Home – Visitor Guide – Shopping, dining and entertainment

Shopping, dining and entertainment

Home to world-class entertainment venues, fine restaurants, day spas, boutique hotels, authentic African craft markets and fantastic jazz venues, Gauteng has it all. From shopping malls and African street markets to a cafe society, from restaurants and upmarket shebeens to the great outdoors – this is a province that offers instant gratification and no dull moments. Why not hang out at a cigar bar in Tshwane, pop into the African market in Ekurhuleni, rediscover your soul in Metsweding or head off for some bona fide township hospitality in Jozi?

Shopping heaven

The store owners and street vendors in Rosebank, Johannesburg, are a prime example of European sophistication and African ingenuity complementing each other. At the African Craft Market crafts and curios, porcupine quills and traditional carvings vie with nearby shopping malls offering gold jewellery, diamonds, artwork and designer couture.

Visitors are often dazzled by the quality of Gauteng shopping malls, declaring them some of the best in the world. Sandton City is one of the most upmarket shopping centres in the southern hemisphere. The centre features two of the country's most luxurious hotels and over 200 shops. In fact, it is a covered village where you can park, bank, do business, dine, relax, shop, pamper yourself and go to the movies – all under one roof.

Most visitors would not want to miss the many craft markets where a strong local and African flavour dominates goods on offer, whether they be art, carvings, colourful caftans, beadwork, leather footwear or interior design items. Some of the bigger permanent markets are Bruma Market World, and the African Craft Market in Rosebank. Others are the Rosebank Rooftop Flea Market, which operates on Sundays and public holidays, and the weekly Michael Mount Organic Market in Bryanston, which sells only organically grown products and items made from natural materials. The Irene Village Market in Tshwane is held weekly and sells only handmade articles. Saturday is market day in Edenvale at Horwood's Farm Craft Market. The Faraday Market in central Johannesburg is Gauteng's only informal street market for herbal medicines.

On any journey through Gauteng you will find a variety of wonderful farm stalls selling fresh produce and homemade foods. Readers of out-of-print books can take advantage of a fine selection of second-hand bookstores where you can find everything from old classics to nearly new editions by young African authors.

Dining delights

Gauteng is known for its restaurants and authentic local fare. You will find anything from Thai, to Portuguese, to Cape Malay, to Italian (the real thing), to home-grown boerekos and authentic African cuisine.

To understand South African food it is important to know that a number of very distinct communities live within Gauteng's borders. Africa features heavily as can be expected, and a few very famous names specialise in the continent's unique cuisine. The Moyo group of restaurants serve modern, pan-African food in a theatrical setting that includes face painting and storytelling. Gramadoelas, meaning "Out in the sticks" and conveniently situated in the Newtown Cultural Precinct, offers traditional African food including fried mopani worms and crocodile meat.

Authentic shebeen restaurants in Soweto and Thokoza serve traditional specialities such as tripe, wild spinach, great T-bone steaks and the African maize meal known as pap. The Carnivore in Muldersdrift, on the West Rand, serves exotic meats, such as eland, crocodile, kudu and ostrich. These are grilled over open fires on large spears, which are brought to the table when ready. Diners are then invited to carve off choice bits to be enjoyed with typical accompaniments and local wines and beers.

Uniquely South African and very much in evidence in Gauteng is African-inspired Portuguese cuisine. It is unlike anything you are likely to encounter in Portugal itself. Chilli features heavily in this tradition, as do seafood dishes such as prawns, crab, calamari and codfish.

Cornuti in the Cradle is a tantalising restaurant overlooking the African bushveld in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site on the West Rand. Enjoy your designer Italian/French cuisine while viewing zebra and antelope.

Good Indian cuisine is served in abundance in Gauteng, particularly North Indian food. Dishes like rogan josh (mild but spicy lamb), tandoor (cooked in a clay oven) and korma (cream and cashew nuts, with the meat of your choice) are all available. Fordsburg, in Johannesburg, is home to the finest Indian restaurants. Kapitans Cafe in the city centre was one of the few multiracial restaurants during the apartheid era and offers traditional Indian fare.

Don't forget to pop into Chinatown (near Cyrildene in Johannesburg) for the best Chinese food this side of Beijing.

An absolute local institution when it comes to dining is the outdoor barbecue, or braai as it is known locally. If you are not invited to a private home or game farm for such an experience, fear not. Make a reservation at one of Gauteng's top-notch steakhouses and revel in the combination of fine wines served with the very best quality prime beef available. 

Oh, and don't forget to try Gauteng's only wine farm – the Loopsruit Wine Estate in Metsweding.

A night (or day) on the town

Gauteng knows how to celebrate urban life and offers a wide array of experiences, from cigar bars, theatres and jazz cafes to weekend music festivals and an annual gay pride parade.

The Soho Suburbs: Melville in Johannesburg is a village within in the city – home to the artistic, the creative and the offbeat. Small hole-in-the-wall venues feature great live music as well as local colour of the Greenwich Village variety. Another Johannesburg "village" worth exploring is Norwood. Noodle shops, kosher delis and fusion foods are all around, interspersed with quirky shops and nightspots. The leafy suburbs of Parkhurst and Greenside offer excellent roadside dining and some of the best cuisine in town.

In Hatfield, Tshwane, a healthy student population from the nearby university residences keeps the nightlife going till the wee hours of the morning. Over 50 restaurants and a few music venues cluster together in a collection of non-stop entertainment.

Soweto is also fast-becoming a favourite nightspot for visitors to the province, with a number of excellent shebeens and home-grown restaurants on offer. Celebrate urban jazz and find out more about kwaito, a raucous music style that defines current South African youth culture. Why not extend your stay by spending the night enjoying true African hospitality at a local bed and breakfast?

Emperor's Palace in Ekurhuleni is built on the site of the former World Trade Centre, where the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) was held. As with the Gold Reef City, this project juxtaposes entertainment – theatres, spas, restaurants, gambling and shops – with a sense of history in the form of the Ubunye Museum, where the Codesa story is told.

Newtown is a highlight on every Gautenger's calendar. Cross over the Nelson Mandela Bridge and discover a world of authentic African urban culture. For a week in August, the Newtown Precinct plays host to Johannesburg's biggest annual jazz festival – the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, which features over 200 local and international artists.

Also in August is the Cellar Rats Wine Festival where you can taste South Africa's best wines in the tranquil outdoor setting of the Magaliesberg mountains. Winex in October is a highlight on any wine-lover's calendar – boasting some of South Africa's best wines (and a variety of new wines too). The ever-popular Jazz on the Lake at the Zoo Lake is held on the final day of the Arts Alive Festival in September. Also not to be missed is the annual Joburg Gay Pride Festival.