All Roads Lead To… Leagues Sports Lounge

I love Leagues Sports Lounge. I love how it has the kind of leather white sofas that look sexy in a selfie and the way the staff grins at you as you walk in – pleasantly, perpetually … and as if you’re the regional health inspector.

If you were, the place would pass with flying colours. Everything is shiny, new and daring you to spill something on its obsessive compulsive bar, spotless floor or one of its large outside tables where I’m spilling a shot of Jägermeister. A tiny tower of German cough syrup which my friend has plunked down in front of me despite my protests, penchant for tequila and the fact that it’s a Tuesday.

Though no one believes me, the spillage is an accident.

I’ve arrived at Leagues stressed, strange and starving and I’m waving the menu around like a freak flag when the shot of Jα̈ger keels over during a devastating downward swoop utterly essential to a story I’m telling while we wait for our order of a Leagues Bacon Burger, spicy beef and bean nachos and sticky chicken wings.

Though we’re enjoying the view of the disco building that changes colours at Maerua Mall, the reality is that we’re freezing our nipples off outside and I’ve asked the waitress to set us a table indoors where its warmer and a scattering of weekday drinkers are holding up the bar.

The food is a short time coming and as we rush inside and dig into our feast, I look around and realise that the place is going to be perfect for watching the World Cup come June.

Filled with large high definition flat screens that reduce bro-to-bro conversation to a dialect of grunting and gesturing insistently towards emptying draughts, Leagues Sports Bar is a soccer enthusiast’s dream and the ideal place to toss easy, manly meals down one’s throat in-between cursing the cannibalistic Suarez.

These manly meals include chicken wings.

I say chicken wings but what I really mean is manna from the finger food gods.

They come sticky, sweet and with some real meat on their bones and as we bypass the bowls of hot water and lick our fingers long after they are long gone, we agree that they are the best in the city.

Yes, Spur, Yang Tze and Bravado Café, I said “the best in the city”.

When it comes to flavour, Leagues’ signature burger is not far behind and is a juicy meal of a large ground beef patty, cheese and two licks of bacon. None of this half a rasher malarkey, rather two flavourful and generous pieces that compliment the great beef, sweet sauce and the fabulously fresh sesame seed bun which all goes down a treat.

As for the nachos, they’re nachos. And people who can’t make decent nachos must have a real talent in screwing up tortilla chips and cheese and no friends at all.

Spicy, cheesy and topped with beef and beans, Leagues’ half portion arrives like a heart attack on a plate and we dig into the Doritos pausing in-between gulps to remember there’s also guacamole, sour-cream and tomato sauce. Though I didn’t have them that night, personally, I prefer the chicken nachos which are less spicy and, you know, chicken.

We roll out of there.

We’ve gorged ourselves on League’s generous portions, paid a N$300 bill for two portions of wings, one of which comes with chips, a beef burger, two drinks and a mountain of nachos and we roll out.

Out into the cold, down the Showgrounds steps and into the arctic night which leaves us grateful for the extra pounds we’ve just invested in by throwing delicious bar food down our diet dodging necks.

Leagues Sports Lounge is closed on Mondays but open for the rest of the week from 12h00 to 02h00. The kitchen closes at 22h00. Leagues is located on the Windhoek Showgrounds and the entrance is on the right from the main Showgrounds entrance. The sports lounge will be hosting a Champions League Finals event on 24 May and will be celebrating their one year anniversary on 30 May. Join them for specials and exciting live performances. Contact Leagues at leagues2013@gmail.com or join their Facebook page.

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