looking Southern Hemisphere fish, found in waters of South Africa, Wester Australia, New Zealands and South America. The dish is served with couscous, not rice. Couscous granules are made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them with finely ground wheat flour. The finished granules are roughly spherical shape and about one millimetre in diameter before cooking. Different cereals may be used regionally to produce the granules.

Zanzibar chicken. All the two dishes of Zanzibar kinglip and Zanzibar chicken are spicy but sweet. Sweet! Interesting.

The bill came up to R315, which is about RM150 or S$70. The interesting thing about settling bill in South Africa is you have to write down the tips (gratuity) you want to give. If you are settling the bill using credit card, the waiter will bring the credit card machine to your table and swipe your card in front of you. Perhaps to prevent unscrupulous worker from stealing the information of your credit card.