Brunch at the Fourways Farmers Market in Jozi

We are at Johannesburg, South Africa, today is the last day we spend here and, since it's Sunday, we decide to go to the Fourways Farmers Market for brunch.

The Fourways Farmers Market is located at Fourways, an area a little away from Kempton Park, where our hotel is located, but with the various motorways and ring roads, it does not take long to travel the 33 km to reach it.

We have a light breakfast in the room, just a coffee and 2 biscuits, then we'll get ready and go; our Dr. Livingstoneis down waiting for us in the parking lot.

We follow Google Maps that takes us to our destination in less than half an hour, we would have taken even less with another car but our Dr. Livingstone, a Toyota Hilux pick-up turned into a bush camper, is certainly not the faster car ever.

The Fourways Farmers Market is right next to Montecasino and other buildings that look brand new and not far from the Design District; it looks like a trendy area and, jokingly, we say we're in Zona Tortona.

We enter the Fourways Farmers Market dirt parking lot, in fact it is not very big, fortunately we arrived early, in a while it will not be easy to park and for Dr. Livingstone it would not be easy to find a place, it is definitely cumbersome.

We read online about endless queues to enter but there is nobody, probably people will come later; there is the security that controls the bags, but the idea we have made up is that more than anything else they control that people do not bring food from home.

We pay the admission, 10 Rand per person, the same of 60 Euro cents, and we enter; we are very curious and happy to explore this place.

A short driveway with straw leads us to the real area of the ​​Fourways Farmers Market: how beautiful!

While there are few people, we immediately take a tour to orient ourselves and discover all that it offers and, with the occasion, we also take some photos; obviously we do not miss shopping, in fact we make purchases already at the first stall we see, we hope not to continue like this otherwise we are ruined!

A girl sells a series of objects made with wire and beads or coral, we have already seen and bought several objects made like this in South Africa, in fact it is a typical work, but she has particular subjects such as protea flowers or the reproduction of some colorful birds and other objects.

What amazes us is the price that is incredibly low compared to the usual shops where you find them for sale, it soon becomes clear that here tourists spend very little.

Before continuing we want a coffee and go to the bar that is located in a small white wooden house, it is really cute and they are nice and make a very good espresso.

After coffee we continue our tour: there are some stalls selling handicrafts or clothing, such as special t-shirts and accessories; we buy, or rather I buy, a bracelets with the profile of a cat and a patch with the skull of the dia de los muertos, I still don't know where I will sew it, but I like it and I will get an idea.

But here at the Fourways Farmers Market food is king.

Some sell homemade products, there are a couple of stalls selling sauces and jelly to accompany meat and other dishes, everything is strictly produced by them; obviously they attract our attention, we can not taste their products and in the end we buy a mustard in grains and another sauce made with mustard and vanilla, in any case we have a month of braai in front of us.

There is also a girl who sells homemade cakes, a guy who sells Sicilian cannoli, that seem perfect even though he doesn't have anything Sicilian, but most stalls sell food that is prepared at the moment, in practice, more than a real Farmers Market is more a Street Food Festival.

There is really everything from paella to tacos, from Argentinian to Mozambican, from Indian to braai; how are we going to choose?

Even if it is only 11.00 am, there are already many people who are eating and drinking; we, after doing our exploration tour, look for a wooden table where we can also settle down because a lot of people are starting to arrive.

We sit next to two guys from Johannesburg, or Jozi as they call them here, to tell the truth he is a white South African but she comes from Taiwan; they are nice and we have a chat and he tells us that he has been to Italy more than once and loves spritz and Milanese aperitifs and we really enjoy it.

All around us is filled with people, those sitting on wooden tables with benches, some on wooden blocks, someone who brought a blanket from home, to sit on the grass, or even a camping table and chairs.

The atmosphere is beautiful and fun, there is live music and people are relaxed and seem to enjoy themselves.

Actually here at the Fourways Farmers Market there is a bit of everything: couples, families, groups of friends, blacks, whites, Indians, all relaxed taking selfies or toasting on some special occasion or simply tasting the various street food proposals; this is the South Africa that we like with people who simply share a day of celebration together!

We got hungry, but what do we eat? It is not easy to choose between all these delicacies!

At the end we buy from a boy who, in a wooden boat, prepares a particular dish of which we do not know the origin, it is a slice of corn bread with different types of seasoning on it; we decide to take three of a kind to try different preparations: beef, chicken, that seems vaguely Mexican, and vegetarian with spinach.

They are very good! I can't say which is our favorite, maybe the beef one, but it's really hard to say.

We also take a cocktail from SumThingFresh, they make fruit-flavored non-alcoholic drinks that are served in a jar with a lot of ice, fresh fruit and flowers: they are beautiful to look at and delicious to drink; we took the maracuja or passion fruit.

SumThingFresh also prepares hamburgers and other sandwiches but there is an endless queue, in fact it is the trendiest stall and even bigger with the guys who, while preparing food, sing and dance; they are among the most coveted of the Fourways Farmers Market.

We are tempted by an Argentinian grill who makes sandwiches with grilled meat and melted cheese accompanied with chimichurri chips; the guy is really Argentinian and, thanks to a few words in Spanish by Silvan, he makes us a double sandwich for the price of the single.

We share the sandwich, like everything else, it's really all very good and what amazes us most are the prices: it costs very little for our standards, it's true that we are used to Milan, that is notoriously not cheap, but a drink for 45 Rand, that is € 2.70, it is very cinvenient.

Meanwhile our two friends from Jozi greet us and leave and, shortly after, another couple arrives, they are two young and nice guys and when they see our African tattoo they treat us as if we were friends since 20 years, in fact little afterwards they go to get something to eat and we leave all their things there, in Italy nobody would do it.

The music is pleasant and we are at the right distance from the stage to be able to hear it without having the speakers in our ears; a black girl with a deep voice alternates with a white boy who looks like a cowboy.

We have fun watching people, there are some absurd characters with flashy clothes, girls with long extensions and braids dressed in different ways, long colored nails and clothes that are a bit excessive but that look great on them, mixed families and some white cowboys.

At 2.30pm we decide to go, we really enjoyed coming to the Fourways Farmers Market and we will definitely be back at the next opportunity; now there is a long queue to enter and there are no more parking spaces and the cars are parked wherever, even on the street and in the second row, the choice to come soon was a winning one!

We go back to Kempton Park and Google Maps makes us do an alternative and very beautiful piece of road: there is nobody and it passes by an area that looks like a savannah and then by a residential neighborhood and then ends up where we went yesterday to do the shopping; it is also fun to discover new routes knowing that in any case Google always takes you to your destination.

While we are in the car we comment on the experience just lived at the Fourways Farmers Market, we had fun, we ate and drank very well, we did shopping and we relaxed ... what more could you want on a Sunday at Jozi!