The Smarket Street Feast is slowly becoming one of the events that Durban's food lovers have to attend. A fortnightly event, it takes place at 8 Morrison Street in the Rivertown Precinct and it's a day of excellent food where you can taste a lot of street food all in one place. Founded by Muhammad Seedat and Ameera Khan, the market has a vision of bringing a vibrant business hub to the city centre.
“With the variety of cultures found in Durban, the idea is to bring these cultures in the CBD of Durban to a market place; expressing the exuberance our great city has to offer," Khan said.
"Situated in the heart of Durban central in a contemporary building, Smarket is a source of a trendy fashion, cultural art-work, mouth-watering cuisines and eyebrow-raising live entertainment. These ingredients make for a culturally charged experience for businesses and the public alike to sample Durban’s unique personality”, she added.
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The Smarket Street Feast started gaining traction a year ago and has attracted thousands of people and over thirty traders.
Seedat said they found there is a need to give platform to up and coming food traders to be able to sell their products at the market.
“We felt that to have a food market in the inner city especially with the whole trend of people coming back into the inner city rejuvenation, this would be the best place to have it and it has been with great success that we have had it. As a market that runs every second Friday of the month, we expect great vibes, good food, drinks and good company. The market falls within our great ethos which is to develop entrepreneurs within the city and that excites us more than anything else. This is the perfect model for market traders to make a lot of money and learn from each other, with some progressing to a level of getting their own shops or permanent premises. It is almost the perfect breeding ground for traders to test their concepts without spending a lot”, he said.
With quite a number of traders in, the market looks for uniqueness and innovation from each trader coming to the market.
Tacos tacos 🌮 tacos!!! Yay for tomorrow! ❤🤗❤🤗🌮🌮🌮
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The most successful traders the market has had is a trader called Roti and Chai, a South African street food concept that brings an authentic taste of Indian street food.
It brings the ultimate taste of India through its unique menu of tandoori wraps, tandoori chicken, vegetables, lamb and seafood.
Another successful trader is Po’Boys, who were invented in New Orleans by the Martin brothers in the 1920’s as a meal for striking street-car drivers. PoBoys serve French quarter-chip and cheese, California chicken and home-made peanut pesto, Texan steak in home-made spicy barbecue and Louisiana classic seafood.
The Elite Taste, situated in Lillian Ngoyi Road is another trader, famous for their chicken roulade, chicken and steak tortillas, steak fries, freak shakes, iced teas and its mocktails.