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Longing for time long passed, keeps the customers coming back.

It’s not an exaggeration or an insult to say travelling to the East Rand, is a bit like travelling to the past. Change might not be entirely unwelcome but thank god there are havens where the people of the East Rand can escape to and find comfort in – comfort in a time long gone but almost magically preserved. These havens are not museums and library shelves laden with newspaper archives from a different time. They are the roadhouses which continue to survive and thrive in the East Rand when their like have since shut down in many other areas in Gauteng.

Doin’ the best they can

Roadhouses have had to adapt to changing times in order to survive.

Roadhouses are eateries where convenience and Grease (but more on that later) is the word. Patrons drive up to the establishment and park their cars in the massive parking lots situated in the front of the restaurant. Except unlike traditional restaurants,  customers do not even have to leave the car to eat. Instead, waiters and waitresses sidle up to the driver’s window and offer the patrons menus to peruse before placing their order. The wait staff then quickly return to the kitchen where the order is called out to the cooks who prepare the meal with haste and expertise honed through years of work.

Once ready, the food is then carried out on trays to the patrons waiting in their cars. This is the most convenient aspect of it all – being able to tuck into professionally prepared food which tastes just like home in the comfort of your own car.

Are roadhouses just drive-through fast food restaurants with a lot more back and forth then? Not at all.

It may sound insulting to call roadhouses a relic of the past and based on their continued success, the phrase is at best inaccurate but relics of the past are exactly what many of these roadhouses in the East Rand aim to be.

Casbah, the friendly ghost

The Casbah Roadhouse is the oldest of the three having managed to stand the test of time.

“She just competed in an eisteddfod and she did really well so we’re treating her with a little prize,” Matthew Wittington, a customer at the Casbah Roadhouse in Benoni, Ekurhuleni says pointing to his pig-tailed daughter sitting in the back seat of his car. The treat? An ice-cream sundae bigger than her face and sure to make her queasy later.

Wittington’s daughter, April, is only six years old, but coming to the Casbah is already a longstanding tradition for her passed down to her by her father. Wittington has many memories of going to roadhouses with his own father.

“When I was a kid I used to go to roadhouses like every month or so,” he says.

The staff outnumber the customers by a significant majority on this particularly slow Saturday afternoon. They spend most of the afternoon lounging on the retro spot’s picnic benches outside. The waiters on duty in comparison, almost fall over themselves trying to attend to their customers and one in particular bounces around the parking lot, frenetic and friendly, making sure all his customers are taken care of.

Tiisetso Molefe has only been working at the Casbah since March. Twenty-five years old, his youth contrasts sharply with the fading signs illustrating the food on offer at the roadhouse.

“I love communicating with people,” the waiter says. Working at the Casbah gives him the opportunity to do every day. He aspires to be a famous gospel singer and with pictures of Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley adorning the restaurant’s walls, he is hardly lacking in inspiration.

Sundown at the Fireplace

The Fireplace Roadhouse with locations in both Boksburg and Brakpan looks like something straight out of the 1950s. It is. Founded in 1958, this chain of roadhouses now owned and operated by Manny Neto and his sons holds a special place in their hearts.

The walls of the diner at the Brakpan location which sits atop the kitchen of the roadhouse is decorated with oversized frames from the Betty and Veronica comic book series and signs in neon lights designate the men’s and ladies’ bathrooms. The tables and chairs, all made of wrought-iron, are painted in shades of pink, white and blue. This combination immediately signals to patrons just what sort of style they are emulating. It is not the 1950s of South Africa the roadhouse is trying to recapture. The diner is designed to look like the sort of establishment Danny and Sandy would hang out in. There are booths big enough to fit all the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies too. The roadhouse itself is actually older than the movie Grease.

“I think people come here for the comfort food and for old time’s sake too. We’ve owned the Fireplace since 1980 and I see the same faces still coming in every so often,” Neto begins.

“And you see over time they start coming with their kids and even their grandkids. So it’s great we have that play area,” he says; referring to the children’s play area erected in the centre of the diner.

Robin Alexander, a burly older man sat waiting for his food in an imposing white bakkie agrees.

“I like to bring the grandkids but not my own kids ’cause they just end up drinking too much!” he says with a laugh. The sun is setting and the quiet parking lot air is peppered with bursts of laughter from the different cars.

Dinnerbox and a show

The Dinnerbox Roadhouse in Springs takes on the balancing act of featuring both retro and contemporary decorative styles.

Until Janury 2019, the roadhouse was called the Pink Panther and now garish signs which read, “LOCAL IS LEKKER” compete with the red-and-white striped booths. That is precisely how new owner Manny Soares likes it.

“You have to update the look a bit if you want to survive,”he explains his vision for the restaurant.

“People want that retro look but they also want that fresh look . We’ve done just that and that’s why I think we’ll last,” he says confidently.

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FEATURED IMAGE: The Dinnerbox Roadhouse in Springs, Ekurhuleni thrives thanks to its location on a main road says owner, Manny Soares. Photo: Sanele Msiza

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