Gramadoelas: Food fit for a king

Brian Shalkoff cooks for royalty. No trip to Johannesburg by crowned heads, heads of state or general celebrities is complete without a meal at Gramadoelas, adjacent to the Market Theatre in Newtown. The world has dined there, from Queen Elizabeth to former president Bill Clinton and his wife, New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; from rock star David Bowie and his gorgeous model wife Imam to Queen Benedikta of Denmark, Elton John to Lourens van der Post. For more than 30 years, even back in the days when Gramadoelas was a much smaller eatery in the shadow of the Hillbrow Tower, eminent visitors have flocked to its doors.

But Shalkoff’s no snob – he’ll cook for you, too. The menu devised by Shalkoff and partner Eduan Naude, the better-known, front-of-house half of the pair, is a delicious introduction to South African and African specialities.

It’s possible that you’ll never have a snoek dish as wonderful as Gramadoelas’s snoek pie, a major winner at the buffets the restaurant is always setting up for the functions they are constantly asked to host. Another popular dish is bobotie, a local version of shepherd’s pie with Cape Malay spices and a savoury custard topping. But the biggest seller at the moment is North African: Moroccan lamb tagine, with dates and honey.

Traditional Cape cookery was the cuisine they started with when Naude and Shalkoff opened Gramadoelas in the early 1970s, but the menu has expanded since then. They added morogo (wild spinach), mopani worms and such classics as umngqusho (braised beef shin, beans and maize) in the late 1980s and, says Shalkoff, “with the new African renaissance we decided to cross over the Limpopo River and make the menu more international” – so North African dishes, from tagines to cous-cous, have also made their appearance.

Game meat has long been served at Gramadoelas. Crocodile tail meat, cubed and deep fried, is very popular and ostrich, served as a steak. But game gets an unusual, low-fat treatment. The classic South African way is to wrap venison with bacon and roast it in the oven. The Gramadoelas way is to slice it “thin thin thin”, put it in a marinade with bacon, wine, spices and sugar, then pan fry and flambé it and serve with a sauce made with cream and the marinade.

Starters range from R20 for mielie bread to R40 for seafood cocktail, although crocodile cubes will be a bit pricer. Main courses are around R60, although ostrich steaks are R90, and if you want Mozambique king prawns you’ll pay about double that amount.

Desserts are around R20. You will possibly never have a better malva poeding, milktert or Cape brandy pudding anywhere in South Africa – so diners at Gramadoelas are getting a distinct taste of the country. Which makes sense, because the word “Gramadoelas” means in the boondocks, in the back of beyond – in the heart of the country.

For further information visit gramadoelas.co.za

Courtesy of  joburg.org.za/