54 WORLD’S BEST RESTAURANTS SEPTEMBER 2019
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Located in Khayelitsha township,
about a 30-minute drive from the center
of Cape Town, the restaurant’s name is
an homage to the four-roomed houses
in which chef Abigail Mbalo-Mokoena
grew up, where multiple families
cohabitated and a communal culture of
hospitality prevailed. Mbalo-Mokoena
and her staff express that culture beau-
tifully; the chef is intent on attracting
tourists and locals alike to invigorate the
economy of the township.
Mbalo-Mokoena runs several dining
concepts, including pop-up dinners and
a food truck. Her eight-course shareable
feast at the restaurant is fantastic, and
at about $18 per person, it’s an incred-
ible value. First comes a wave of salads
and vegetable dishes, like pap (similar
to polenta) scented with nutmeg and
topped with bisto, a rich, sweet tomato
relish. A refined version of umngqusho,
a South African dish made with samp
(large hulled kernels of maize), is cooked
with coconut cream and tarragon.
Next comes a deeply flavored vegeta-
ble curry, chicken cooked with fennel,
and tender sous vide beef topped with
arugula and caramelized onion. Dessert
often includes a burnt sugar element—a
wink to Mbalo-Mokoena’s run on
MasterChef South Africa, where she
was eliminated over burnt sugar.
I ate many good meals around Cape
Town. But 4Roomed The Restaurant
alone offered a true taste of place—one I
could not have had anywhere else.
EL SOUSSI IS NOT IN A FASHIONABLE part of Beirut; the dining
room is as basic as they come. But this is also one of the most
welcoming restaurants I visited, despite the language barrier, and
where I felt as though I was experiencing the warm, generous
heart of the city.
It is a given that Lebanese breakfast is superior to most other
kinds of breakfast—who wants cornflakes when you can have
fatteh? At El Soussi, a famed morning spot, Raji Kebbe fills a
bowl with crisp pita bread, spoons warm stewed chickpeas over
top, then covers it in a blanket of tart yogurt. The final touch is a
crown of sizzling pine nuts, cooked in lamb fat with gobs of garlic.
The bread becomes moistened but retains much of its crunch, the
crispy pine nuts and garlic zap the other ingredients with flavor,
and the chickpeas provide a comforting, creamy texture.
There are also salads, plus hummus topped with meat or ful
(stewed fava beans), which may be the best hummus you’ve ever
eaten. Chicken livers are cooked with onions, and the eggs with
awarma, aka lamb confit, are not to be missed.
Kebbe has been cooking in the L-shaped nook of a kitchen in
his modest storefront for 43 years. His warmth and energy as he
mans the single open flame are part of why El Soussi is legendary.
If I could choose to eat breakfast at one restaurant every day for
the rest of my life, this would be that restaurant.
EL SOUSSI
WHERE TO STAY
|^
L’Hôte Libanais runs boutique guesthouses in Lebanon; try the charming Dar Al Achrafieh in one of Beirut’s oldest neighborhoods.
(From $120; hotelibanais.com)
BEIRUT, LEBANON
Raji Kebbe
finishes bowls
of fatteh.
A spread at
4Roomed The
Restaurant
PHOTOGRAPHY (FROM LEFT): ADRIAAN LOUW, EMILY ELYSE MILLER
