#south-african-cuisine

#south-african-cuisine

First things first: Even the most cursory glance around the internet will reveal that virtually every account of monkey sauce -- known in South Africa, even more confusingly, as "monkey gland sauce" -- feels obliged to confirm that no, it does not contain actual monkey (do recipes for monkey bread need to offer this reassurance?). Rather, monkey sauce is a deceptively simple yet hugely adaptable accompaniment to meat, and no traditional South African braai (the local style of barbecue) is complete without it.

Within moments of being seated, however, another question arose: how many miles do you need to run to counteract the aftereffects of Kudu's bread with curried butter, which comes melted, glossy and with gently fried curried leaves? Grab hunks of this warm bread and stuff them greedily into your mouth. It's an eat-as-if-no-one's watching kind of starter, which went down well in Peckham, but in Marylebone, the women wear white trouser suits and pale, unspongeable fabrics, so let's hope there's a good dry cleaner