You’re either a SPUR person or you’re not. But even then, for those who say “they’re not”, you still get some closet Spur people who publically renounce the Spur, but secretly travel to a Spur outside their neighbourhood to eat a good old Spur Burger and chips. I don’t judge them. I’m happy to admit, I’m a Spur person – I’m a person with a taste for life!
It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what it is about the Spur that makes it a fun place to go and eat. It could be perhaps that it’s one of the few places the kids can run around like the crazy animals they are and no-one else bats an eyelid because their equally monstrous offspring are doing exactly the same thing. It could be that’s its ok to spill Fanta, chips, ice-cream (very often at the same time) on the table, couch or floor and again, no-one bats an eyelid, because it’s been done a thousand times before. In fact, we are so sure that a cold-drink will be spilt during our visit that we usually order an extra one to begin with… because with children (as with drunk students), you learn to accept that spillage happens.
And talking about students… in my student days (some 17 years ago), the Spur was a favourite (and cheap) place to go and eat. Cheap, because it really was a cheap place to get a meal, I think they had a burger special that at one stage was like R9 or something. But it was also cheap because many of the waiters (I won’t mention names, they know who they are!) were fellow students, who were able to provide fellow Students (not me of course) with “freebies” - apparently! If memory serves me correctly, it was things that couldn’t be counted, that could be pillaged – so cokes would be topped up for free, chips would be added to plates and there'd be free ice-cream - or so I've heard! It might not sound like much – but to a poor, hungry (and frequently hung-over) student, a second class of coke and extra fries would have been like manner from heaven – and in all honesty as long as it was free, it could have been expired and turning a shade of green and it would have been eaten! Aah those were the days! (FYI I was never a waitress at the Spur!)
The Spur also offers good value for money. Now culinary snobs might pull up their noses at Spur food, but the Spur is one of those places where you know what you are going to get. A spur burger tastes the same whether you’re eating it in Poffadder or Dar Es Salaam (Kinda like Wimpy coffee – Wimpy Coffee is Wimpy Coffee no matter where you buy it!)
And did you know the Spur has a Senior’s Menu? We discovered that last night. I was so intrigued when I saw the people at the table next to us perusing theirs that I asked the Manager if I could get one. Now the Spur’s prices are fairly reasonable, but their Senior’s prices are REALLY (REALLY) reasonable! This got me thinking….
A birthday celebration at the Spur could work out really cost effective if you go on a Monday for instance (Buy 1 Burger get 1 free night), the birthday child gets a free meal (and if you are clever like us you space your kid’s birthday vouchers out carefully so that you can use them at the same time – they have a 3 month expiry date – that way BOTH kids eat for free), if Grandparents come with, naturally they will order from the Senior’s menu – hey, you might find at the end of the evening the Spur actually owes YOU money!! Not bad!
Then there is their Mexican food section. Now when that came out many years ago it was a very confusing time for me. I had just returned from a year in Texas and having spent time with a family who owned a Mexican fast food restaurant, I considered myself an expert in all things Mexican – particularly the food! So I for one was delighted when I saw the Mexican Food added to the Spur menu. But when I saw the confused look on the waiter’s face when I ordered a “Fa – heee – ta”, I suddenly doubted my Mexican culinary knowldge . It was then that I realised what I should have been ordering was a “Fa – CHEETHA” and “Quesa – dee – as” were ACTUALLY “Quesa – diLLAS”. So it was me who had to get with the program, so I too soon started ordering “Fa – Chateehas”. Thankfully, that has all changed and now “Fa – hee – tas” are thankfully “Fa – hee – tas” once again….. but it did take the Spur waiters a while to get the Mexicanism right!
But to get back to just how firmly the Spur is entrenched into the average Saffers life, consider this story. Colleagues of mine recently travelled to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania on business. One night they bumped into a fellow Capetonian holidaying in Dar Es IN THE SPUR! Here they were, South Africans miles away from home and true as nuts they bump into each other in a SPUR in Tanzania !! Now if that isn’t a feather in the Spur’s cap then what is!
So while I agree the Spur won’t be classified as fine dining in a “where to eat” guide, what it does offer the average family is a place to bring noisy, unruly, crazy kids and let them run wild with other noisy, unruly, crazy kids, while enjoying a burger, onion rings and fries (eaten with my hands – because it’s the Spur after all), a Savannah or two and watching the Springboks lose to Scotland (because in our case, now that we’ve disconnected DSTV, the Spur is one of the few places we can watch the rugby WITH the kids in tow!)
P.S. and besides whether you’re 4 or 44, there’s just something about a bunch of waiters clapping to a beat and singing “hey hey it’s your Birthday” while a sparkler crackles on a melting blob on ice-cream!
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