A row is brewing amongst many patrons, especially Muslim patrons who support one of the top class eating outlets in Sandton.
This after a ‘loyal’ patron of the upmarket ‘Pigalle Restaurant’ in Sandton Square, Johannesburg, only recently discovered that the restaurant also sold pork, at it’s same premises.
Local resident, Asger Anver told the Laudium Sun, my family and I together with many friends frequently eat out at ‘Pigalle’ in Sandton. Although we go there mainly for the prawns, I never for a moment suspected that they sell pork also. As a Muslim I have never ordered any meat items on the menu and as a rule my family and I have never eaten meat at a restaurant that is not Muslim owned. Even if the restaurant claims to be ‘Halaal friendly’, I am unsure if the staff fully understand the full concept of halaal, that no other meat may be used on the same fryer or toaster or whatever, not even the utensils may be shared, thus for us it was always safer to rather just order fish items as normally restaurants use separate utensils for meat and fish. Of course not all restaurants are the same and you do get those who do not care. That is why it is always better to enquire from the chef how the meals are prepared, but as a rule we do not eat at places that sell pork. The shock came to me recently when I was informed by a family member that ‘Pigalle’ in Sandton does sell pork also. I was totally surprised because I often look at their menu when I go there and I do not recall ever reading on their menu any item containing pork. Besides, I thought it could not be because whenever we go there the patrons are mostly Muslims and I thought that surely the so many other Muslim patrons would not have eaten there if the place sold pork also. How wrong I was proven when I started arguing with the family member and told him that the info he had about the place selling pork was all wrong. All the family member then did was show me a picture of the menu of ‘Pigalle’ and then asked me what the item, ‘Chourico’ contained. I had no idea, so I googled it and then realised that it did indeed contain pork. I feel so ashamed about eating at a place for so many years without once ever asking the manager if any of their food contained pork. When I went to the restaurant later I made sure to ask the manager on duty why they did not spell it out clearly that ‘Chourico’ is in fact a pork product, more so as so many of their clients are Muslims. He had no straight answer for me only to say that everyone should have known that it was a pork product.”
Shiraz Mohamed of Laudium said, “I am totally surprised to hear that ‘Pigalle’ Restaurant in Sandton sells pork, as we often frequent the place and have never read on the menu about pork being sold. I think restaurants should be more open with their clients and spell out exactly what each item on the menu contains.”
The Laudium Sun subsequently visited ‘Pigalle Restaurant’ in Sandton and found that on their menu ‘Chourico’ did indeed appear. We even spoke to a staff member, by the name of Lindy, who confirmed that ‘Chourico’ was a pork product. Lindy however confirmed that they prepared the meal separately from other foods. When asked why they even sold pork on the premises, seeing that they had so many Muslim clients, Lindy said that a small number of people ordered it, but could not explain why the product was not listed as a pork product on the menu.
