Any biker worth his or her salt will know well the Home of the Chicken Pie near Lanseria Airport, no doubt having stopped there for sustenance on a breakfast run. What you may not know is that there is now a brand-new venue at the same location, called the Clay Café.
Housed in a spacious and airy new building, the Clay Café is a novel take on the standard eating destination, in that patrons can get their creative juices flowing while feeding the body and slaking their thirst.
The name of the venue is appropriate as visitors can choose from a huge selection of pottery in plain white, ready to be decorated in one of a hundred different ways. Once a piece has been selected, all tools, brushes, paints, stencils and so on are provided to enable the budding artist in us all to come out.
When you’re finished, you hand the piece back to the staff so it can be sent to be fired and glazed, whereupon it is returned to the Clay Café, ready for collection. This takes about six weeks.
ZA Bikers has built a strong working relationship with Suzuki SA and, just before Christmas, we were invited to head to Clay Café where we found beautiful clay models of the Suzuki Jimny five-door model, ready for our attention. This is a new addition to the selection of clay models on offer, certainly not limited to Suzuki owners, and will prove to be a popular choice for many visitors.
Lest you think that a bunch of grown-up motoring and motorcycling journalists playing merrily with paints is a little childish, let me tell you that the vast majority of the clientele present on that day were adults, definitely having just as much fun as the children who were there.
Competitive instincts came out and, while the results were….mixed is probably the kindest way of saying it…. we all had great fun, fuelled by excellent pizzas and a few beers from the fully licensed bar.
I suppose the best thing about the Clay Café is that it’s something different to do after your breakfast run or even on a day when there is nothing much else going on; not a bad ride out, great venue, good food, really friendly and helpful staff and you get to take a memento home. It’s well worth a visit.
If you want to paint your very own Jimny visit one of these three Clay Café branches: Clay Café Hout Bay, Clay Café George or Clay Café Maggies Farm; and remember to tag Suzuki SA with #JimnyClayCulture.
