Emazulwini - a Heavenly Experience

A review of the Zulu-inspired restaurant at Makers Landing

With my parents in Cape Town for the festive season, we have the benefit of two great babysitters on-hand and we took full advantage last Friday night.

We had been wanting to go to Emazulwini for a while, and with guests and fellow foodies down from Johannesburg for a long weekend, it was the perfect timing.

Emazulwini is one of the restaurants at Makers Landing, a space at the V&A Waterfront where up-and-coming food entrepreneurs are given an opportunity to grow their businesses incubator style.

Chef Mmabatho Molefe focuses on authentic Zulu favourites, giving them a modern twist to tempt even the most European-influenced of diners. She was also a guest judge on MasterChef South Africa, which is how we met! Chicken feet, gizzard and samp and beans aren’t usually part of my diet, nonetheless I was very keen to try Chef Mmabatho’s renditions of these African staples. Frustrated in seeing her nieces and nephew turn away from anything African as they find their identity growing up, Chef Mmabatho decided to take traditional food and turn them into contemporary dishes.

We started the evening looking out over the harbour, sipping on a glass of Steenberg Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc, which was absolutely divine. Once our guests arrived, we took our seats. There are not many tables, and so it is recommended to make a booking. We joked that Chef Mmabatho has her priorities straight, with the square meterage of her kitchen exceeding the seating area.

Mealie Bread with Butter

What better way to expose the slightly hesitant guest to true African cuisine than starting off with a perfectly round, golden brown baked mealie bread roll with an oval shaped quenelle of butter? It was delicious!

Umbila - Trio of Mealies

We continued our journey of the humble corn cob continued with ‘umbila’, which unsurprisingly means ‘corn’ in Zulu. This dish consisted of a mealie custard, roasted mealies, a herb emulsion and a side of maize meal cracker to dip it all up with. This was my wife’s favourite.

Inkukhu Namanqina - Chicken Feet

With those very easily palatable starters, Chef Mmabatho had earned our trust and so it was time to throw us in the deep end. To keep us at ease, the chicken feet were ‘hidden’ in a terrine and beautifully decorated with onion mayo, fresh tomatoes and brown vinegar jellies. The latter component was a skillful creation that should not be underestimated - I have attempted to make jellies like that in the past and it is not easy!

Izingingila - Chicken Gizzard

A chicken gizzard is basically the stomach of the chicken. Chef Mmabatho transformed it by making it into a patty served with a spinach salad and chicken veloute. I’ve never tasted chicken gizzard like this before.

Istambu nobhontsisi - Lamb Stew with Sugar Beans and Samp

Up next - samp and beans! Something I have had many times before - but never like this. Generally it is not served with meat and what a welcome addition it was. Most at the table voted this as their favourite, I think it may have been my favourite too.

Uphuthu Namasi - Maize Cake

Our journey through modern Zulu cuisine came to a full circle with another corn dish - a sweet one to end off the night.The maize cake was served with a whey jelly, whey caramel, amasi ice cream and puffed mealie rice.

The full menu is R350 per person sharing and will change on the 30th of December, when Chef Mmabatho Molefe and her team will create a new menu, undoubtedly modernising other traditional African dishes in a way that hasn’t been done before. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

For more photos of our experience at Emazulwini, have a look on my Instagram page, where I’ve added a highlight with more photos.

Where is Chef Mmabatho Molefe after Emazulwini’s restaurant closure?

Sadly Emazulwini closed its doors since this review was published (in February 2024). The talented Chef Mmabatho Molefe has not sat still though - in May 2024, she relaunched a Long Table With Friends event, similar to the ones she hosted prior to running the restaurant. She served up the “most mundane dishes” that we all eat as South Africans, but of course with her usual fine dining-flair, breathing new life into classics like Inyanga Itshekile and Malva Pudding.

She was back in the Makers Landing kitchen cooking a dinner at the Food Indaba, the annual programme of talks and events focussed on the local foods system.

In August 2024, Chef Mmbatho worked together with Salsify’s Chef Ryan Cole as part of their guest chef series, as they created a ten course feast with modern, simple and traditional South African flavours.

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About Shawn Godfrey

Photo credit: Niki M Photography

Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.

Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.

It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.

On his blog, Shawn shares Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (6), Olivia (4) and Harvey (2).

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