27/12/2025
We have had a very exciting year, meeting thousands of South Africans, and introducing many British people to South African cuisine for the first time.
We have had at least 3 professional chefs tell us that our food was either the best they've eaten in (a) 6 months (b) ever (c) a long time
We have had several people get really emotional when tasting the flavor of home after a really long time away.
We have heard some really interesting pronunciations of "Potjie Pot", "boerewors" and "vetkoek".
We have seen many, many people return week after week for their fix of food at various markets. You know who you guys are!
We have had many, many, slightly skeptical people have a sample taste of this strange sounding food and then unhesitatingly order the food with excitement and confidence.
We have had a rather large number of people make the effort to come back to us after eating just to declare how "fantastic that was"!
We have prayed with, cried with, and joyfully celebrated with people who came expecting food, but went away with much more.
We have traveled Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire, seeing some places that some residents don't get to see, meeting market traders who are like family, and felt a sense of community that has been lost in most other "jobs".
We have endured wind, cold, rain and shine when our bed was trying to keep us for "five more minutes".
We have washed more dishes than we ever imagined!
And we will always treasure those memories!
Thank you to all of you, our customers and our friends, who have supported us, given friendly advice, feedback and suggestions. We heard you, and made adjustments where we could, or didn't when we couldn't.
It is time, however, for us to move on. As many of you already know (because we lived our lives "on our sleeve", as the saying goes) we have to adjust to the laws of the land and make visa decisions that we don't like to make, and cannot fight, and my beautiful wife must leave in the next few months back to South Africa without me while we make new choices for the future.
If it wasn't so expensive, frustrating or difficult, we wouldn't be having this conversation in regard to her not being allowed to live with me, her husband of 32 years, in this very scenic and wonderfully historic land that we have both come to love, and enjoy learning about and visiting whenever we got the chance.
We have come to the difficult decision to sell the business and tack with the wind, and set a new sail.
We would love it to go to a fellow South African who has a passion for food, and who will look after our customers with the same passion that we have had, and keep the South Africans - and adopted British people - as well fed as we have tried to.
With handing over the business, we would teach all our recipes to the new person/ couple so that the shift is as seamless as possible, and so that there are no disappointed or hungry customers. They are the success in the business, and without them in the equation the business fails.
Being a little cuckoo is a definite benefit! ;-)
We wish you all a very blessed Christmas season for what is left, and a wonderful new year.
Brett and Juanita.
