Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
matthew burbidgelatest news & developments
This year’s Comrades winner Bongmusa Mthembu keeps the Runners’ Guide next to his bed.

How running junkies find their next fix

Runners live by a guide that describes every race in the land – and there’s at least one every weekend.

Desert blues: The grit of Sahara sand pervades Tamikrest’s latest album

African albums you have to hear

Music from around our continent keeps giving the rest of the world’s best a run for their money.

Recipes for many of the dishes served at Sababa can be found in a new book.

Comforting family fare

A new cook book is packed with nourishing Jewish, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean recipes.

The start of the Two Oceans marathon 2014.

Two Oceans: Like taking candy from a baby

Your name is a powerful motivator to run the Two Oceans Ultra marathon just within the cutoff time.

A selection of sashimi at Jo’burg’s Yamato restaurant. (Paul Botes,M&G)

Jo’burg’s Yamato restaurant fishes for condiments

Yamato offers some odd delights, if you can get the waiters to unblock the soy sauce for you, writes Matthew Burbidge.

The Elangeni and Maharani hotels in Durban where executive chef Shaun Munro and his team produce a never ending array of fine food for hungry guests. (Supplied)

Elangeni: The bed & breakfast of champions

The biggest hotel in the country with a lot of sporty mouths to feed. Matthew Burbidge undertakes a study of consumption.

Food as theatre: David Higgs’s new restaurant at the Saxon

Now we’re cooking, Jozi

With Cape Town chef David Higgs’s new restaurant at the Saxon, 500, Jo’burg food just got exquisite.

Smoking allowed: Cigars are the main course at Croft & Co in Parkview  but there is food on offer as well.

Keep your figure, blow your budget

Croft & Co made its name selling expensive toys for boys, but now also boasts a stylish eatery.

Rough with the smooth: The gastro pub comes to Jo’burg in the shape of the Foundry .

The Foundry: Good food on tap

Not every meal at a restaurant needs to be an occasion.

King of cakes: Patry chef Michael van der Merwe is responsible for the delicious baked treats

Baking is big business

The cake is an essential part of any celebration, like a sugary anti-depressant.

In their latest book

The Middle East in your kitchen

Middle Eastern dishes can be complicated and laborious, but a new book delivers the diverse tastes of Jerusalem in a easy way.

Sandwiched in the north

Eateries in Johannesburg’s suburbs are enticing customers with refreshing takes on an old staple

Feeling irie: Celebrity chef Levi Roots says he is planning to be ‘joyous’ when he cooks at the Good Food and Wine Show this weekend

Rocking cod in a roots-reggae style

Levi Roots, the singing chef, along with his guitar, has been booked for the Good Food and Wine Show in Johannesburg this weekend.

Deliciously healthy: Fruit at 54 on Bath in Rosebank.

Champions of breakfast

The hotel buffet is in its own class. Once there, some breakfast patrons hardly bother with order. Everything is piled on one plate.

‘Botanical’ cooking : Chef Chantell Dartnall takes inspiration from the ingredients.

Piecing together a memorable meal at Mosaic

Chef Chantel Dartnall does not follow recipes — her imaginative creations are sublime improvisations.

Music review: Actress – R.I.P

Music review: Actress – R.I.P

Actress typically presents washes of layered sound and then uses what sound like real instruments — piano, organ, flute — to carry the melody.

New York Times described Marlon James’s novel on the 1976 assassination attempt on reggae singer Bob Marley as “epic

Biopic: The best of Bob Marley

No stone is left unturned in this biopic on the reggae star, but his private life remains elusive.

Feel the heat: Consolate Mughemuzi with the habanero chillies that she sells at her shop Get it Green and Fresh in Bez Valley

Some like it even hotter

If you can stand the heat, get into some local kitchens that specialise in making searing salsas.

The Goodman Gallery has appealed a ruling that children should be protected from the Spear painting.

Gallery refuses to remove ‘spear of the nation’ artwork

Johannesburg’s Goodman Gallery will not remove a painting of President Jacob Zuma with his penis exposed because that would be censorship.

With its superior production values

Cookbook bibles to dine for

Matthew Burbidge serves up the hottest tomes of culinary art and preparation on the market this year.