Meeting Point: Tanzanian Cuisine Review
The first time I ate the Meeting Point: Tanzanian Cuisine was by chance at the Neighbourgoods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill. The rice, mung beans, and spinach combo spoke directly to me. I love mung beans, is that just me? This dish started my love affair with my favorite restaurant in Cape Town: Meeting Point.
Whether you’re a Captonian, a Joburger on vacay, or visiting from across the world, Meeting Point is a wonderful lunch or dinner experience.
Hidden in plain sight, you’ll find Meeting Point on the popular Strand Street.
Nibs at Meeting Point: Tanzanian Cuisine
Before you even think about the menu, order a cup of Tanzanian spiced chai. It will give you life. The homemade tea is made with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, black pepper, and more. Get it without sugar or milk first to truly experience it.
Don’t leave without the spiced chai.
The food has got this homemade goodness about it that I love. There is a range of main options so your veggie/vegan friends and your meat-lovers can all enjoy a hearty meal.
Meeting Point chefs also use coconut milk in a lot of their recipes, giving them a creaminess that melds well with the spices. Speaking of spices, you can get fresh chili on the side but the dishes themselves are flavorful but not ‘hot’. I used up all the chili because I like that extra kick in my food.
A full feast!
Besides the mung beans, I love the fish stew. The tomato sauce is excellent. The veggie stew is also a great staple.
For each main, you can pick your preferred starch: rice, chapati, or pap (a maize meal porridge served like a dumpling). We got all three with our selection after our bike tour.
Pap is super filling so we didn’t finish it all—however, it’s perfect for soaking up the sauces.
We also ordered the braai beef and the butter chicken (not to be confused with Indian butter chicken, this has all its own favors according to my sister, Sitara). Although my brother said the braai beef was good, the peanut beef sounds really interesting to me—perhaps you can try it and let me know if it’s as good as I think it should be!
Jafar also tried the Swahili donuts as an appetizer and like them a lot!
What (else) I love about Meeting Point
Besides the food, I love the casual, African eatery atmosphere. The menu is written on the wall, but you need to check if they actually have what’s written with the servers… Most of the time they do but both times I’ve visited, the waitress had to check with the kitchen.
I love the chalkboard menu.
The prices are amazing. After our One Day Africa Cape Town Bicycle tour, the four of us had lunch at Meeting Point. We each got tea and we had 4 main dishes to share: it cost just R400 total… and we were totally stuffed.
It would be a perfect spot for a larger group gathering as well. At least when we’ve visited, the kitchen is active but there are just a couple of people here and there so a large group could easily be accommodated. Wilhelm and I made a reservation just in case the first time we visited the restaurant and it was so funny because there were just two other people sitting on their own there.
My siblings (Jafar and Sitara) and our friend+guide Sipho from One Day Africa.
Speaking of funny experiences…
After Wilhelm and I unknowingly ate Meeting Point food at the Neighbourgoods Market, we also visited the restaurant later on in our trip! Only when we visited the Neighbourgoods Market again and spotted the same waitress did we realize we had two Meeting Point experiences! How did this happen? To those who don’t know, the Neighbourgoods Market can be totally overwhelming with food choices. There are so many vendors all lined up together so the first time I went, I was just looking at the food and not the names of the restaurant vendors. Whoops. Hehe.
If you don’t have time to visit the restaurant, definitely check out the Meeting Point’s stall at the Neighbourgoods Market.
The restaurant doesn’t have an official website but you can check out info on Facebook or Google Maps.