Cape Town - Do all the polls you want. If you’re looking for the best ribs in Cape Town, sticky hands down, I believe I have found them for you.
Lefty’s has been open for about two months and is backed by solid experience.
Jan Davids has owned Marvel Bar in Long Street for more than a decade – 13 or 14 years? – and I met Ryan McDonagh a while back when he was running Hello Sailor in Observatory. It was there I first tasted his ribs. Maybe that didn’t come out right, but who cares?
We went to Lefty’s for a late lunch this week after I’d checked he was still making them at this new joint. He’d be crazy not to.
The menu is small, less than a dozen items, and as we were leaving Ryan was at the stove shaking up a massive pan of rich saucy meatballs for subs, which is a new addition. Also pork sausages wrapped in bacon, served on a roll with crispy fried onions.
The most popular things haven’t changed. These include a pulled pork “sammich”, the most delicious, gooey, sweet, soft, pull-clean-off-the-bone ribs, and the wickedly decadent crumbed fried chicken breasts on top of a fat Belgian waffle, garnished with bacon and drenched in maple syrup. We giggled with glee and rolled our eyes in ecstasy.
I gave Ryan a saucy kiss on the cheek and asked him how the ribs were even better than they were at Hello Sailor.
“They’re made with love, baby. Made with love,” he said.
Oh, and you know what else? Besides being ridiculously good, the food is ridiculously inexpensive – R60 for the ribs, R55 for the chicken waffle.
It’s a wonderfully retro-styled place filled with old furniture inside, and there’s a courtyard out back. Lefty’s rocks, and I love it.
l Lefty’s, 105 Harrington Street, Cape Town. Telephone 079 277 0010 or 021 461 0407. Open Mondays from 4pm, Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11am. Kitchen closes 11pm. - Weekend Argus