This last Friday i took the family out to the opening of a new restaurant which is just up the road from where we live. What sold me on the ev3ning out is this is not a chain and is an independent restaurant which are very rare in these parts. I would guess this will become a chain because I cannot see this being a failure and will only go from strength to strength from what we experienced.
When I chatted with the owner I asked him why here as the Johannesburg Northern suburbs tend to get whatever is new. He like many others have realised how much money is in this particular area and why all of a sudden we are getting inundated with new shops and restaurants. the tend is this area is on the up and in many ways is now on par with places like Sandton and Rosebank.
People are realising they get bang for their buck buying property in this upcoming area and the property prices are starting to reflect this. One can buy a4 bedroom property for roughly 60% less currently compared to the Northern Suburbs, but that is changing fast and should be on parity in less than 5 years.
What drew us here in the first place is we like the area and I am no fan of the northern suburbs. The traffic is unbearable and having lived and worked in London was looking to get away from that life style. I have spent a high portion of my life sitting in traffic and enough is enough and needed to get away from it all. Many have sold their properties up north and have bought down south and the commute for them is not that bad being about 45 minutes. Our business is down south so our commute is literally 15 minutes so it makes sense to live in the area.
Again I digressed, but wanted to give you the background of why the area is changing so fast which is a great thing especially owning property in an area on the up.
STOK'D is the name of the new restaurant and all we knew it was food with Lebanese influence. I am a fan of Middle Eastern foods as the flavors are superb and have their own unique taste. This is basically a chicken restaurant which offers chicken cooked on charcoal and rotisserie chickens. The rotisserie I skipped as we were after charcoal cooked chicken with their Lebanese lemon marinade.
There were 5 adults and two kids so what we did was basically order two Lebanese lemon chickens and every side dish they had on offer. There is no better way then testing out the entire menu so you know for next time. The side dishes were not huge, but enough to give everyone a taste and an idea of what they liked and every dish was very different in taste.
The chicken was served on platters with Lebanese flat bread underneath. We also ordered two other types of bread with various dips.
There were 4 different types of potato side dishes, 2 rice sides, a mixed bean side various flat breads with dips or pastes and a table salad. We also ordered a plate of hot wings for the table so we had an idea of what their hot sauce was like and the heat of their marinade.
Don't laugh the side dishes were small and my family was tucking in so fast I was lucky to get a few photographs and these don't quite do the food justice so I will have to go back again.
Normally there is some risk going to a restaurant opening day yet we had no complaints and service went very smoothly. Where I was sitting my back was to the restaurant so I was not entertained by those cooking and my family mentioned at one point the cooks had their hands in the air due to being swamped with orders. This happens when the wait staff do not space the orders out and it seems like they got them all at once.
The food we ordered was fantastic rich in Lebanese flavors and there was plenty for everyone. The final bill blew me away as with drinks and all the food the tally was $70 which is seriously good value for money even in South Africa. If just the two of us go out it will be less than R400 which is $25 so I will be going back again shortly.
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