The Joint
98 OR Tambo Parade, South Beach, Durban
Call:
Open:
Daily 7am to 6pm
What to go for lunch on perfect summer Monday? The beach of course. And without a breath of wind and the sun not hiding behind the clouds, we decided to hit The Joint just below the Beach Hotel.
It’s a fun new spot that’s bringing a shisanyama concept to the beachfront. Upstairs is swanky cocktail bar with lounge seating with huge windows giving sweeping views of the beach. Downstairs is a simple restaurant spilling out onto a deck on the promenade. Here we relaxed and watched a variety of skaters, surfers, boogie boarders and even soccer players all having their fun in the sun.
And the cocktail menu caught the mood. First up was a local take on a bloody Mary, heavy with Worchester sauce and Tabasco, and a gin cocktail with apricots and half the kitchen sink. A shade sweet for me.
The Joint does have a Sunny Side Up menu that takes in breakfasts and includes a deluxe hangover remedy of bacon eggs and chakalaka in a sesame roll (R55). There’s also a selection of wors rolls with chakalaka, or charred unions and mfino, afroslaw (R55-R75).
For those wanting more conventional seaside fair there’s Victoria Street Market fish and chips of king prawns or even a prego. There’s even a small salad selection and some Zulu style tacos.
But we were here for hot meat. Wors platters, wings platters, brisket chuck and rump all feature as do lamb chops and peri-peri baby chicken. We went for a Phuza platter (R210), a quarter chicken, lamb chop, rump steak and wors. It comes with a choice of side and their own chakalaka, but we ordered an extra side of Afro slaw (R35).
It was a great lunch. The meat was cooked to perfection - medium rare as ordered. The wors had great flavour. We even got excited by the Afro slaw. The highlight was that chakalaka - not the traditional one with beans or carrots, but one with great flavour and heat. Only thing missing was the ujeke or steamed bread.
We licked it all up hungrily while watching and commenting on the antics on the beach.
A few G&Ts later and we decided it was time for dessert. It was 4pm. These were limited to waffles with either banana rooibos syrup and honeycomb (R65) or chocolate ganache and strawberries (R75). We shared the latter and enjoyed it with a good coffee.
A great place to chill for the afternoon
Food:
4
Service:
3 ½
Ambiance:
4