Makers Landing is fairly new to the V&A food community. It is a space where makers and people come together to eat, make, learn and share.It is an innovation incubator for the local and artisanal food industry and has a large sense of community.

Whilst the kitchen incubator is the heart of the Makers Landing, the vision included creating a sustainable and tiered food community. Makers Landing is all about creating change within the food community.

We were invited to their one year celebration which was an opportunity for Makers Landing to curate and showcase the variety and diversity of South African food. Being Muslim, there were only a few places I could try but they were all well worth it and absolutely lekker 🙂

Upon arrival we were greeted with welcome beverages and ushered into the incubator kitchen where we were offerd a curry flavoured cauliflower starter. The formalities were quick which I appreciated because it meant I could get to the tasting quicker. We received a goody bag with an iced cupcake and R100 worth of monopoly money to purchase items of our choice.

In attendance were influencers, cooks and bloggers. We were all divided into groups and color coded. Each group had a store they could go to for tastings. Thereafter we were free to visit any of the other stores. Our host Paula took extra precaution to direct the Muslims in the group to the halaal certified or halaal friendly stores.

I was assigned to a sweet sensation, Ooh Fudge! Zulfa Cassiem birthed this venture in her home kitchen. She took a passion and turned it into a thriving business. She is the epitome of turning my can’ts into can and her drive to succeed shows in her product. Zulfa treated each person in our group to a gift box filled with a 9 piece mixed fudge box, 3 different blocks of single flavour fudge and a very decadent chocolate brownie. After chatting to Zulfa about her dessert bar which recently launched, I then joined fellow foodie, Farzana Kumandan from Sprinkles and Spice. Together we ventured to Kapoochka.

Kapoochka was heaven in every bite. We were treated to Bhel which is very similar to chaat but has puffed rice instead. The flavours were tangy, sweet and spicy all at once. I then tried the Dhai Puri and the best way to describe this would be an explosion of flavours in your mouth doing a happy dance. I loved it and it is on my list of places to go back to at Makers Landing. There was also a tikka wrap to taste but I gave that a skip and instead chose to wash all of what I had consumed (and it was plenty) down with a candy floss infused falooda. When I first heard candy floss infused falooda I was skeptical but it tastes really good hitting just the write notes. This is something I know my boys would love.

From there we took a walk to Conscious Meat Merchants but did not end up trying anything there as they had already laid out a spread for the group assigned to them so instead I took a walk over to Fuzzy’s Foods who was voted No 1 Koeksister for 2020. I still had my monopoly money to spend and decided to purchase some of these decadent pillows of yumminess. It was heavenly and explains why he was voted No 1. The koeksisters were not too syrupy nor were they dry and had just the right amount of coconut on it. They really are like pillows from heaven albeit round ones.

With the rest of my monopoly money, I purchased some Popcorn Cartel sold at Ooh Fudge. I needed to take something home to the kids, after all I was indulging in decadence all afternoon. There was not much else I could try but from the stores I was at, it was more than sufficient.

To end off the event, the incubator kitchen was hosting a bread making class but due to time constraints and also because it was in a confined space where people were consuming alcohol, I decided to give it a skip.

Makers Landing is not your typical food market. The food is diverse, the variety is plenty, the ambiance is casual and vibey and it is a place that I can easily visit again.

They have a jam packed schedule lined up over the coming months including kiddie classes, live band entertainment, paint events, record fairs and kids markets so check their website and social media for the calendar.

https://www.waterfront.co.za/events/festive-at-makers-landing/.

By Munira Allie
Project Manager by day, everything else all of the time. A wannabe baker and passionate chef who loves an adrenalin rush cos it makes me feel most alive. I love fast cars and daydream about superbikes. I have a predilection for all things nature and love capturing the Almighty’s majestic beauty even more. If I had a statement to describe my life it would be “she turned her can’t into can and her dreams into plans”.