Things you can get in South Africa but not in Australia and vice versa

[Donnyvcpt]

Sorry did not mean to diss the memories but is is probably just me but the wimpy makes the most horrible food i have ever tasted. I think i have been to the wimpy a full 5 times in my life. Once I got a little bit of food poisoning from a toasted chick and mayo sarmy. The other times i have ordered a burger and know i did not finish it casue i thought it was horrible. For me they make a nice tooti fruito smoothie. We do go to the spur about twice a year after our big cycle races and we need some oil and fat back into the body. I cry for two days from tummy pain after loading in a beef burger with chips and loads of pink sauce. So i guess my memories are not good ones. We tend to change things around alot. We are more about new experiences than memories. Yes we are probably weird but even when we go to the same restaurant i try to order something different every second time.if it was bad I just would not order it again. . . . . But no regrets! When we go on holiday we try new spots when we go for a weekend away we try a place we have never been to.

Sorry so off topic here!

I think i will miss the veggie patties from woolies. My aussie family are mostly vegaterian and when they came to visit they even commented about how good they were.

Renny, I'm not a healthy eater by any stretch of the imagination, so I can't comment on woolies veggie burgers lol . What I can tell you is that I can believe what you say about Spur. I was a plant maintenance technician for their sauce plant in Cape Town and even though I only worked there for 2 years I was astonished to see how their quality standards dropped. The pink sauce was basically a mayonnaise with spices, tomato puree and brown vinegar, but by the time I left they were cutting out loads of the oil that they usually used and instead started adding water and corn starch to thicken it up. The way the restaurants handle the sauces in the branches is also shocking. The quality of the meat used is also of a inferior quality. That being said.....I don't go to spur anymore.

[JPLJNR]

Oros ingredients: Water,Sugar ,Orange Juice ,Acidifier (E296) ,Flavourant ,Colourants (E104, E110) ,Sulphur Dioxide (E223) and Benzoic Acid (E221) (Preservatives)

Yikes! Get yourself a chemist and make your own.

Hey , i still like the stuff.

I used to drink too much and smoke now iv`e quit smoking and drink only on occasion. I`ve been drinking it since i was a tjokkertjie and there is nnnothong wwwong wif me me

[miraclebabycaw]

Ina Parman cheese sauce for a quick cheese sauce if I did not have time to make myself. Can't buy/get a decent cheese sauce here so have to find the time to make. Goldilocks pot scourers...can't seem to get anything decent here either (bear in mind I am in Adelaide so perhaps they are found elsewhere but not in our local Coles/Woolies). C&B mayo. Sorry but cannot do the Aussie stuff. Tried quite a few and they all suck IMO. Oxtail soup I buy in the local woolies so no issues there. I miss spur chicken wings with their blue cheese dressing and my daughter really misses Nando's hotwings. Nando's here is just not the same. Oh and decent "hotdogs", cheese grillers etc. We didn't eat them often but miss a good cheese griller or bokwurst. Have tried a number of them but they just don't seem to meet expectations. Can't get over a sausage sizzle. Who in their right mind eats yucky beef sausages with bread..at least have a roll LOL. Shwarmas...oh my word one thing I really miss. Pita pockets are just not big here and the ones you get are thin silly little things. A Yiro is just not the same. Nestle Hot Chocolate. Hubby would definitely list Klipdrift Premium Brandy lol.

Things I Iove here..yip timtams have to be on the list. Far too expensive in SA. The huge variety of spices, foods and clothes. There is so much choice in the supermarkets. It's amazing. Fresh food tastes better as well. All the "bad" things in life like chocolate and ice cream...wow there is so much to choose here. All the little innovative tools you can get at bunnings (ok things cost a fortune but still). Sales sales and more sales. So nice to actually get sale prices and not the so called slight mark downs that SA calls sales.

[Bronwyn&Co]

Shona you reminded me now of espetadas on a metal skewer over curly fries...never had one here. Also blue cheese salad and chicken livers peri peri. And any salad other than Garden, Greek or Caesar. Ha!

We just hosted a French exchange student and on the last night the school did an 'Aussie barbeque' for all the kids. It was a sausage sizzle. He said it was 'disgusteeeng!' Shame. We ended up at a restaurant at 9pm then he ordered macaroons (pronounced like macca-rone) which the poor kid could hardly swallow.

[OubaasDik]

My local in Perth used to have Klippies Premium.

I also had some pretty decent Nandos Peri-peri chicken livers in Perth a year or so ago, so no worries there.

Take some boeries to the next sausage sizzle, but fair warning, keep an eye on it. The Aussies will accidentally take it and leave you with a sawdust banger. as would I if I could trade in my disgusting sausages.

[magman]

I have found that the kids prefer eating here at hungry jacks or macca's much more than they did at wimpy or spur in SA. The KFC here though is different the kids don't like it, we all think it is very dry (maybe it is just the local branch we been getting it at, but I doubt we will go to KFC again here), but otherwise the kids are always nagging for a macca's or jacks, and I must admit I think it is more affordable here the fast food.

For a treat or when one of the kids does well, we go to Nando's. Also I really enjoy the turkish kebabs on a friday night, especially if we had a few drinks in Perth CBD.

But I will still give all of this up for a 1/4 mutton bunny chow in Richards Bay harbour, just one!!!!!

[Donnyvcpt]

I have found that the kids prefer eating here at hungry jacks or macca's much more than they did at wimpy or spur in SA. The KFC here though is different the kids don't like it, we all think it is very dry (maybe it is just the local branch we been getting it at, but I doubt we will go to KFC again here), but otherwise the kids are always nagging for a macca's or jacks, and I must admit I think it is more affordable here the fast food.

For a treat or when one of the kids does well, we go to Nando's. Also I really enjoy the turkish kebabs on a friday night, especially if we had a few drinks in Perth CBD.

But I will still give all of this up for a 1/4 mutton bunny chow in Richards Bay harbour, just one!!!!!

Lol give it all up you say? How about I swap you your pr for 2 1/4 mutton bunny chows

[HarryVR]

Sorry did not mean to diss the memories but is is probably just me but the wimpy makes the most horrible food i have ever tasted. I think i have been to the wimpy a full 5 times in my life. Once I got a little bit of food poisoning from a toasted chick and mayo sarmy. The other times i have ordered a burger and know i did not finish it casue i thought it was horrible. For me they make a nice tooti fruito smoothie. We do go to the spur about twice a year after our big cycle races and we need some oil and fat back into the body. I cry for two days from tummy pain after loading in a beef burger with chips and loads of pink sauce. So i guess my memories are not good ones. We tend to change things around alot. We are more about new experiences than memories. Yes we are probably weird but even when we go to the same restaurant i try to order something different every second time.if it was bad I just would not order it again. . . . . But no regrets! When we go on holiday we try new spots when we go for a weekend away we try a place we have never been to.

Sorry so off topic here!

I think i will miss the veggie patties from woolies. My aussie family are mostly vegaterian and when they came to visit they even commented about how good they were.

Renny I agree. Wimpy is acceptable in South Africa, as there is no other competition and people have become used to it. Try a Wimpy in Australia and I guarantee you they'd be shutting their door in a week. People here would eat there once and then spread the word to avoid the crap, that's what it is. In Australia here is such a great diversity of foods and sadly as some people have said, they tend to go to the same place all the time and order the same dish all the time, how unimaginative!! Life is about adventure and discovery, food is part of life and we should not treat our palates any different. Embrace life, learn to enjoy new foods and soon you'll be an international food fundi. Enjoy everybody!!!

Lol give it all up you say? How about I swap you your pr for 2 1/4 mutton bunny chows

He he he, you guys are funny! We have the most adorable Indian lass in our town who makes bunny chow, never knew it originated from Middle East !

[magman]

Lol give it all up you say? How about I swap you your pr for 2 1/4 mutton bunny chows

Lol, we not on PR yet

He he he, you guys are funny! We have the most adorable Indian lass in our town who makes bunny chow, never knew it originated from Middle East !

Bunny chows come from Durbs, when the Indian labourers were shipped in to harvest suger cane in Natal, they used to put their curry in their bread to carry it for their lunch, Bunny chows are unique to SA

[HansaPlease]

Renny I agree. Wimpy is acceptable in South Africa, as there is no other competition and people have become used to it. Try a Wimpy in Australia and I guarantee you they'd be shutting their door in a week. People here would eat there once and then spread the word to avoid the crap, that's what it is. In Australia here is such a great diversity of foods and sadly as some people have said, they tend to go to the same place all the time and order the same dish all the time, how unimaginative!! Life is about adventure and discovery, food is part of life and we should not treat our palates any different. Embrace life, learn to enjoy new foods and soon you'll be an international food fundi. Enjoy everybody

!

I disagree about Wimpy. I'm not saying it's good, wholesome food, but if Wimpy is so terrible and would not survive in Aus, then how come McDonalds and Hungry Jacks do so well in Aus, they are not really any better? They're not exactly fresh, gourmet offerings. What about greasy crap like potato cakes and fried dim sims, how come they're so popular in Aus when there is so much other good food available?

Nothing wrong with trying new things as well as having your old favourites. I'm all for exploring the foods of the world, I'm a very varied eater, but sometimes, people just want to walk into a place and know what they are ordering.

[AndreaL]

Yep Hansa

Harry, just because I go back for my old favourites doesn't mean I don't try new things, I've eaten more Asian and Thai here than I ever would have in RSA, but I have a love of Indian food that just can't be ignored...........lol

Takeaway. like Maccas and Red Rooster, Hungry Jacks etc is a fairly inexpensive treat, and in comparison to the mountains of mysterious servo food that all comes in batter, no matter what it is, I personally feel that you know what you are getting from one of the big chains and can be certain it hasn't been lying there for hours.

We do a fair bit of travelling as we live inland, today I've got 420km to travel and will most likely stop at Red Rooster, because they have the only chips that Mr 9 will eat, and Hungry Jacks, because I know I can get a freshly made veggie burger there................lol

[Eva]

A. The KFC here though is different the kids don't like it, we all think it is very dry (maybe it is just the local branch we been getting it at, but I doubt we will go to KFC again here), but otherwise the kids are always nagging for a macca's or jacks, and I must admit I think it is more affordable here the fast food.

My son also doesn't like the KFC here, we are going to RSA in December and the other day he said he can't wait to eat KFC in South Africa cos it is much nicer, He is only 11 and has spend almost half his life here but he remembers that!

Lol, we not on PR yet

Bunny chows come from Durbs, when the Indian labourers were shipped in to harvest suger cane in Natal, they used to put their curry in their bread to carry it for their lunch, Bunny chows are unique to SA

I remember hearing that bunny chows originated as take-aways from restaurants Indians were not allowed into in the old apartheid days in Durban...

[Donovan83]

KFC is really disgusting in Aus. It's especially bad in Perth, Melbourne seemed a bit better but still not as nice as SA... then again, there's probably a reason for that .

I find McDonalds really disgusting here in Perth. It's almost inedible. SA had much nicer McDonalds. And Hungry Jack's is perhaps the most disgusting food I have ever eaten!! I had it once and I will never touch it again. It's like... even worse than McDonalds.

[HansaPlease]

Hungry Jack's is perhaps the most disgusting food I have ever eaten!! I had it once and I will never touch it again. It's like... even worse than McDonalds.

Ordering it once from one branch does not qualify you to make that statement! Back in your box!

Seriously though- the inconsistency you sometimes get is annoying. Pakenham in the outskirts of Melbourne is widely known to have the worst Hungry Jacks, worst Mcdonalds, worst KFC and worst Red Rooster in Aus. I don't know what it is? Probably the same supply pool of "can't be arsed" teenagers who work at one, get fired, work at the next, get fired... They seem to slap together your meal with one eye closed and the other on Facebook...

Edited March 27, 2014 by HansaPlease

[miraclebabycaw]

I agree you cannot taint all KFC as disgusting. We have a KFC around the corner from us in Adelaide and have only ever once had a yucky experience. The food is much better than we ever had in RSA. Much less oily, and always tasty. Kids love HJ because they get an ice cream lol. And seriously if you think McD is better than HJ...then I have to doubt your taste buds hehehe. HJ cardboard is a bit better than McD cardboard...but only because you don't get McRoyals here

[McCabes]

lol, we ate at Maccas just to check if it really is the same everywhere, and have to say I couldn't tell the difference at all. It tasted exactly the same to me.

But then, we don't eat a lot of McDs here so maybe I'm not that used to the taste...

[SurferMan]

Hey guys,

Bunnies came from apartheid days when the black guys were not allowed to sit down, but order a "take-away" provided it was through a window at the side or back of the shop. The Bunny was born. Man I miss a solid bunny, i don't eat bread at all anymore, and it is one of the hardest things. All I wanna do one day is "Slat n lekker moer warm bunny, so 'ot my ass starts pinching in fear at the 1st bite!" Waahaaaa

That and an awesome oxtail with cream and stuff in the potjie over a slow fire. Or in my youth we would pick a sack of mussels and just throw them on a grid over an open fire and eat them, bags at a time. So tasty. The crays used to be so plentiful we would have cray fights in the rock pools. Ahh the old days.