Durban Restaurants

Favorite Dish: Bunny chow is the quintessential Duban food icon, and quite unlike anything you're likely to eat elsewhere!

On the face of it, bunny chow sounds pretty grim. You take a half a white loaf (brown, granary or anything else with nutritional pretentions simply won't do) and hollow out the middle, leaving a thick shell of crust. Then fill the cavity you have created with any curry of your choice - to my mind, the best are vegetarian, but any curry with boneless meat would work well. As the bunny sits, the liquid from the curry seeps into the surrounding bread, and you simply eat the lot.

There may well be a polite way to eat a bunny, but if there is, I've never seen it, let alone learned how to execute this gentle art! This is definitely 'food for friends' and about as low down the list of 'ideal food to eat on a first date when you're seeking to impress' as it is possible to go! I would recommend dispensing altogether with cutlery and letting the bunny cool down a little before disembowelling it. Then simply rip pieces of bread (with curry clinging to it) off with your fingers and shovel the delectable, soggy mess into your mouth as quickly as possible ... but then I come from unapologetic peasant stock and don't much care for appearances so long as it taste good!

Recently I had a superb Mozambiquean Bunny as a starter in the Protea Edward Hotel on the beach front - a crusty white Portuguese bread roll hollowed out and filled with spicy peri peri chicken livers - utterly divine!

Let me state up front that I'm not a great fan of the Moyo franchise, as I find their food underwhelming and their in-your-face pseudo African theme 'gimmicky' - the face painting and the dancing I can tolerate, but the ritual handwashing (with said employee subserviently murmuring "wishee washee") really tries my patience ...

However, I must concede that the location of their restaurants is superb. The one at uShaka World is probably the most impressive of the lot, being literally beachside. The downstairs bar area has comfortable sofas that you can lounge on as you relish your ice cold sundowner, and the restaurant upstairs features huge glass picture windows which look straight out over the Indian Ocean and the approach to Durban Harbour.

When I was there last, the waiter was clueless and, by way of example, his explanation of the complimentary starter platter was hopeless: since when does dukka feature peanuts? (and, having tasted it, Moyo's certainly doesn't!). I don't believe that the waiting staff are well trained, and they seem to rely on fawning, smiley charm to substitute for actual knowledge of the food, which is not acceptable for a restaurant in this price bracket.

I also find the unisex loo a bit odd, and it could be offputting for older/more sensitive clientele.
I would heartily recommend this restaurant for sundowners and snacks on the basis of its stunning location - however, I don't think that it's worth the money unless someone else is footing the bill (which is why I would only contemplate it for business entertaining of out-of-town guests)

Favorite Dish: Moyo's food is so so - but, to be fair, I imagine that most people go there for the 'experience' and location rather than for a gourmet experience (which is a pretty sad indictment of a restaurant).

To my mind, the best of the lot are the meatballs served with a little pot of mashed potato which come as a starter (but then I'm on a mission to find the Ultimate Meatball, and have seldom met one I didn't like) .

The seafood curry is ordinary, as is the chicken tagine. The ingredients used seem to be fine, but somehow in Moyo's desire to embrace pan African cuisine, the distinct flavours of the various regions seem to have been dumbed down. I would hate for visitors to return from South Africa (or the rest of the continent for that matter) thinking that our food is so bland!

Although it's always best to get restaurant recommendations from people whose taste you know and trust, there are times when that just isn't possible ...

At this point, "Google is your friend" (as Gerald_D would say) and it's time to minister to that rumbly tummy by getting those fingers tapping to access the online 'Eat Out' guide.

This is a very useful resource which covers the whole of South Africa. I haven't used it extensively, as our kids tend to rather constrain our fine dining these days, but I have used it to check out our usual haunts, and have found the commentary to be fair and balanced.

The website allows you to search on the basis of food type as well as location, and is so user friendly that even this Luddite encountered no problems!

Simply amazing! The Olive Garden is a new family restaurant which formerly was known as Riders Rest over looking the Dieters Nursery in Assagay. We went for a lunch last week and were pleasantly welcome with a beautiful rustic setting and surroundings. The food is all international Mediterranean dishes from Breakfasts, lunches, salads, platters, roasts, deserts, cocktails, tea and considerably prices and very well presented. I recommend sitting on the terrace overlooking and enjoying their stunning Bruchetta and a platter to share from Seafood to meat or even the Vegetarian option. A big thumbs up!

Favorite Dish: Bruchetta, Seafood, Breakfasts, Salads, Roasts & deserts

Most Awesome Experience... This restaurant is Durban's best kept secret -
The *Best* Food, excellent service and great winelist.

The food is superb - perfectly prepared, amazingly presented - looks good, tastes good!

You have to try the Liquid Nitrogen Icecream!!
Great selection of wine too....

We'll be back...

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Favorite Dish: Sesame and Chilli crusted Linefish

I had marlin, cooked to perfection, juicy and tender, crusted in sesame seeds and chilli flakes. Set on a sweet potato rosti - I love rosti, and the sweet potato is a wonderful play on this. The coconut milk broth with lime, ginger and lemongrass flavours perfectly compliments the dish... yum - I'm drooling as I write this!

Also the griddled Watermelon and Danish Feta and Prawn Salad... Highly recommended!

2 more images

Our host Neville recommended Olive & Oil and that was just perfect. The dinner meal was delicious and we had fantastic red wine as well. On this occasion it was exceptional for me but I even ordered dessert this time which was excellent as well.
And, of course, the very friendly service, even if was sometimes a bit too formal, but that place has its class and in the end they were even posing for a staff photo.

The verandah is the best place for a beer after a walk o the busy beach. The hotel has been around for years and the verandah has an ecxcellent view over the sea and the busy beach front.

Favorite Dish: The breakfast is Ok and relatively cheap. The basic egg, bacon, saugage and chips. I was hungry and had some of it. Not too impressed but the rest of the family was happy and finished mine as well.

Havana Grill is located on the upper level in the Suncoast hotel and casino complex, which is located on Snell parade in Durban. 100% wheelchair accessible. On the two occassions that we dined there we where so impressed with the wait staff. The waiters really are top class!

Favorite Dish: I can highly recommend the Prawn samoosa as a starter. It's one of Havana Grill's signature dishes... It's simply deliscious... It's layers of samoosa squares/pastry and the most yummy and spicey prawn filling, topped with fresh coriander...

For mains I can recommend the deboned BBQ ribs... That's right, deboned ribs! What a pleasure to eat ribs without the mess! And it was plate licking good! We where so impressed with Havana Grill that we ate there two nights in a row! Yes, it was that good...