Great Menu, pity about the pizza

Trying different kinds of cuisines has always been a thing I enjoyed taking part in from a very young age, flavor was always the number one thing I looked forward to in a meal, more than the portions. Since I was always the one child in the family who liked recommending restaurants and food spots, I really didn’t have the privilege to explore more places than I would have liked due to my family’s financial background. Therefore at that time around I could only explore my surroundings which meant I was trying almost every Kota place there was but as I grew and things got better I was able to travel around the city trying different meals that were greatly recommended on the net.

One of the places that was on my Go-To restaurants list was 86 Public Pizzeria, this was because of the love I have for Italian cuisines, therefore it was my wish to try something new and Italian that was different from the usual Debonairs and Romans pizza.

About 86 public

86 Public Pizzeria is a franchised Pizza restaurant that currently has 4 branches in Gauteng, being Randburg, Braamfontein, Illovo, and Fourways. This restaurant operates from 12:00 in the noon until 21:30 in the evening on a daily basis.

The restaurant offers variety of great dishes ranging from wings, ribs, nachos, salads, wraps and beverages, although the niche of this restaurant are pizzas, which is what drove me to writing this piece.

My experience

Last year (2019) around March, my friend and I were really eager to experience the night life of Johannesburg and we were both freshman students at the time. Going out meant for us also meant going to the best restaurant in the area and 86 Public Braamfontein was on top of my list, so we decided to go there for some sundowners and some pizza.

Braamfontein is the central suburb of Johannesburg and a student hub, it is also a tourist attraction because of its old buildings that were renovated to make the place a more student friendly place, so the branch in Braamfontein was great for us.

When we got there, the place was fairly packed because it was a month end Saturday. We got assisted as soon we entered the restaurant by a waiter that was on sight. She greeted us and asked us about the kind of table we wanted, she then allocated us a table outside because inside all the tables were occupied, and we honestly didn’t mind the placement, as we wanted to experience the city at its best as it was awake and jubilant.

We were given the menus and we asked the waiter to serve us the recommendations by the chef for pizza lovers, with wings and two strawberry mojitos. The waiting period was impressively good, we only waited less than 20 min for our order. The wings were big and fresh and they tasted really , even the pizza looked very appetizing.

The problem began when we started indulging on our recommended pizza, I was really not impressed with the flavoring of the pizza. It got to a point where I asked our waiter to add more toppings on the pizza thinking it would enhance the flavor but nothing happened. I mean if I really wanted to create my own pizza an I would have chosen the other option where you are given a base and you can go as crazy as you want with creating your own pizza with the sides. So we had to suck it up and add some salt and pepper for more flavoring.

Service

The service I must say it was good and fairly fast. The waiter we got was friendly and polite, She even asked whether we wanted to return the pizza so they could make us a fresh one since we were not pleased with the order, of which we declined because we had to move on to other places before the night ended. That really impressed us and we ended up tipping the waiter R50 for her service.

My overall experience was really good, but personally I wouldn’t go back for their pizza as it was my first time and i was served a flavorless pizza and i wouldn’t recommend their pizza. They do though have other great cuisines they serve that are really tasty!. I will definitely be going back for their wings and mojitos because they were really nice and flavorful.

Here are 10 different restaurants you can try out whenever you are in Braamfontein or Johannesburg:

Barney Jiri: The Purple Chef

Article by: Qiniso Ndzawumbi

Prepare yourself for where you are going, so that you don’t have to prepare yourself when you arrive
Barney Jiri

At the age of 21 years, Barney Jiri also known as The Purple Chef, a graduate at one of Africa’s leading Hotel schools ( The International Hotel School), currently doing his Bachelor Of Arts in Strategic Communications In Corporate Communications at the University of Johannesburg. He is a food stylist, social media influencer, Chef and a brand ambassador of one of the biggest supermarkets chains operating franchised grocery stores in South Africa, Food Lovers Market.

This young lad is the founder of Royal Era Events, an events catering company, he is also a private chef, when asked during an interview by Social Hour Production on why he chose to be exlusive with his services, he mentioned that he likes interacting with his clients, which is something that is near to impossible when you work in the “industry” of which he describes as restaurants, hotels and all the other hospitality vacancies.

We as Cooking with Qiniso got a chance to interview this cooking expert.

What drove him to being a Chef?

“Cooking has always come easy to me”
Barney Jiri

Barney mentions that growing up in a household of women who loved and enjoyed cooking is one of the reasons that inspired him to pursue cooking as a career path. “I’d always watched my mom and grandmother cook which sparked an interest in me. I started falling in love with Food channels and seeing how others cook and they have different cooking techniques which led me to start expecting in the kitchen.”

He further explained that in high school he chose consumer studies as one of his favored subjects which opened and broadened his mind to the culinary industry that’s when he finally chose to go to study at the international hotel school.

Culinary School and the best parts about the education experience

“My experience at IHS was absolutely amazing. When you choose to go into something and you have a full understanding of what you have envisioned for your career, everything falls into place”. The greatest challenge he faced was escaping his comfort zone seeing as he always wanted to stand out. “ ‘Your last dish’ always represents you and makes you memorable and this always led me to be hard on myself and to always seek advice as I needed to maintain the standard I had set”. One of the biggest lessons he says he has learnt throughout his education period is to listen to the advice he is given and to proactively apply it. “I had to learn, to listen to be consistent as the change began once I became a student”. “I can gladly say that by always trying to be ahead, by doing more research, and always going the extra mile, when it came to my plating and cooking techniques, it was all about effort and passion because with consistency it all came together beautifully.”

Favorite go-to dish

“ It has to be between steak, creamy mash and mushroom sauce or creamy pasta-based sauce. It gives me a lot of nostalgia”

Chef that he admires

Gordan Ramsy. “This is because he is considered one of the world’s greatest chefs – that’s why”.

Favorite wine

Barney stated that Vilafonte is his favorite wine at the moment and this is due to the dozens of health benefits reasons which it contains,

decreased incident of heart attacks & strokes (the French paradox)
reduce tumors
block formation of amyloidal plaques which contribute to Alzheimer’s
better dental health, etc
Flavonoids – Anthocyanin in grape skin give red color
decreases cholesterol
Rich in antioxidants

Barney Jiri frequently gives out advices on how to manipulate your way around the kitchen, plating tips and also cooking tricks, so if you a cook fanatic follow him on his social platforms for all these perks, all link to existing and functioning socials are down below

For starters here are 5 food styling tips by Barney Jiri

Tuna and Chickpea salad

By: Qiniso Ndzawumbi

Hello there, Welcome to my blog. This is my first post and what better way than to start it up with a families favorite, Tuna and chickpeas salad. This salad is very nutritious and filling, packed with protein filled ingredients. Personally I am always craving chickpeas whether cooked or not, but since we are moving into summer this dish is a refreshing one on sunny days where you are lazy to cook.

The best part about this salad is that it is prepared in a few minutes.

Serving suggestions: 4 servings

HEALTH BENEFITS

High in protein and make an excellent replacement for meat in vegetarian and vegan diets.

High in Fiber, which helps in improving your digestion.

Helps in reducing inflammation, studies have shown that consuming chickpeas atleast four times a week can help in reducing your chances of getting inflammation

Protects your skin

For more health benefits

INGREDIENTS

2 cups Chickpeas

Can Of Tuna

1 cup Cherry Tomatoes

Half an onion

Bell Peppers ( Green, Yellow and Red)

Cucumber

Avocado

SEASONING

1 Tbs Salt

1/2 Tbs Black Peppercorns

1 spoon BBQ Spice

1/2 tbs Parsley

1/2 tbs Rosemary and Lemon Seasoning

All these ingredients you can find them at your local grocery stores.

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine all the ingredients, and add on top any kind of salad dressing that you may like. For homemade salad dressing inspiration visit Cassie Johnston’s blog.