In the past, when I was little, my dad and mom always took me out on a weekend. They always told me, we were going to a “drive in” for dinner. I always wondered what that meant? I just loved the idea of going out for the weekend, since school days took forever to finish.
It meant going with a car to eat American diner style food but inside the car itself. I was excited! It was not in a physical restaurant but with other cars, present next to us. (This was different to me and it was optional to sit down in the small restaurant). The road house provided a space different to your normal restaurant and was much more affordable for my parents.
The food we ate was milkshake and burgers. My favorite twist to the menu was always toasted curry and hot slap chips (French fries)(A South African favorite for sure). Alternatively I would order a pap and vleis (Mielies cooked and Steak. Another South African Favorite)
To combine with our meals, an ice cubed coca cola (coke) drink complemented it.
Towards the end of dinner, I always looked forward to eating an ice cream, while watching a movie from the back of my dads car from the road house, which was opposite the outdoor cinema! It was free and I felt like I managed to “cheat” a ticket from the actual drive-in cinema. Eventually we would go for the late 10pm show to see a movie and I would tend to fall asleep before the movie actually started, while my parents enjoyed the late night show .
Currently, today in Johannesburg, there is only certain areas where American style road houses are open and do operate. It is not available everywhere as it used to be in the past. Some places are actually closed down due to target market demand changes.
My goal is to find surviving road houses and experience them while the chance is around. I also share their foodie and drink pictures complemented with a review comment in the hopes of keeping these local businesses alive and operating for others to come visit and experience in the near future.
