THE FREEDOM TO TUCK IN

NV-80 is the kind of safe, solid restaurant that makes you grateful for small mercies, like the fact that it is illegal to beat people up in this country

You have to be grateful for small mercies. While our politics here at home trundles along in its staid fashion, the rest of the world is up in arms. A right-wing Islamophobe has just won elections in Hungary. Donald Trump runs the US on the basis of “intelligence” from Fox

News and Twitter. And Egypt has just had an election. Well, the Egyptian authorities say it was an election, but you have to wonder.

The president, Abdel Fattah el-sisi, had only one challenger — a man who registered to run only 15 minutes before closing time and whose Facebook page showed he was, even as he registered, urging people to vote for Sisi.

Well, this “opposition leader” was successful. Sisi won with 97.08% of the votes. No surprise there. In 2014 he won by the same margin. Shurely shome mishtake, as Private Eye magazine used to say.

Those who dared challenge Sisi before the election were swiftly dealt with.

“The former military chief of staff, Sami Anan, previously the second-incommand of the supreme council of armed forces, was seized from his car in central Cairo and taken to military detention after declaring his intention to run for president. The former prime minister Ahmed Shafik was deported from the United Arab Emirates before dropping out of the race,” wrote The Guardian newspaper.

The future does not look too bright, either. Talk in Egypt is rife that Sisi will seek to remove presidential term limits.

It all makes Julius Malema (that’s the loudmouth who has again lost the battle to unseat the DA in Nelson Mandela Bay) and Mmusi Maimane look like they are having a picnic here. They should positively exploit the democratic space — win an election before Jacob Zuma returns. The man could be a Sisi. Last week he said he wished it was still legal to beat up people in this country. Wow.

Anyway, I am grateful that we live in a country where you can walk into a restaurant and see people of very many political, religious and other persuasions tucking into their steaks and salads and seafood without fear that they will be dragged off into state dungeons and beaten up for wanting to be president.

I had this thought last week at NV-80, a very nice grill joint in Sea Point, Cape Town.

NV-80 surprises you. When I was invited there for dinner I hesitated — mall restaurants can be dodgy. But once you’re through the restaurant’s doors you enter a whole new world. There is a bar that dominates the inside back area, a lovely dining area (they describe it as “intimate” — which means the tables are not too far apart, which I like because it creates great atmosphere) and a balcony from which you can gaze out to the mountain and the hubbub of the city in the street below. On a Friday evening the place was packed.

The clientele is diverse in many ways, the service is friendly and the menu has steaks, chicken, seafood and a few pastas. We were a table of 10, and people enjoyed the food. Two people had the lobster — it was tasty and fresh. A few people went for the surf and turf — sirloin and three big prawns. They smirked with satisfaction.

My sirloin on the bone was excellent and the chef cooked it just perfectly — medium rare. Delicious.

NV-80 is not like those superexpensive, cold Cape Town restaurants that win numerous awards and sell you itsy-bitsy food. It is warm, funky and solid. I really enjoyed it.

Malema and Maimane should positively exploit the democratic space — win an election before Jacob Zuma returns

NV-80 ★★★½

Shop 8, The Point Mall 76 Regent Road Sea Point, Cape Town Tel: (021) 439-7112/4

★★★★★ Thuli Madonsela ★★★★ Excellent ★★★ Good ★★ Poor ★ Jacob Zuma