Thursday, October 16, 2008

October 16, 2008 - Dining in Durban

The food here is very much like you would find anywhere.
I am eating a lot more fish that I have never heard of before. But I have come to quite like Kingklip.
Last night our little group, Abdul Al and Ahmer from Egypt, Ed and I, went to a place called Wilson's Wharf to "Charlie's Shak". I had some fish that was supposed to be "Cajun" spiced. It was good and it was spiced, but it wasn't really cajun. I don't remember what kind of fish it was but it was whatever was caught on the line yesterday. Two things were caught on the line, Butter Fish and the one that I ordered, but I couldn't understand what he called. After asked the waiter to repeat the name twice I gave up. I asked what kind of fish and he said it was dryer than the Butter fish which was oily so I went with that one.


Last Saturday, Ed and I we went out with the local plant manager and his wife and they took us to the Ghost Ship Retaurant at the local Marine World called uShaka. There was a huge tank (2 stories high) with beautiful blueish/silver fish at the top of the tank and very ugly large sharks at the bottom. It was my first introduction to kingklip which is a delicate white fish. it was prepared in filo dough with a wonderful sauce and served on top of mash (mashed potatoes).

During the tour I took yesterday I saw my first MacDonald in Durban. It seems that not too many people here like MacDonalds so many of the places they opened here have been sold to KFC which has gone crazy here. They love it!

I was walking through a mall here a couple of days ago and noticed to young girls eating hamburgers and fries just like at home with one major difference. They were using a fork to eat the hamburger! I actually stopped and watched just to make sure I was notmissing something special about these burgers. . . no, they were just eating them with their utencils!!

There is a plethora of fruit here. Oranges, bananas, papaya, pears, apples, etc. It is everywhere on the street, etc. I haven't actually bought anything from a street vendor yet, but the vendors are pretty good by street food standards that I have seen in other countries. They also have little vendors selling wrapped candy. It's just spread out on a table and you pick which piece you like. All this fruit is locally grown.

There is local food which I will have to get the name of to tell you later on but it is a half a loaf of bread that is hollowed out and some kind of chili looking substance put inside....I know it doesn't sound very good the way I have described it, but it looks good. Before we leave I will have to try it and report.

Indian food is a big thing here so there are lots of curries. The early British brought indentured servants from India so they represent a large part of the population.....someone told me about 50%, but I'm not sure that is accurate.

Sushi is also quite prominent here.

Another thing that I have noticed is the wonderful fresh fruit juice. I love having fresh squeezed oranged juice every morning for breakfast in the hotel. I am happy that breakfast is included in our room rate. It is a fabuous buffet.

There are many wonderful restaurants here. Everywhere we have eaten the food has been very good and well presented.

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