A cuisine crawl laden with mouthwatering food

Kalamata Kouzina

Open: Daily 11am to 9pm

Call: 082 387 3927

Joita’s and Joop’s Place

Open: Daily 11am to 9pm

Call: 071 418 9469

Elephant & Co

Open: Monday to Friday 10am to 9pm, Saturday to Sunday 9am to 9pm.

Call: 031 020 2246

The music quickens. Plates are handed round. Suddenly all are dancing arm in arm, our little party, the next table, waiters, our host. The music picks up further. A circle soon of dancers soon forms as plates are thrown into the middle. A fire is lit and the pace becomes relentless.

Such are the joys of Greek dancing. Yours truly even had a plate smashed over his head - I suppose you could call it a Greek kiss. Better than a Glaswegian kiss, I suppose. At least I still have my grey matter.

We’re at a Cuisine Crawl around the restaurants of the newly opened Westown Square out at Shongweni. And started out at the family Greek restaurant Kalamata Kouzina. And a sprawling mezze is laid out, showcasing the best of their starter options.

There’s lovely cheese potato croquettes, green olives to our host's grandmother’s recipe, and black to his grandfather’s. The tasty and lemony vine leaves were the mother-in-law's recipe - made all the better because the meat to rice ratio was generous. There’s lovely crisp spinach spanikopita cut into cigar shapes - the recipe, his wife’s grandmother’s.

There were spicy lamb meatballs and a good minted tzatziki to dip them in. Crisp little zucchini chips came with more of that tzatziki, plus there’s a brinjal option if you prefer. A spicy feta dip with a good hint of chilli - another relative’s recipe - went well with hot pitas. And then there was good crumbed calamari with tentacles. But the pick for me was the grilled octopus tentacles. Meaty with the charcoal flavours of the grill and lots of lemon in the marinade, these were the standout. Although the sight of the tentacles made many of the women in our party squeamish. No problem, more for me.

It was a feast and certainly I could have ended lunch right here, but will be back to try their fat lamb chops or lamb souvlaki - or the Greek style lemon fish or prawns. There’s even apricot ribs. Mains include a number of combos which offer the best of all worlds - or for great sharing at the table.

As we dance out of Kalamata, we head for mains at new branches of Joop’s Place and Joita’s which share a space on each side of a long bar arrangement. Both restaurants have their own kitchens and each their own butchery or in the case of Joita’s a fishery section where they sell meats and chicken peri-peri and fish products to the public. 

We’re treated to another communal feast. I look no further than my Joop’s favourite: the pepper steak, cooked a perfect medium rare and swimming in a rich and deeply peppered sauce. Then there’s the famed Hollandse biefstuk, a steak cooked in garlic butter and flamed in brandy. Another goodie. A side of sauteed mushrooms is always a good idea. The chips too are decent, not these anemic undercooked creatures SouthAfricans seem to love so much. 

From Joita's side comes a gigantic platter piled with good meaty prawns, some peri-peri- and some lemon and herb. And I’ve always thought their peri-peri chicken was a notch above most - and this proved it. It comes with their signature round flat crisps. An opulent calamari salad looked lovely, only I’d had way too much calamari already.

And good news for those living in Umhlanga, a third branch of Joop’s is about to open in the Village early next month. 

Then it’s dessert time and we head to Elephant & Co which offers a colourful journey across Africa and Asia. The menu takes in everything from African classics to sushi and Thai curries. It basically follows cuisine options from everywhere you might encounter an elephant.

Dessert options here are interesting. There’s a salted caramel frifle creation designed to look like cappuccino, filled with chocolate biscuit, caramel ice cream, salted caramel mousse and topped with Italian meringue. A shade sweet for me, but a nice idea. The bar-one chocolate spring rolls were a hit with the ladies. Again a shade sweet. I enjoyed the banana and toffee waffle - sans banana of course. The creme brulee was also enjoyable.

Many of us were tempted to try a chocolate martini to round the day off, although with a long drive back in traffic a more prosaic coffee would do the trick. Elephant & Co serves a good one.