From pink duck to poké bowls: Delicious Durban treats from Glenwood to Ixopo

Dudu Memela in her kitchen domain, where the recipes they prepare come from the Retreat’s trio of cookbooks. (Photo: Wanda Hennig)

By Wanda Hennig

21 Feb 2025

Dining out in Durban and surrounds, you may find yourself eating quail for the first time in ages, Cambodian ‘shaking’ pepper beef, prawn poké bowls with black rice and avo in cool Glenwood, and being reflective at the Buddhist Retreat Centre in Ixopo.

There’s plenty worth dining out on in Durban, from Morningside to Glenwood and on to Ixopo and the Buddhist Retreat Centre, where the food is always central. Here’s where our roving Durban gourmand has been eating lately.

Pink Duck, Florida Road

Lok lak Cambodian marinated “shaking” pepper beef, left, and that crunchy quail, right. (Photos: Wanda Hennig)

Don’t recall when I last had quail: crispy and juicy, with little bones to crunch on. A very-long-ago memory popped up of my very-late father popping off a couple with his very-long-gone rifle years and years ago, God alone knows where in the Midlands, I expect before it was ever called the Midlands… Plucking them and cooking them for dinner when we got home. It’s the only childhood shooting memory I have, which, thinking broadly, seems extremely fortunate.

Last night’s quail was the perfect tasty starter to share at the Pink Duck. The tuna ceviche is back on the special menu, too. (That was last time’s starter choice.)

The Pink Duck’s actual duck, left, and their specials board. (Photos: Wanda Hennig)

From Steven Clements and his Pink Duck kitchen team’s special menu, our two mains to follow our little quail-bird: crispy, juicy duck breast, with hints of distinctive Thai red curry... and more subtle, the delish lok lak Cambodian marinated “shaking” pepper beef served with chips.

As the kitchen closes a little earlier at Pink Duck than its neighbour, we got into Glenwood Bakery Morningside, right next door, with minutes to spare to share the tastebud-wowing burnt-caramel-topped crème caramel dessert.

Just because Pink Duck and St Clements restaurant’s chef-owner is known to do unusual things (read The extraordinary journey of Steve Clements), I message him in the morning. “Did you shoot the quail?”

No, he says. He’s breeding them. Waiting for the “quail plucker” he’s ordered to arrive. Then they will be a regular on the menu.

Both Pink Duck and Glenwood Bakery Morningside, next door, have daily and weekly specials, always something new, different, “special” to try. Lucky us.

Follow Pink Duck on Instagram | 52 Florida Road | 061 187 8419

Poké Box, Glenwood

Wonton box at Poké Box, left, and the chilled vibe in the street. (Photos: Wanda Hennig)

Oh, happy nights, delicious days, and lucky us in Glenwood, too. In this case, that Poké Box hero, Thomas Wright, has chosen to buck the trend (of those crossing town to Morningside). He has moved from Florida Road (and a hard-to-find alley spot) to what those of us who live here know is Durban’s coolest neighborhood. Yes, Glenwood.

It’s right next to another Glenwood gem, The Glenwood Bakery, which left a huge neighbourhood gap when they changed hours and closed evenings. Of course, we all protested and threatened sit-outs. Then followed Chef Adam Robinson to his second spot (no longer new and open evenings), Glenwood Bakery Morningside.

But life isn’t, and shouldn’t be, either-or. And-and being vastly preferable.

So Thomas has expanded from the hole-in-the-wall he opened three years ago (read Fusing heritage one poké at a time in Durban) to a proper café-eatery, open six days, and six evenings a week (never on a Sunday). Table seating is inside and out on the pavement... And it was bubbling with happy customers on Friday night, just a couple of months after opening. With an expanded little menu of his trademark, fresh, delish, quality, carefully selected, flavourful, creative offerings.

I tried the prawn poké (bowls, not boxes, when you eat in) with black rice, fresh avo, sprouts, ’n all kinds of fresh and tasty stuff. And proper chopsticks. My eating buddy of the evening, Sarah, already a regular, went for the chicken and cabbage “wonton” dumplings. Highly recommended.

Visit the Poké Box website. Follow Poké Box on Instagram and on Facebook.

The Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo

The Buddhist Retreat Centre in Ixopo, their super fresh treats — and a hungry vervet. (Photos: Wanda Hannig)

The same. But so different. The first time I went to the Buddhist Retreat Centre, around 1985, it was to do a creativity workshop run by dancer-psychologist, Tossie van Tonder. I felt an instant connection with the place and asked if I could return to do a 10-day read-write-sit (in the meditation hall) private retreat. Mervyn Croft, one of the teachers there at the time, said “sure”. (He went on to create the lovely Emoyeni Retreat Centre — Place of the Spirit — in the Magaliesberg and returns every so often to run workshops at Buddhist Retreat Centre.)

Much has changed over the many years since. Most notably and most recently (last year), wonderful Louis van Loon, who founded the centre, died aged 89. And June “Junac” Atkinson, there that first time and every other time, had died since I was last there, which should have been to run a memoir and mindfulness workshop. But Covid-19 came and all workshops during that period, including mine, were run via Zoom as fund-raisers.

Delicious cheesecake at the Buddhist Retreat Centre. (Photo: Wanda Hennig)

So on my most recent visit, late January, Louis and Junac were “no more” — but their presence endures and I reckon always will for the many whose lives they affected.

And everything else seems, as it always has, to get more and more special. The remarkable Chrisi van Loon, who oversees the running of things, be it from near or far. The cool people who come to work here. Think morning chi kung from one of them, massage therapy and counselling sessions from another, to mention some extra guest perks.

Food is central to the tranquil charms of the Buddhist Retreat Centre in Ixopo. (Photos: Wanda Hennig)

Central, always, is the food. Dudu Memela and the rest of the kitchen team are inspired by and cook using recipes from the three Buddhist Retreat Centre cookbooks, propped up to show which dish we’re being served. Amazing vegetarian fare, forest walks, and retreats ranging from spiritual to “for the birds” (as in lovers of). Maybe the fact that housekeeper Nomusa Mthembu is also a sangoma, adds to the magic of the Buddhist Retreat Centre recipe.

Dudu Memela in her kitchen domain, where the recipes they prepare come from the Retreat’s trio of cookbooks. (Photo: Wanda Hennig)

In the early days, there were no vervet monkeys at the centre. The story goes that someone started keeping vervets somewhere nearby, left the property, and released them... The veggie gardens are now well secured. And if you leave your window open, heaven help you. Buddha won’t. DM

Read this article from way back. And this one: Retreating to flavour and mindfulness.

Visit the BRC website. Follow the BRC on Instagram. On Facebook.

Follow Wanda Hennig on Instagram.

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