Three Durban dynamos bring flair - and female leadership - to the table

From pastries to coffee roasteries and sea-view cafés, three women are proving that entrepreneurial drive and culinary creativity make a powerful combination

- Wanda Hennig

Fine dining, casual dining, pavement dining. Tradition, religion and heritage. Durban may not be foodie utopia, but variety flavoured by cultural diversity is the dominant spice.

The idiosyncratic nature of this port and resort city is nowhere better reflected than in the gastro experience. A new eatery will launch with pomp and circumstance. Gone in six months! I've watched this happen time and again.

Word of mouth is what cooks here - with quirky social media to back it up.

This fuels success in what is, no argument, SA's most liveable city. Where even the upscale is seldom pretentious. How could it be with our balmy winters, steamy summers, the ocean vying for our attention and our electric eclectic cultural mix?

The focus of this story is a creative, out-of-the-box, women-powered triumvirate. Different boxes. Each unique, high-energy, charismatic, entrepreneurial.

Samantha “Chef Sam” Small-Shaw has been a tour de force at Durban’s South Beach for several years. While other eateries along the Golden Mile have come and gone, Surf Riders Café has retained its reputation for “just good chow”, their motto. Exceptionally good chow, their reputation.

Now Umhlanga is celebrating the arrival of a grander Surf Riders with similarly gorgeous sea views, and more people than you can believe have been making their way there.