Bus Fare: Frying up on four wheels

We know Abigail Mbalo-Mokoena as a MasterChef SA 2014 top-six finalist . She can cook.

The place

Mbalo-Mokoena lives in suburban Cape Town and works as a dental technologist. She grew up in Gugulethu. A couple of months ago she launched 4Roomed eKasi Culture, offering fine fusion catering from an old bus in which she has set up a kitchen. Next to the bus an awning extends to a comfortable raised area on which between six and eight people can lounge on upholstered chairs and large cushions.

The rest

I invited my son's teacher and her daughter to meet us for Sunday lunch. We located Blue Moon Café in a quieter, newer part of Khayelitsha's sprawl. The 4Roomed food bus was parked outside Blue Moon, a popular sports bar . The bar was the only option for self-service drinks and toilets (running water is piped into the bus). But the previous night's soccer match had cleaned Blue Moon out of soft drinks and the only available wine was sweet. We bought the last litre of soda water (R15) and energy drinks (R15), borrowing glasses.

The food

When Mbalo-Mokoena cooks at festivals or sets up outside shisa nyamas (township pavement braais) she sells takeaways: burgers, wraps and salads. But for sit-down customers at weekends she serves only two main courses in a style I'd label "fancier fusion fare".

"Pap is in any household but I didn't want to limit this to township food," she said. "We're embracing the fine kind of living that we used to have in the four-roomed eKasi houses of Soweto, Gugs and PE. Great stories and memories were created around the food and socialising in those houses."

Lamb shanks (R95) were fall-off-the-bone and tasty in a pool of gravy, but three scoops of pap - mixed respectively with butternut, beetroot, garlic and feta, and spinach with cream - seemed like overkill. Mind you, a burly man returned his plate clean.

When I popped my head inside the bus Mbalo-Mokoena was heating chicken, slow-cooked with fennel bulbs. The mash, butternut and pickled carrot were unremarkable. But the crumbed balls of chicken breast, and the tender drumstick and thigh (R80), had a flavour like nothing else.

The verdict?

If you're after African specialities this isn't the place. 4Roomed is about a big-hearted woman sharing her love of cooking.

As a customer you are supporting enterprise in Mleqwa chickens and township-grown veggies. But my Khayelitsha companions felt the prices were too high for 4Roomed to really catch on.

I couldn't help thinking that 4Roomed has ambition , but the right mix of location and customers is everything.

• On December 13-14, 4Roomed eKasi Culture will be at the shisa nyama at Kwa Ace Groova Park, Khayelitsha. On December 20-21 the bus parks outside Blue Moon Café, 17 Mbolwe Crescent, Village 1 North, Khayelitsha. 076-157-3177, www.4roomed.co.za