Smiles, spice and shisanyama

Mojo’s Car Wash & Shisanyama

Where: 8 Dunbar Rd, Wiggins, Chesterville

Open: Tuesday to Thursday 8am to 5pm, Friday 8am to midnight, Sat and Sun 24 hours.

Call: 061 516 1145 /076 447 7137 /072 268 1540

I was invited as part of a Durban Tourism media gig to one of the city’s famed shisanyamas recently and accepted wholeheartedly. Afterall it was some six years since I managed to persuade the Berea set to try Ma Mkhanye’s little shisanyama in Cato Manor. We’d had an enjoyable and very leisurely late Sunday lunch there. Her jeqe was superb.

So after a sunset jaunt around the bay we went to one of the big players, Mojo’s Car Wash in Chesterville.

We were there on a Tuesday evening when Mojo’s is not normally open, so it was hardly pumping - a few guys watching the soccer at the bar, a couple of businessmen on the comfy white sofas nurturing a well earned dop and a chat. A whole second section with its own upstairs function venue wasn’t open. I should imagine that it's very different come weekends when it’s pumping. And the local community is out in force. But it’s a very comfortable and multifaceted venue.

There is no menu as such, but at the front as you walk in was a fridge with an array of meats - presumably you can choose. I’m not sure if you can braai your own, but I suspect they are cooked for you. We could smell the fires as we entered.

A sign offered two menu options. Starters of wings, meatballs and chicken wraps with mains of beef steak, lamb wors, drumsticks, pork rashers, pap, jeqe and salads plus a dessert of apple crumble, jam puffs and chocolate muffins with ice-cream for R500 a head. A second option offered the same starters and desserts but with chicken curry, beef curry and mutton curry and salads for R550 a head. I presume you order as a group.

We were shown to another comfortable upstairs functions room, where there was enough food to feed an army. You’re never going to starve here. In fact there was so much food they brought  us take-away containers before we left.

We were treated to wors which was good, and chicken wings which were Moroccan rubbed but  enjoyable. I avoided the spicy mutton wors because it’s usually too strong for me. But my Joburg Colleague said it could have gone up a spice level. Yet the Cape Town Influencer gave it a definite thumbs up. And then there was the brisket which sadly was over cooked and over spiced.

When it came to sides there was pap, which my Joburg Colleague again insisted should have been served hot. Hot or cold it’s one South African staple I don’t like - and that includes its posh cousin polenta. You can call it boarding school memories if you will. But I do like jeqe, especially if it’s still hot. One quite fun way of eating is to wrap the jeqe around the wors and dip it in chakalaka. Sadly this bread was on the cold and heavy side. 

There was a potato salad that would have benefitted from salt and pepper (a tip would be to add the mayo while the potatoes are hot) and an enjoyable chakalaka. For someone who will never be a fan of baked beans, chakalaka is always a bit of a lucky dip. The more other stuff added to it, the more I tend to enjoy it. The Cameraman certainly approved. There was also a nice and spicy tomato sambal. 

The kitchen went to town on the salad, garnishing it with grapes and blueberries and big hunks of mixed cheeses, which was interesting except for the slightly sweet dressing. An easy fix.

We chilled for a while over a few more drinks, gin and tonics, Hennessey and Johnnie Walker flowing. The waiting staff were fantastically friendly. And if it wasn’t upstairs they would gladly get it from the main bar below. The one young lady kept offering a refill of my beer slightly too regularly. Yet I approved each time. And her smile on delivering it added to the evening. And of course we all carried on nibbling at the feast as the night wore on.

Dessert was not part of the offering that night, so I was glad to find a hidden stash of chocolate when I got home.

Food: 3

Service: 3 ½

Ambience: 3 ½