You eat at Circus Circus Gateway in Durban North, a restaurant that has been serving steaks, seafood and curries since 1994. The menu covers salads, pasta and barista coffee — cortados, flat whites, cappuccinos — brewed to order. The kitchen runs weekly specials: half-price burgers and pasta on Tuesdays, and an early-riser breakfast with eggs, bacon and coffee on weekday mornings.

The restaurant sits in the Gateway Theatre of Shopping in Umhlanga, a mall location that draws shoppers and locals for meals through the day. The menu leans on local and seasonal produce, with dishes like curried butternut soup served with sun-dried tomato and herb flatbread. The soup recipe, shared by the chef, roasts the butternut with butter before blending it with cream and curry powder.

Circus Circus has a second outlet in Amanzimtoti, but the Gateway branch is the one in Durban North. It opened in 1994 and has stayed in the same mall since.