First, what is authentic? Is the indicator that only people of that nationality are eating at the restaurant? Only Chinese people at a Chinese place? Only Thai at a Thai place? “Chinese New Year” or lunar new year, celebrated in many parts of Asia, was on January 29 this year. There is a “Chinatown” in Washington, DC, but it’s not as “authentic” as “Little Vietnam” — Eden Center, out in Falls Church, Virginia.
Back to the idea of authentic Asian food. It’s been tough finding food that meets the standards of my “authentic like it’s 1985 kind of way” friend. But we have found a few places, some listed on my favorite places list: Y Noodles, Mumaroi, Mandu Erang, and the mala tang place in the 99 Ranch store in Centreville. Plus some of the places in Eden Center. At Eden Center, I like the Huong Viet, Thanh Son Tofu (only take out tofu and desserts), Hai Duong, and some of the other places out there. You can follow my Instagram account to see more of my recommendations.
From 99 Ranch: the dry version. Woo was that spicy!
Mainly, all this talk of “authentic” makes me ponder the nature of food culture. The food of the diaspora is probably more “authentic” if you are looking for the food of 40 years ago. For example, Korean food now includes cheese in the ramyun and rice cake dish. What horror! Not to everyone. Times move on and the food becomes “fusion” or “Americanized” or “de-constructed” — but it’s all good unless you want it the way it used to taste.
Meanwhile, for lunar new year, the “authentic” food is tea cakes. I prefer spicy noodles.
Lekker. If you mention that you are traveling to South Africa, people will tell you about lekker (which means “great” or “awesome”), but there are other fun phrases and words to learn in colloquial South African (Afrikaans is a separate language, but some of these words, like lekker, come from there). Here are some of the phrases I heard and asked about with South Africans. (Other than vocabulary, there were some funny signs. I’ve used some throughout this blog posting).
Boomslang is an elevated walkway.
Lekker: is “great” or “super” and is used frequently.
Braai: a barbecue, as in an event, a thing, etc.
Boma: a campfire meal gathering. Come from British Officers Mess Area.
Lanie: translates to fancy or posh (posh is pronounced “poache” like gauche)
I just liked this sign.
It is not a train smash: it’s not a big deal.
Pleasure: used like an affirmation as in “it was a pleasure” but they use the word by itself.
Shame: can be used both as negative and positive. Like “oh really?”
Hot chick’s. Notice the possessive.
Hectic: means bad.
Hish: also means it’s bad.
A banana general dealer.
Now now: means it’s not happening now. In a while but not as soon as “just now.”
Just now: means that it will get done but not right now.
Is Hardbody Mogodu the proprietor?
Yobo: an enthusiastic yes.
Exciting revamp ahead.
Robot: traffic light.
It’s a monkeys wedding: when the sun is out and it’s raining.
Do not feed the baboons.
It’s such jol: it was a great time.
I love symmetry.
Howzit: how is it.
Biscuit: roundabout or traffic circle.
Ladies mile.
Cap/MCC: sparkling wine (cap classic).
Pudo: a post office box or receiving box like an Amazon box.li
Steak, venison, filet, bone marrow, and game meat. Okay, also drinks. While there is lots to eat that is vegetarian, South Africa is delight for meat eaters. Not only is there a lot of meat on the menu, it is not expensive, and there is a great variety. One can have a full steak dinner for 20 bucks. Tip is ten percent.
Let’s start with the sweet tooth.
Malva pudding: It’s a dessert sort of like sticky toffee pudding in England, except that Malva is made with apricots instead of dates so it is not as sweet. Just kidding. It is served with custard rather than toffee sauce, and that is what makes it less sweet.
Malva pudding with distinctive custard sauce.
Wine: Wine tasting is a big thing to do in South Africa. They have so much wine.
Amarula: is a liqueur sort of like Baileys. The urban legend is that the elephants were getting drunk off the fermented fruit of the Amarula tree and the humans got inspired to try it.
Amarula shots.
Biltong: is dried meat, like jerky, but it can be soft like dried mango in texture. The South Africans don’t like it when you say it’s jerky…
Bunny chow: is curry in a loaf of white bread. South Africa has immigrants from South Asia so there is lots of curry.
Bunny chow.
Kudu: is a kind of deer, or DLC, deer like creature (as one South African calls anything that can be turned into biltong). Delicious.
Eland: another edible hoofed animal. Bigger and delicious. Maybe the most delicious.
Bone marrow: is served a lot here. Maybe it’s a fad.
Bone marrow.
Roosterkoek: is a kind of bread a bit like a bun that is grilled so it gets good smoked char and deep grooves for absorbing taste. The bread is a yeasty bread so I liked it. Crunchy and yeasty. Now we are talking.
Roosterkoek.
Calamari (chokka): in South Africa are often served as “fingers” and is probably made from the local Cape Hope squid. It is exceptionally tender. No rubber bands here! See below.
Calamari sticks that match the fries.The square things are “rusks” which are dried bread.
South Africa is known for safaris, Capetown, penguins, the garden route, where the two oceans meet, and wine country. If you want to get inspired, I recommend a South African Youtube channel called “Like a Tourist” (I think they may soon run tours as well). Get inspired by the lesser known parts of South Africa, shown with excellent cinematic skill, by a native. I got inspired to go to Barrydale Hand Weavers, but otherwise, I relied on the recommendations of a friend who lives there… If you want to do what I did, then I’ve listed it below. Note: I will write about these places in separate blog postings in the next six months.
My itinerary:
You might make eye contact with a lion.
Safari –– Four night safari at Madikwe Hills: Madikwe is a private game reserve to the north of Pretoria. It is a four hour drive of which the last hour or so is inside the game reserve (so you will be on your own game drive!). Madikwe Hills is a luxury safari lodge (Think in the $500 per night and up range). I will write more about Madikwe in a separate article. I highly recommend them. I will write about safari in a separate article.
The view of the “game drive” vehicle at our luxury lodge.
The Garden Route — two nights in each — Capetown, Hermanus, and Knysna:
Breakfast view of the back of Table Mountain, at the Vineyard Constantia hotel.
Capetown: We stayed at the Vineyard, not in downtown Capetown, and it was a lovely hotel with views of table mountain. While in Capetown, we went to the Cape of Good Hope (the “southernmost” point of Africa — actually location is Cape Agulhus which is 90 miles away), we did fancy dinners (Chef’s Table at the Beau Constantia Vineyard and Belly of the Beast). We took Uber (your account will work here too) as to avoid driving, drinking and driving, and parking nightmares. We flew to Capetown on Safair, a domestic airline, and two things to note about that — it is possible to take liquids onto your domestic flights so load up on your coffee or tea — and you can reserve the middle seat for not so much money thus making it a pleasant flight. While in Capetown, you can go up the cable car to Table Mountain. Some days you will see nothing but we were lucky with sunshine. The cool thing about the funicular is that it rotates! So you will get a good view wherever you are standing when you get in. The ride is short (five minutes?) but the line is long (buy the VIP passes). Check out the botanical gardens.
There is also a restaurant at the botanical gardens.
Hermanus: We drove to a secret spot to see penguins (Betty’s Bay, on the way to Hermanus, and park at the Stony Point Penguin Colony entrance — you will still see penguins even when the colony is closed. It’s an insider’s secret!), did wine tastings (more to come on those later), and stayed at the Marine One hotel. The staff are helpful, the penthouse is large with a view of the whale-filled bay, but there are no elevators). The staff there can help you get to your whale watching and wine tasting. This is the place for whale watching.
Penguins hanging out on the beach. Amazing views along the Garden Route.
Knysna (‘nice-naw’): This is a place to see the Knysna Headlands (I really liked the East Head Cafe), enjoy a sailboat ride, eat seafood, shop at Old Nick Village (a small outdoor shopping area including Mungo and their workshop), visit Barrydale for the drive and the shopping, and explore other shopping opportunities such as a farmers market. We stayed at Mount Knysna which has amazing views (and an elevator) and very nice rooms (the presidential suite has an extra bedroom).
View of the Heads from Mount Knysna hotel.
Another national park and small town — Clarens: Not on my list, but I went along with it. The town is known for being a cute artsy town, for the local hikes, amazing vistas in the national park (Golden Gate is not just in California), and a fun pitstop on the way to Lesotho. We stayed at the Marriott in town because then the town square and delicious restaurants were within walking distance (five minutes), but you can stay at a castle or a palace, or something more rural. Up to you. There is lots of do in Clarens, from dinosaur hunting, hiking, gin tasting, brewpub visiting, and cheese tasting. I had the most delicious Italian food there. The owner is from Bologna.
Golden Gate park in Clarens.
Pretoria: See the government building and giant statue of Mandela, have clothes made (or not), enjoy the malls, the low prices for steak ($20 for a steak dinner) and other meat. Enjoy the jacaranda trees in bloom in spring.
Tender meat at cheap prices everywhere! This was a happy hour snack while on safari.
What time of year to visit? I went in October which is spring but the temperature varied depending on where we were. Some days it was unseasonably hot in the 90s F (35 C) and other days it was down to 50 F (15 C). The baby elephants and jacarandas are a springtime thing. Whale watching is in the spring.
