#Culture

I don’t have time to write a long post this week. But I can’t wait any longer to tell you about Chappy Vintage, my new favorite Jozi shop.

Chappy opened about nine months ago in Linden, which is fast becoming one of Joburg’s hippest suburbs. I first discovered Chappy in early December and planned to blog about it right away, but then I got covid and couldn’t get back there to take photos until a few days ago. And I needed to do a proper photoshoot before writing this post because Chappy is a ridiculously photogenic place.

Ever since I moved to Joburg I’ve been driving past a shabby restaurant building across from the Westdene Dam, at the corner of Lewes Road and Motor Street. The restaurant used to be a Portuguese place called Tasca do Sol and once looked vaguely intriguing, with a wide patio and a retro, 70s/80s vibe. But it was never quite intriguing enough for me to actually go.

Ludwig’s Roses, a huge rose farm north of Pretoria that has been running for more than 50 years, had been on my radar screen for a while. Several people told me I should visit, but that I must go at the height of summer when the roses are all in full bloom. Somehow the summers kept passing and I kept forgetting to put Ludwig’s in my “to-blog” list.

A few days ago, I received a hot tip from my friend Debjeet about a Korean corn dog place in Boksburg called Mustardbox 713.

I’ve been wanting to visit Cape Agulhas since my first visit to Cape Town in 2011, when I took a day trip around the Cape Peninsula and learned that the Cape of Good Hope is not, in fact, the southernmost point in Africa. It took another decade but I finally made it to Cape Agulhas, Africa’s real southern tip, a couple of weeks ago.

I’m taking a quick break from my Western Cape road trip series to tell you about Syrian Rose, my new favorite restaurant in Fordsburg. Syrian Rose is unquestionably the best place in the entire city to chow down on spicy grilled chicken, shawarmas, and fresh fruit juice.