It has not been mere weeks, but two months since my last entry. A shameful record. And in those two months I did not even read any blogs, followed any events or made any comments. The thought makes me sad. I’m blaming the dark ages of internet that South Africa finds itself in mostly. I believe we had better connectivity in Laos than here in my home country. So without being online at home I never find the time to read blogs or update my own and inspiration has completely left me.

But I’m sure you, my last reader, do not want to hear excuses, so I’ll just hop into other news. When we were still living in Thailand we started dreaming about opening a café serving some of the food we came to love from the region. A café inspired by the cafes we frequented in Hanoi, Bangkok, Siem Reap, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Chiang Mai, Saigon and Penang, something that would bring together the food, drinks, atmosphere, style and tropical feel of our home region for the past two years. And so, Piesang was born.

piesang tropic asian

Pisang, as I’m sure many of you already know, is the Malay and Indonesian word for banana, a fruit tree whose image almost epitomizes the region. The Afrikaans word for banana came from the Malay-Indo term, with a slight change in spelling. And as Piesang conjures up thoughts of Southeast-Asia combined with a retro South African feel, we thought it would be perfect as our name.

We have not yet opened a café. But we have made our first steps into the local food scene by getting into the Neighbourgoods Market. THE hottest place to be on a Saturday. It is a fantastic market where you can buy fresh breads, cheese, spreads, wine, chocolate, baked goods and more and also enjoy freshly prepared food from a variety of vendors. When we learned about it we knew we had to get in and we were lucky to have been offered a spot there so soon.

So besides not having the web we have also been busy setting this up, preparing food, thinking of new recipes and things to try and getting people familiar with us. If you find yourself in Cape Town on a Saturday, rainy or sunny, head over to the Biscuit Mill’s Neighbourgoods Market and come say hello.

piesang bordeaux

For more on Piesang, check out our Piesang blog.