Durban travel guide

Durban bunny chow

Durban's most iconic creation and South Africa's most unique dish — a quarter, half or full loaf of white bread hollowed out and filled with a thick curry (lamb, chicken or bean); the bread was used as an edible container in apartheid-era when Indian workers could not sit at restaurant tables; now an institution sold at every Durban curry house; eaten by hand, tearing the bread lid into the curry

Durban mutton curry

Durban's Indian community has developed a curry tradition distinct from any in India — richer, hotter, using a specific spice blend with more masala and chilli than any Indian regional style; the mutton curry (lamb curry) with bone-in slow-cooking for hours is the benchmark; served with roti or rice and the essential sambals (finely chopped onion, tomato and green chilli)

Samoosas from Victoria Street Market

The Durban samoosa (Indian samosa) is larger and spicier than its sub-continental cousins — fried triangular pastry with spiced mutton, chicken or vegetable filling; sold by weight from market stalls; the Victoria Street Market samoosas are some of the finest in the world

Boerewors braai

South Africa's universal food culture — thick coiled beef-and-pork sausage flavoured with coriander seeds, nutmeg and cloves, grilled over wood fire at a braai; Durban's coastal braai culture combines this with fresh fish and peri-peri prawns; an essential social event