Khaya Nyama review

There are quite a few African style restaurants in Cape Town, catering for tourists who obviously want to try African food while they are in Africa. I am reluctant to call it local cuisine because I think in South Africa we don’t really eat that much African food. I did a review a little while ago on Andre’s Restaurant which I think serves what you might call local food.

Anyway, I have been entertaining overseas guests for the last few weeks and last night we went to Khaya Nyama Game Restaurant in Long Street. As is evident from the name, the focus is on game meats, so there were interesting things on offer like eland, crocodile, kudu and springbok. There was also ostrich, lamb and warthog. Quite a few of us had the warthog ribs (R89), served with some veggies, samp and chips. I have recently had warthog ribs at the Hussar Grill in Camps Bay and these were completely different. These had thin bones and the meat was dark, the ones at the Hussar Grill were pink with thicker bones. There is no way they came from the same animal, so somebody is pulling a fast one and I think

it was the Hussar Grill.

I’ll deal with that later. The ribs were ok, they were over marinaded for my liking. I found them too rich and they were a but charred. The springbok shanks (R89) were tender, but also very rich. I don’t know what herbs or sauce they use but it overpowers the meat. The ostrich steaks (R89) were apparently very nice, they looked tender and moist which can be difficult to get right. I saw some of the other tables having the mixed skewer (R105) and it looked like it might be the best option, just chunks of steak and not too much sauce.

The place was quite busy, which gave it a nice vibe but might also explain why we hardly saw our waiter and everything took so long to arrive. The food took about 45 which is a lttle too long for me. There was some nice live African music playing, which also contributed to the ambiance. I didn’t look at the winelist at all.

Khaya Nyama is not a bad option for the African experience. I would recommend sticking to the steaks though.

Khaya Nyama Game Restaurant
267 Long Street
Tel: 021 424 2917