The Bandag Bandit

Lucky Tsotsi in Darlinghurst is modelled on a "shebeen", a rough'n'ready illegal bar found in South African townships. It sells grog authentic to the region and the type of street food expats like my friend AZ dearly miss. We went there on Saturday evening and now wanna return ASAP. The proprietor and his staff were incredibly welcoming and nothing was too much trouble for them. We ordered five dishes and they were all winners - Lucky's LM prawns for her, Kakhulu garlic snails and Bakgat bunny chow for me, and Tannie Sannie's sosaties and slap (pronounced "slup") chips to share. Some explanations... The chow was a hot chicken curry served in a hollowed-out bread roll, the sosaties exquisite lamb skewers that were among the best I've ever eaten, and the slaps regular potato fries drenched in vinegar. While the snails were VG, they were done just the same as those I've had in French and Spanish restaurants. But the prawns (I pinched one) and the sosaties featured spice mixes and accompanying sauces that were truly amazing. To drink, AZ had a couple of sodas from her youth - a green cream soda and a red Grapetiser - while I imbibed Namibian Windhoek beer and also threw down a Springbok shooter, comprising peppermint liqueur and Amarula. The bill was about a hundred bucks, which I reckon was an absolute bargain. It even included free jokes...on the pages from "MAD" magazine used to wallpaper the gents.