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Our round-up of the best of the best:

Last updated: 11 January, 2023

From bunny chow to bobotie, biltong to boerewors, we asked South Africa specialist Richard Holmes to select the best South African foods and flavours you must try while you’re in South Africa. NB a prize for anyone who tries a ‘smiley’…

Table of Contents
South african meat biltong dries on wooden sticks
Experience

Biltong

South Africa

This traditional snack of salted, spiced and air-dried beef is something of a national treasure, sold across the country from the smallest corner store to trendy country farm stalls.

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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Bobotie also spelt bobotjie, is a South African dish consisting of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping
Experience

Bobotie

South Africa

This traditional Cape Malay dish is a must-try in Cape Town. Minced beef is cooked in curry powder, herbs and spices; then baked with an egg custard topping. Savoury yet sweet, it’s usually served with turmeric-infused rice and piquant sambals.

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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Grilled sausage in a circle
Experience

Boerewors

South Africa

Literally a ‘farmer’s sausage’, boerewors is a must-have at any traditional South African braai, or barbecue. The best butchers use their own blend of spices, but the classic combination is flavoured with coriander and pepper.

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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Fish out out to dry on the South African West Coast, locally known as Bokkoms
Experience

Bokkoms

South Africa

These salted air-dried fish are synonymous with the West Coast, used as either flavouring or a simple snack. Intensely pungent, eye-wateringly salty and – dried with the head and tail intact – intimidating to both the eye and the palate.

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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Closeup of lamb "bunny chow" - the popular, Indian fast food cuisine which originated in South Africa, with carrot salad
Experience

Bunny Chow

South Africa

Durban’s classic street food; a half-loaf of white bread hollowed out and filled with sugar beans, butter chicken, moong dal or – the classic – mutton curry. Once the food of the working class, today it’s an iconic dish across countrywide.

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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Overview >
aerial view of a salad with beans, carrots and green peppers
Experience

Chakalaka

South Africa

Spicy vegetable dish of red pepper, tomato, onion, carrot and chilli that is usually served over ‘pap’, a stiff and starchy porridge of maize meal. Together they are a popular side dish at a braai/shisa nyama (barbecue).

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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Potato dumplings with meat on a plate.
Experience

Dombolo

South Africa

These ubiquitous steamed dumplings are found across South Africa, as a street snack and staple side plate to a family meal. In KwaZulu-Natal ujeke are cooked on a stew, while in Basotho-culture the leqebekoane are made with fermented maize or sorghum paste.

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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Bread roll filled with meat and french fires
Experience

Gatsby

South Africa

Cape Town’s answer to the Po’Boy, this foot-long white-bread ‘sub’ comes stuffed to bursting with salad, chips, sauce and any combination of calamari, chicken, masala-spiced steak or polony. It’s a carb-laden feast that requires two hands and a healthy appetite.

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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Overview >
Koeksisters stacked on plate shot from side angle
Experience

Koeksisters

South Africa

Perfect for those with a sweet tooth, these pastry plaits are deep-fried then drenched in a heavy sugar syrup. Usually served with coffee, mid-afternoon.

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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Overview >
Cape Town Koesisters with a nice background
Experience

Koesister

South Africa

Not to be confused with the ‘koeksister’, the ‘koesister’ is a spiced doughnut redolent with cinnamon and cardamom, dusted with dried coconut. Traditional to the Cape Malay community of Cape Town, they’re traditionally served on Sundays.

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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traditional South African milk tart on a rustic farm style table
Experience

Milk Tart

South Africa

A classic teatime treat, this simple tart of creamy custard in a puff pastry base – liberally dusted with cinnamon – is best bought from a country padstal (farm stall) on your great South African road trip

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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Traditional african sheep's head, cooked on flames, known as a "smiley".
Experience

Smiley

South Africa

Feeling brave? Ask your guide to rustle up a ‘smiley’ from the local shisa nyama (barbecue) in the township. A whole sheep’s head is boiled, then grilled whole over the coals. As the skin crisps, the teeth are exposed, hence the name.

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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Bowl of Cape Asparagus, Waterblommetjies, a delicacy from South Africa
Experience

Waterblommetjie bredie

South Africa

A lamb stew usually served in springtime, when both lamb and the waterblommetjies (‘little water flowers’) are abundant. Waterblommetjies grow abundantly in the ponds and marshes of the Cape winelands, flowering in July and August.

Best for ages: 18+ | Free

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