Durbanites can indulge in a weekend-long celebration of the city’s diverse culinary heritage, craft and music at the Durban Street Food Festival.
It will take place from Friday, September 6, to Sunday, September 8, at the Pavilion Shopping Centre in Westville.
To commemorate Heritage Month, a variety of speciality food merchants will be at the gathering to offer a range of intriguing globally-inspired urban cuisine options.
This year, there is a specific emphasis on unusual puddings and sweets, including build-your-own desserts, crazy candyfloss, colourful macaroons, brownie bars and freeze-dried candy.
Along with honouring foreign culinary influences, the festival also features food closer to home such as braai meat, boerewors rolls and bunny chows. There will also be burgers, aromatic stir-fries from Thailand, smoked meats from a Detroit-style smokehouse and a variety of Indian curries and spices.
Vegetarians and those who are health conscious will have options too.
Meanwhile, a variety of hot and cold, adult and kid-friendly drinks, including exquisite custom milkshakes, a sophisticated gin bar, freshly ground coffee, bubble tea and craft beer, will also be available.
Entertainment for both the young and the old includes sip-and-paint sessions, a mini-market, kids’ activities, jumping castles and a silent disco.
The excitement doesn’t end there. On Saturday, the much-anticipated rugby match between South Africa and New Zealand will be shown on a large screen.
If you’re a music-lover, you can witness the KZN Youth Orchestra, Veranda Panda, Wah Wah Baby, Easy Freak, Tristan Cole Boltman, Mike Makhosini, Freddy L, Tim Lewis and Matt Davies and the Rocc Lobsters, live in action at the festival.
Festival organiser Georgios Kretsos said: “Come hungry to feast, dance and enjoy time with friends and family.”
Tickets can be purchased through Quicket or at the door.
The festival runs from Friday, September 6, from 5pm until 10pm, Saturday, September 7, from 11am until 10pm and Sunday, September 8, from 11am until 8pm.
Nathan Julius and the Durban Chamber Choir in concert
South African export countertenor, Nathan Julius and the Durban Chamber Choir are coming together for a thrilling performance this weekend.
The spring afternoon concert will weave seamlessly between extraordinary soprano solos and the cappella nuances of choral works.
Julius will be accompanied by Christopher Cockburn on piano and the Durban Chamber Choir will sing under the direction of Andrew-John Bethke.
Composers will include Purcell, Brahms, Handel and Poulenc as well as South African music and its diverse cultures with “Daar Kom Die Alibama” by Aitchison and the Xhosa lullaby, “Tu tu Mama”, arranged by Andrew Tracey.
Julius, who is now based in Switzerland, was born in Cape Town and studied at The Drakensberg Boys Choir and Hilton College.
The Durban Chamber Choir has been in existence for over 20 years. Their repertoire ranges from early plainchant to the contemporary choral repertoire, renaissance to modern, sacred to secular.
They will be accompanied by organ, piano and small orchestral ensembles.
Where: The Howard College Theatre.
When: Sunday, September 8, at 3pm.
Cost: Tickets are R130 and can be purchased through Quicket.
“Yesterday’s Hero”
2020 Ovation winner Patrick Kenny revives his one-hander, “Yesterday’s Hero”.
The production is a semi-biographical story about the ups and downs of the actor, writer and director’s life.
Written by Kenny and directed by multi-award winning comedian Aaron McIlroy, the plot follows Kenny’s “almost famous” life from his days as a comedian on East Coast Radio to playing dodgy Doctor Wallace on the e.tv soapie “Imbewu: The Seed”.
According to a statement: “The story follows our hero as he bounces from fame to misfortune and back again in the pinball machine of life.”
It added: “It’s filled with hilarious stories, some true, some almost true. Like how he really got the lead role in the famous 1998 New York Castle Lager TV advert or how he and his wife briefly become champions for the Latvian cause against Russian oppression.”
Where: The Pumpkin Theatre in Ballito.
When: Friday, September 6, at 7pm and Sunday, September 8, at 2pm.
Cost: Tickets start from R100 and can be purchased from www.pumpkintheatre.co.za.