A humble pancake from Graskop is whetting appetites in one of the world’s most glamorous cities, with a top Dubai-based food blogger crowning it one of her top three breakfast favs.
Harrie Siertsema’s delicious breakfast offering, developed from a recipe dating back to the old lady who originally owned the 12-seater restaurant in the Mpumalanga mining town he took over in 1986, is the proof in the pudding that small-town flavours can pack a global punch.
“The pancakes are super-fluffy — they keep it simple and delicious — and I love that they even have savoury options,” says Haya Kaabar, one of the United Arab Emirates’s top foodies with more than 250,000 followers on Instagram and 150,000 followers on TikTok.
Nostalgia plays a big part of the appeal of Harrie's Pancakes, which is run by the founder’s godson, Paul Bester, at a prime location in the luxurious Nakheel Mall in the middle of Dubai’s affluent Palm Jumeirah.
Along with berry and chocolate varieties it offers a host of Mzansi-inspired dishes such as a lamb bredie, bobotie, boerewors shakshuka and milktart options.
“I always get so much joy hearing South African languages spoken in the restaurant and hearing people excitedly wanting to bring their friends to experience the South African cuisine in the way we do it,” says Bester.
“You see a South African beam with pride as a guest of theirs bites into a bobotie pancake and remarks, ‘This is really delicious.’ Or if they taste the malva pudding and ask, ‘Where has this been my whole life?’”
The pancake eatery isn’t the only South African dining export making waves in the emirates. Nando’s was one of the first home-grown food offerings to spread its wings to Dubai, opening its first casual dining restaurant there in September 2002.
The chicken outlet, founded in Rosettenville in Joburg a year after Siertsema started flipping cakes, boasts 24 restaurants across the UAE, all offering the same flame-grilled peri-peri chicken as in South Africa, and many of the same accompanying side dishes, as well as unique dishes such as chicken espetadas.
According to Wandile Setlhodi, Nando’s GM for marketing: Middle East & South Asia, the group's Casa store in the sprawling The Mall of Dubai is one of the most popular in its portfolio of some 1,200 stores around the world.
“It has become a firm favourite to get a good view of the Burj Khalifa fireworks on New Year’s Eve. Patrons are prepared to pay up to 2,500 dirhams [about R13,000] for a table on the promenade,” he said.
Last week the city welcomed a new, high-end South African addition to its food scene when Nicky van der Walt’s first international foray for his Tang contemporary Japanese-meets-Cantonese cuisine brand opened.
The launch party of the 395-seater restaurant with a 10,000ft² main dining area, private dining room and outside terrace with views of both the iconic Burj Khalifa skyscraper and the Dubai Fountain, drew more than 700 guests who were entertained by a performance from superstar DJ Black Coffee.
“Tang Dubai will keep the same high-energy DNA that speaks to all our restaurants,” said Van der Walt, who relocated with his family to Dubai in June to oversee the building of the restaurant and recruit and train staff, including 50 South Africans.
Van der Walt hopes to make a dent in the lucrative Dubai food scene. However, this could prove challenging: according to a recent article in The New York Times, the emirate now boasts a massive 13,000 establishments — that’s more per capita than New York City!
What South African restaurants can benefit from is the sizeable expat community, with an estimated 114,000 South Africans in the UAE as of March last year, according to the South African consulate in Dubai.
Culinary queen Natasha Sideris can vouch for how lucrative the restaurant business can be in the UAE. The CEO and founder of the Tashas Group opened her first café in Dubai back in 2014. Today, there are five cafés offering her brand of fresh authentic dishes prepared on order in Dubai, with another in Abu Dhabi.
Now based in Dubai, the company also operates six other dining concepts there, including the beach club-style Bungalo34, inspired by Sideris’s hideaway on the Mediterranean Riviera.
“I find it [Dubai] an incredibly inspiring place to live and work, where the sky is the limit. As a result it allows me to tap into my creativity and develop new concepts where there is a market for new opportunities,” Sideris says.
“Our clientele is both a mix of expats and local Emiratis, which is slightly dependent on which of our concepts you are referring to. I find that South Africans in the region feel like they are 'coming home’ when they come to Tashas, and they have always been incredibly loyal.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.