Mzoli’s is THE spot.

One of our favorite places to hang out with friends and chill in Cape Town is Mzoli’s. Mzoli’s (pronounced mmm-Zo-lee’s) is a butcher shop in Gugulethu. Attached to the butcher shop is a large barbecue, and an outide patio. You order and buy your meat, they cook it up for you, and you enjoy it outside. The meat is legendary.  Friends and neighbors gobbled down the large plates of ribs, chops and steaks.

This patio isn’t just any patio either. On Saturdays, and especially Sundays, the place is packed with folks. They bring their drinks, and snacks to accompany the meat, and find themselves a table, if possible. It’s usually very crowded, and you may just have to make some new friends, and join someone else’s table. It’s easy to do though. Sometimes there is a DJ, which is very fun, but other times people just pull their cars up and blast Metro FM or some other radio station, or some cool underground sound like DJ Cleo.

We have been there a few times. The first time we didn’t know anyone, but fortunately some great people from Bush Radio that Chris knew were there, and we hung out with them. We’ve been back a couple of times since then. Sometimes other friends that we’ve met are there, sometimes we make new friends. All we need is a pack of playing cards, and soon the international language of Chris’ favorite card game “toilet bowl” has created new friendships from around the globe.

Hangin’ at Mzoli’s

In the butcher shop

With the ladies

Around the card table

It’s clearly a place where many people in the community come to relax and have fun. It’s a great place to hang out, listen to music, and meet friends.  Final note…on Sundays, many are dressed pretty sharp, so wear something nice, but keep in mind it’s going to smell like barbeque by the end of the afternoon.

Happy Birthday to Bush Radio!

This was written on the morning of the 10th:

We went to a great party last night. The friendly people at Bush Radio invited us to their annual celebration.

We showed up at a bar in Observatory called Roots. We walked into an open courtyard, where a number of people from the station greeted us. It was a warm night, and it was tempting to stay in the open courtyard, but we could hear the good music inside, and it pulled us in.

We went into the club, and it was crowded with friends hanging out and toasting each other. We chatted with many people we bumped into as we made our way through the crowds. The dance floor was packed, and the DJs were Bush Radio personalities.

We ordered beers and took in the scene. We meet DJs and interns, all great. After finishing our drinks, we joined the group on the dance floor and took in the music. After a while, we moved into another open courtyard area. We looked up to see the stars, and sat back listening to the tunes and the four or five languages being spoken all around us. It was a Cape Town kind of night.