Our food trek to South Africa

Yesterday, we went on an adventure, neigh, a food odyssey in search of Israel's only South African restaurant.  What happened was no less than potentially the most exciting day in Israel I have had thus far.

We started our adventure nice and early as even though our destination was only a 45 minute drive to the south, we had to take 3 buses with a combined travel time of 2 hours + #thestruggle.  Everything was peaches and cream for the first 2 buses: we stopped in Ramla, I got myself a 5 shek coffee from Cofix and then off to Beit Shemesh.  We got to Beit Shemesh around 12:30 and should only have had to wait 10 minutes for our next bus but alas, we live in Israel so should have sort of expected it - the bus never came #epicstruggle.  We were basically stranded in the middle of nowhere on the cusp of starvation.

Us stranded in Beit Shemesh prior to finding out the bus was never coming.

But, we got some cabs and alas, finally made it to the renowned Mike and Sharons' Bistro on Kibbutz Gal On.  I should probably add that in amongst our epic journey, I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen in Israel thus far.  The rain had made everything so pretty and green! 

Because we are organised, we emailed Sharon prior to our adventure to assure a table at this famous establishment.  Little did we know though that the Bistro is usually closed on Sunday and Mike and Sharon had specifically opened it up for us - talk about ridiculously lovely!

The restaurant is decorated throughout with South African paraphernalia, including a photo of Mandela with their children.  The walls are also painted with a very apt picture of Mike and Sharon and scribblings from former guests.  But enough about the decor, what about the food?!

This is Mike

Guest messages

The menu!!

The food was amazing, and I really truly mean that.  We had samoosas to start  (note the extra o which is apparently legit if you are South African) and a side of complementary fries followed by a main of potjie (pronounced poikee which is like a beef stew) and boerewors (pronounced bouravors which are spiced sausages) both served with pap (pronounced pup which is sort of like polenta made with maize meal that's buttery, creamy and delicious).  I had the boerewors and omg, I am still dreaming about them + the sauce + the pap (mostly the sauce).  It was such a homely, warm and slightly decadent meal.  I loved every bite!

And of course, we didn't travel 2 hours by bus to not get dessert so we shared melktert (pronounced milk tart).  Mike told us he makes his with stevia so I felt a little less guilty about gorging myself.  It was creamy but sweet but not too sweet but actually, just perfect.  We then ended with Amarula - South Africa's national liqueur which is creamy and made from the African marula tree.  It sort of tastes like Baileys but better.  Apparently elephants in the wild eat the marula tree and get drunk which is quite the sight.

 

We spent the rest of our time sitting around with Mike, Sharon and their two daughters chatting, laughing and learning a few necessary South African phrases like now now which means 5-10 minutes or just now which means 20 minutes or more.  

Sitting around chatting

It honestly was the best day! Sharon offered to adopt us all, which we agreed too very quickly and also host us at the kibbutz for Valentines Day #hurrah!  We also signed the wall of the restaurant to mark our momentous afternoon spent there.

If you ever find yourself in the south of Israel with a car looking for a meal and a friendly face / hug, I couldn't recommend this place enough!

MM x