I wanted to write this post almost immediately after we returned from the restaurant! If it weren’t for my food haze and subsequent indulgence in some South African red wine, I would have been singing the praise of this place almost as soon as we got back to the Singa Lodge.
How did we find out about this place?
This was purely a local’s recommendation.
On our travels, we’d met one of the guys who’d live in Port Elizabeth all his life who recommended this place. I’m definitely a fan of local recommendations so we figured we’d try this out. Later on, Lloyd had a look online, just to see what people were recommending and sure enough, this place came up again – with that, we made a note to visit it after barely ‘escaping’ the Safari Park after closure. 😉
What’s so special about this place?
Honestly, for me it’s down to two main things.
First – the atmosphere is absolutely natural, laid back and distinctly African. It reminds me of restaurants in Lagos, Nigeria where the sole aim is to feed you. There’s no fancy distractions or people running around after you – for instance, you go up to the fridge and pick your soft drink, you bring your own alcohol here (no charge for this) and you even get ice and ice buckets to keep your drinks chilled, you head up to the counter to pay your bill once you’re done… I could go on.
Secondly – the food is amazing! The ribs and prawns had been raved about for ages and so we knew we would have to try that but once we saw the spicy chicken wings on the menu, we decided to challenge ourselves to having three meals for two people. (And let’s not forget the chips that came with that). I don’t have many photos of the food (or even ‘pretty’ photos of the food for that matter) but that’s not what this place is about – it’s all about the taste. (*Okay, fine, I was too hungry to spend time photographing the food – I just wanted to eat it all as soon as it arrived!)
The place is a true South African gem and has been running for decades. You’ll even get to meet the owner who seems to know everyone by name!
Where is it?
It’s smack back in the middle of residential neighbourhood. I thought we had the address wrong when we tried finding it and was pretty sure we’d taken a wrong turn somewhere. Thankfully, we had a SatNav and sure enough, as soon as we arrived on the SatNav recommended, there it was – Cubata! (We unintentionally skipped lunch that day in all our excitement from sandboarding and going on Safari so we came PREPARED for dinner).
Address: 16b Arthur Street | Sydenham, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Phone number: 837542768
Website: They haven’t got one.
How to get a reservation?
Just show up! There’s no pre-booking. We arrived rather late at night and although it was heaving when we arrived, we managed to snag a seat. Within 30 minutes or so of arriving, it started to clear up a bit more proving even further that to guarantee getting space here, its best to arrive later in the day. If we’d arrived earlier, we would no doubt have to have queued for a little while there. 🙂 Even after you arrive, you just pick a space at one of the long rows of benches. If there’s enough space for your bum on, then that’s your seat for the evening – simple. 🙂
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