The return to the “old school” roadhouse in Durban saw a flurry of activity on social media as an uMhlanga restaurant went back in time serving their dishes to patrons in their cars as a novel way of bringing in customers during the strict lockdown level 4.
And while it had to stop the offer this week as it contravened level 4 lockdown regulations in that patrons were being served by waiters, for many it brought back some fond memories of the city’s roadhouses from the past, including the Tropicale, The Nest, the Cuban Hat and XL Roadhouse, particularly during the ’70s and ’80s.
The Tropicale in Albert Park, which had both a restaurant and roadhouse, was a favourite haunt of Durbanites, famous for its double-thick milkshakes.
This week, the Independent on Saturday spoke to former manager of the Tropicale, Peter Venter, who now owns Bread, The Artisan Baker and Bistro in Morningside. Venter said the Tropicale was owned by the Poulos family, with the roadhouse being run by manager Steve Mortimer. Venter said that as far as he could remember, Mortimer was shot and killed during an armed robbery at the roadhouse in the mid-1990s which led to it being closed down.
“It was one of the most popular restaurants in Durban, especially the chocolate milkshake and the Knickerbocker Sundae. We would take the trays out to the cars.
“In 1984 I came to Durban and it was one of the first places I learned about. It was for all ages and there was something for everyone,” said Venter, adding that the restaurant’s decor was cream with light green and pale pink and that the head waiter was Monty at that time.
The website Facts About Durban had many postings about the Tropicale from 2012 through to the present.
Ann Boyce said that during her dating years, Tropicale was “the place to be”.
“It originally had clip-on window trays, like the ones at the drive-in, which were brought to one’s car ... the chocolate double milkshakes with the large-bore straw were the very best in Durban and the Awful Awful Sundae was the treat of the year.”
Allan H posted about the two same treats, describing the sundae as a “delicious stomach-turning goodie”.
“I drove a 1957 VW Beetle in those days and it was pillar box red. We were always short of cash and the trip to the Tropicale was something of an event for us around pay day each month,” he said.
John Taylor, who also drove an old VW Beetle “with a very wonky passenger window which nearly sent the tray crashing on a couple of occasions”, said: “Everyone made their way to the Tropicale next to Albert Park at some stage, whether it be in the ’60s, ’70s or ’80s. Apart from the extraordinarily double-thick milkshakes, I recall loving one item on the menu comprising a pork sausage and chips upon which was poured a hair-curling peri-peri-type gravy.”
Umsha Moonsamy shared that she had grown up in Albert Park: “We were the only Indian family living there, behind the grandstands, next to Tropicale. My dad worked for the Durban Corporation at that time, he used to put up the chess pieces for people to play near the restaurant, he was the one who maintained the grounds and make sure everything was clean and in order, his name was George.”
Another Tropicale fan, Gerald, posted: “You entered Albert Park via two large white gateposts and swung right into the Tropicale car park area. People were served in their cars and it was very popular. The raised freeway was the interchange that led to the southern freeway as well as the entry point for traffic coming from town, the Esplanade and down Moore Road. Sadly this part of Durban has become rather rundown and unsafe.”
The Nest, Cuban Hat and XL Roadhouse were known to get a little rough in the early “bottle and throttle” hours of the morning.
A biker (who preferred to remain anonymous) recalled one evening at The Nest when his hangover was already setting in, “the guy playing the guitar was so awful, I paid him R5 to just not sing anymore”.
Meanwhile, harking back to another roadhouse, the Cuban Hat, Gordon Hall told the story on Facts About Durban of drug squad police officers who “tried to trap one of the waiters into selling them dagga/marijuana/Durban Poison.
“They told the waiter they wanted some grass. But the cops weren’t quite as undercover as they thought, as the waiter went out behind the kitchen and scraped together some lawn grass and put it into a packet for them.
“The cops got miffed and charged him with fraud. His defence was that he gave them exactly what they asked for, so the magistrate threw out the case. Things were simpler back then.”
Independent on Saturday