The Jive Food Bazaar, also known as the Eastern Food Bazaar, is a restaurant diners are more likely to stumble upon rather than go to specifically. Once they’ve found it, however, hungry fans of Indian food will keep going back.
Jive Food Bazaar Location
Located on a couple of side streets round the corner from the Castle of Good Hope and Darling Street, the Jive Food Bazaar is so big it runs all the way from one street to the other, making up one giant walkway with tables on one side and chefs behind counters serving food on the other.
Ordering Food at the Eastern Food Bazaar
The set-up is a little out of the ordinary at the restaurant and wouldn’t suit everybody. Each counter serves different dishes, so diners might have to go to one counter to get their chicken tikka masala and pilau rice, another for their sag aloo, and yet another still for the naan bread and popadoms. Before anyone can get any food, however, they have to queue up at the payment counter in the center of the food counters to pay in advance for the food. In return, patrons get one or several receipts, and have to take each one to the relevant counter to collect the food.
It does seem like an overly-complicated way to go about things, but it somehow works. Even if the queues can be long, the service is very quick and people are sitting down with their meals easily within ten minutes of arriving.
Great Indian Food at the Wellington
The atmosphere is unfussy and busy, which suits the ‘bazaar’ manner in which the restaurant is marketed. Portion sizes are very generous and the food is excellent quality. Prices for a main meal range between 10 and 30 Rand, which is extremely cheap, even by South African standards. The butter chicken is particularly good and all dishes come with a side portion of dhal. The garlic naan is smothered with chunks of garlic and is a bit overpowering, so it wouldn’t be the most sensible side dish to order on a first (second or third) date.
Cape Town’s Restaurant Scene
The Jive Food Bazaar is a welcome addition to the Cape Town dining scene and makes a change from the much classier, ordered restaurants on the V&A Waterfront. Curry, of course, goes down especially well before or after a good night out, and Jive’s central location makes it easy to get to in relation to Cape Town’s night spots.
Sasha Arms - After graduating from university with a degree in Geography, Sasha became Managing Editor and Travel Editor of Futurespace Magazine. She ...
