RATE-A-PIZZA
With Italian food in his DNA, Chef Baloyi is the new owner of the legendary La Mama pizzeria in Randburg. Janine Walker spoke to him.
Forty readers, a dozen pizzas and a blind tasting …
When Mkhacani Richard Baloyi began cleaning floors and washing dishes at a Hillbrow restaurant back in 1982 he had no idea that it would change his life forever.
Fast -forward 36 years and the man from Limpopo, now 60, is now the proud owner of one of the city’s bestloved original Italian restaurants.
La Mama – now based in Ferndale in Johannesburg – is something of a Joburg institution.
It first opened in Hillbrow before moving to Louis Botha Avenue in Bramley, then to Blairgowrie and on to its current premises in Oxford Street in Ferndale.
This traditional Italian trattoria became known for its home-made pastas, pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven and its signature salad with tomato, onion slices, hard-boiled egg, anchovies, lashings of Italian cheese and its secret dressing – all of which are proudly served to this day.
Owner Giulio Broccardo, who retired in 2012, saw something in Baloyi and started teaching him what he knew – from making the perfect dough to cooking tender fritto misto di mare and whipping up a zabaglione.
However, as Baloyi recounts, it wasn’t always easy: “It was a victory even learning how to use the pizza oven because it was in view of the restaurant’s customers. And we [black people] were not allowed to be seen, we were in the back. The kitchen door was shut and there was a hole in the wall where we put through the food,” he recalls.
Within a few years, Baloyi had climbed the culinary ladder and been promoted to head chef.
And then in December last year he took his life’s savings and purchased the restaurant from its current owners. Tata now was in charge of Mama.
“Obviously Italian cuisine was not something I grew up with or was in any way familiar with, but I learnt to love its honest and hearty flavours,” he says. “My life has been this restaurant; my heart is here. I am passionate about La Mama and its staff so it made sense to buy it.”
Baloyi is delighted with the support from staff and customers: “They are happy for me,” he beams proudly.
Running his own business, he says, has been a learning curve but Baloyi isn’t afraid of hard work. He continues to dream big and would like to open more restaurants and purchase the building La Mama is situated in.
From tenant to landlord doesn’t seem impossible for the inspirational Baloyi.
La Mama
90 Oxford St, Ferndale. Tel: 011 792 7111
TIPS FOR MAKING PIZZA AT HOME
Practice does make perfect Knead the dough by hand Cook the pizza on the highest heat Use the best quality ingredients you can afford Less is often more. Keep the topping mix balanced