Litchi orchard market in Umhlali

Saturday morning, we decided to find the local Saturday Dolphin market (Busman’s holiday!) mentioned In our Information booklet (but with no signage and no address, we drove for ages and finally found the charming Litchi orchard market in Umhlali. Literally set in an orchard next to a great nursery, there were art, clothing, antiques and a very nice small food market. We met lots of lovely stall holders and bought some John Platter branded Sutherland Sauvignon Blanc from Gerard Koenig for our supper, some great chutneys, fresh veg and a couple of presents.

Eating Greek

We had a wonderful lunch in The Durban Hellenic Centre with Nick Papadopoulos, his wife Katya

and his partner Eric Edwards

and their successful Eat Greek caterers team at the Hellenic Community Centre near the river in Umgeni Park, Durban North.

This Greek food buffet must qualify as one of the best deals in Durban. Held every Sunday from 12.30, it costs R90 per person and we suggest you check out all the serving tables before you start piling up your plate with the cold mezze. There is a cold mezze table with tarama, humus, melanzane dips, pita, fried slices of aubergine, pepperoni, Greek salad, olives, fish cakes and aubergine slices wrapped around haloumi cheese

then a hot mezze table with the lightest spanakopita and tirokopita (triangular spinach and cheese pies) we have ever eaten, crisply crumbed soft calamari rings, and spicy chicken livers, delicious courgette patties amongst others;

a main course table with herby, tender Greek roast lamb, chicken, a curry (this is Durban after all and they can’t live without curry) rice, potatoes and vegetables

and a very full dessert table which includes a classic Greek desserts like baklava, rice pudding, as well as pecan pie, crème caramel and proper ice creams which the children flocked to.

Corkage is R25, but they do sell a very good selection of wines, and other drinks.

Victoria Street Market, Durban

Warning: There are images here which may upset sensitive viewers!
Monday morning saw us making a pilgrimage to the Victoria Street Indian Market which is much smaller than we both remembered.

We bought some masalas and salt mixes from Mr Joe who has been there for 46 years and wants to move to Cape Town! So (they say!) do several of the other traders.

There are some strange (to Cape eyes) ideas about fish identities

Spices in abundance

 

Live chicks

Colourful decorations

Bright brass

Benin bronzes

Smileys are the most popular meat item

Morningside Hotel, a sad wine story

We found a Groupon offer for a buffet at the Morningside Lodge Hotel restaurant in Durban just before we left: R70 instead of R150 a person and, not knowing Durban, we took a chance.

How bad could it be? It turned out to be a fairly Fawlty Towers experience.

the curries (a prawn & chicken, and a lamb biriani) were very bony and very mild

The puddings were scary, solid rice pudding and a very strange bouncy finger they called a chocolate brownie, which had no flavour and a most peculiar texture, like a very solid floury jelly.

Chicken wings next to the dessert

We asked for the wine list – blank looks from our waitress. “We have wine, led (red) wine (pause…) and white” she said. We asked, what kind? “Led wine or white wine.” We asked what name, what label – no label she said, “in glass”. In the end we gave up, realised we were being pretentious and said, “just bring us two glasses of the red”. It was absolutely awful! Oxidised, thin, sour and quite undrinkable. But it was included in the price…. They did eventually bring us a wine list as we were leaving – they have four wines on it

That was when we realized that Durban doesn’t drink much wine.

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2011