Dos Manos at Pablo House is not the only Joburg restaurant with a view. There are other, more upmarket and expensive, venues that will offer vistas of the concrete jungle and some of its urban forest in between. None, however, look down on ancient history.
Dos Manos allows a relaxed panorama of the tops of the Melville koppies without the enervating climb. From your table you can watch the sun rise or set over those eastern and western koppies, or, as at least one guest did late on December 31, the midnight fireworks across the city’s northern suburbs.
The view of northern Joburg also stretches out along Barry Hertzog Drive to the far distance. On a clear day you might even catch a glimpse of the
Magaliesberg.
The koppies are a fascination: part of a city’s geology left virtually untouched for about 500,000 years. Stone works remain intact and evidence of iron smelting was discovered in the 1960s.
So much for the landscape and history, but what about the fare?
Dos Manos opened in 2018 as an in-house restaurant at Pablo guesthouse on 4th Avenue, Melville. Louis Roux and his wife, Leigh, are partners in the business; they heard about the property in 2016 and were taken by the location.
The restaurant opens at 8am and breakfast is served until 11am. Favourites are the Yemeni flatbread special and red shakshuka. The shakshuka is a combination of a recipe Louis grew up with and Leigh’s Mediterranean input. The dish comes with a side of creamy homemade hummus, a chopped salad and a generous portion of the delicious malawach, a Yemeni flatbread that is much like a flaky roti.
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Both items are remnants from the staple breakfast items at the couple’s previous Melville venue, Pablo Eggs-Go-Bar, the name a play on the notorious Colombian druglord. The place was popular among runners, cyclists and those seeking a delicious Sunday breakfast, until it fell victim to the lockdown in 2020.
The name came about when Paul Moneta, a friend whom Louis describes as a “think-tank”, saw all the stacked egg boxes at chez Roux. “What are you doing?” asked Moneta. “It looks like you are dealing eggs like Pablo Eggs Go Bar.” All that was left was to decide on the spelling.
In the new venue, the breakfast menu expands into a brunch. Among the additions are the bacon and egg cheese smash burger and a selection of fresh pressed juices and brunch cocktails.
Lunch is served from noon on weekends and 12.30pm on weekdays. This side of the menu is where you get to experience Dos Manos’s wood-fired puff-puff pizzas, the Karoo lamb chops and one of Leigh’s favourites, the cognac peppercorn fillet. The menu also offers several Mediterranean-inspired starters and a selection of pasta dishes.
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Dos Manos’s main kitchen is experimental, with a changing menu developed from Louis and Leigh’s travels. The menu is not fixed, nor does it represent one cuisine, in part because Louis wants the team to keep training across many cuisines.
It’s not only the skills of the staff that the Rouxs are invested in, but welfare too. Louis and Leigh are working on a fund that its staff members will be able to access after tenure. The staff can use the money to further their studies, start their own business or to go towards building a home.
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