Here’s to you, mom!

Amidst far fewer retail reminders of Mother’s Day, we almost forgot that it was today! And while we aren't all able to celebrate with our mothers during lockdown, we may find new ways of honouring them.

Looking for inspiration on how to celebrate the matriarch in your life today? We asked some of Joburg’s top chefs how they’re celebrating their moms and what would be on their ideal Mother’s Day menus.

Jackie Righi-Boyd, Dolci Café

Growing up, my mom worked in the restaurant all the time, but one day a week, on her day off, we would go to a small coffee shop around the corner from our house in Linksfield and we would both have a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich and a banana milkshake. I’m lucky enough to be in lockdown with my mom, so to celebrate her this year, I’m going to set up a table in the back garden and we are going to have our toasted cheese and tomato sandwich and banana milkshake together, just like we did when I was a little girl. It might not be a big meal for most, but to us it’s a piece of nostalgia.

Trevor Chikaura, Qunu Restaurant

Unfortunately, like so many, I won’t be able to spend time with my mom on Mother’s Day this year. But if she was around, I would definitely cook a caramelised onion, bacon, mushroom and tomato quiche, with a fresh salad from our home garden. Quiche is such a versatile dish because you can literally use anything to create something super tasty that’s easy to share with your whole family. Today, we’ll be sharing a video call to cook together and share recipes – my love and passion for cooking comes from my lovely mother, so for us to virtually cook together will be pretty special.

Amori Burger,

Van der Linde Restaurant

Oh, what I would give to be with my mom today! We would all be cooking together at her house in the North West – my mom always does the meat dish and my sisters and I all make something to go with it. Without a doubt, she would have leg of lamb on the table and I would have loved to have made a Turkish apricot and saffron-stuffed pumpkin as it goes so well with lamb. As my sisters and I won’t be able to see our mom this year, we have someone making up a basket of treats and flowers so she knows how much we love and appreciate her.

Katlego Mlambo, The Marabi Club

My mom has passed on, but my grandmother is my hero and my everything. She makes delicious samp and it’s something I grew up eating, so if we were together today I would have wanted to cook her curried samp “risotto” with pan-fried scallops and crispy pork belly – a modern version of Earth, Surf and Turf. Scallops are one of my favourite ingredients, but my gran has never tasted one, so I would love for her to experience a trip to Flavour Town! And pork belly is just one of those ingredients you can’t go wrong with – who could say no to pork belly for a Sunday lunch?

GOOD TO KNOW

Dolci Café is open and serving deliveries on a pre-order basis.

Visit dolci.co.za or phone

010 900 2274 for more information.