My goodness this place is hot! I only hope the food is as good as the climate.

  I’ve been doing this for some time, as my rotund figure will attest. To be frank, I don’t want to go out there to dish the establishments; what I want to do is give a kind of lay-man’s view of what they are getting. I could bring in the pretentious critic in me, but what would that serve in this frontier town? I’ll be basic, appreciative of the difficulties in a place like this, and let’s see what the maestros in the kitchens can dish out. Some may well be amazing (I expect that), but others may well require a miss – I am non-apologetic for that, it is my view, my opinion and only mine. You, out there, may well have another experience – well then, so be it.

  So, I have arrived and settled in – thank heavens for my air conditioner, it serves as my one small item of solace (as long as the power is on!). To hell with the mosquitos, I lay exposed to the kind cool breeze from the humming machine, but when that goes off, oh my, the cold shower is my refuge. Thank heavens. What a resilient crowd of people you are, to have to live with this interruption all the time; but you do. So, without further ado let’s get onto and into the task at hand. Food!

  The first food establishment that I have visited in Hoedspruit was at the old station – a place called Sleepers Restaurant. Tucked away amongst the tall trees and hugging the train track, here I find an oldy-worldy face-brick building, probably out of the 60’s, that has a quaint feel about it. Well-appointed and organised, I was greeted by the very cheerful and pleasant, Jeridiah. I was informed about loadshedding, and it was impressed upon me that I should order timeously to ensure full access to the extensive menu, and extensive it was. If you cannot find something to satisfy the taste buds on this menu, then I am afraid you probably never will.

  I was somewhat surprised to be asked if I wanted smoking or non-smoking (a nice touch, and different from where I come from) and was then guided to a lovely table looking out onto the fairy lights, that created a somewhat jungle-like ambience under the big trees. I did need to ask for the lamp to be lit and the fan to be put on for some circulation. The lamp should be standard procedure. The switch over on the loadshedding was amazingly seamless but the ambience was slightly spoiled by the powering up of the garage generator over the road – what happened to silent generators? Certainly no black mark for Sleepers, but one would think that those machines would be located in a people friendly spot and not 20m from the front porch!

  First things first – something to drink. I sorted that out quite quickly and it was duly brought to the table, accompanied by the required ice bucket and extra ice – well done! I was not unduly perturbed by the fact that I was left to pour the wine, but that may have been in response to my lurching across the table to take a secure grip on the bottle neck, to ensure I poured the wonderful beige liquid in my glass first. I think my enthusiasm for the bottle shocked her as she retreated a step. Sometimes quaffing a good cold glass of vino is like heaven. Apologies to her. All the refreshments, and my dearly beloved wine, were nice and cold and served with a smile, and there was no shortage of ice – very important.

  My waitron’s knowledge of the menu and specials was impressive, and I, with some friends, ordered a variety of dishes to sample. The waitron wrote nothing down and I assumed the order would be incorrect and something would be long forgotten.

Surprise, the order was delivered correctly and timeously (and all together!) and all dishes were nicely warm and well presented. Salads were fresh, beautifully coloured and wholesome, the pasta was well cooked and delicious – the highlight, brinjal based with fresh parmesan cheese – the burgers were spot on (although the patty may have been a little small) with wonderful onion rings and crisp-on-the- outside-soft-on-the-inside, hand cut chips, the pizza was cheesy and hot with a wonderfully crispy base and the veggie burger (as an alternative), also with onion rings, chips and a small salad, was to die for. Wonderful tastes, great texture and good presentation made for a great meal.