Portuguese cuisine is fundamentally rich in flavours and its dishes are closely related to Mediterranean cuisine. Infuse this with Mozambican traditional cultural cuisine and your taste buds become alive with flavour. Mozambique is a large country located in southeastern Africa. Mozambique was colonized by the Portuguese in the early 16th century for more than 300 years, and it left an indelible print upon the culture and cuisine of that country and its people.
The influence of the Portuguese, which extended into the ingredients of Mozambican food reaches you in the dishes prepared in Toni’s kitchen. This gem of a restaurant in Kloof Street, Cape Town serves well-presented traditional Mozambican and Portuguese cuisine that bursts with flavour.
The variety of spices that Toni uses in his local kitchen to serve traditional cuisine has been influenced by Portugal’s colonies. Ingredients used in his cooking and sauces are predominantly a mix of herbs and spices that include piri piri (chili), paprika and bay leaves. Olive oil is one of the main ingredients to flavour along with garlic, coriander and parsley.
Dishes where these ingredients are best savoured are his Mozambican curries that are served with coconut and coconut milk served on a bed of rice and of course the Feijoida which is a traditional Portuguese stew with beans served with your choice of either pork fillet, chicken or chourico. But animated Toni stops me and emphatically says that it is his flame grilled piri-piri chicken (Portuguese spelling) that is the showstopper for most patrons. “The piri –piri sauce is a family secret recipe of which the flavours in this popular chicken dish can be enjoyed nowhere else in the world but in his restaurant on Kloof street, Cape Town!” Toni says that many visitors from around the world compliment him on this dish and they are hard pressed to try any other meal on his extensive menu once they’ve tasted his piri-piri chicken.
Portugal is a seafaring nation with a well-developed fishing industry and this is reflected in the amount of fish and seafood eaten. On Toni’s menu is a variety of seafood dishes that are truly traditional dishes. (All of the recipes on Toni’s menu have been handed down from generation to generation). Toni knows quality, and he emphasizes that his prawns are sourced sustainably from Mozambique itself, where the unique, deep flavor of his queen prawns are unsurpassed. A very popular prawn dish at Toni’s on Kloof is the Prawn National which is cooked in his famous chilli and garlic beer sauce.
Bacalhau (cod), which is the type of fish most consumed in Portugal is served at Toni’s on Kloof which may either be grilled with red peppers, onion, olives, garlic or boiled with potatoes, green beans and egg. No more authentic will Mozambican Portuguese get than at Toni’s!
To compliment your seafood choices is a lovely imported white wine called Casal Garcia or the Mateus Rose. Two reasonably priced imported wines which adds to the truly authentic, memorable evening to be enjoyed when you book at Toni’s on Kloof.
To make a reservation please call 021 4237617 or email info@tonis.co.za.
Special parking facilities are available for patrons of Toni’s on Kloof.