All Roads Lead To… Xwama

There are very few good experiences I find so memorable, I just have to tell everyone I come across. One of those is when I went to the tasting of Xwama’s new menu.

According to the restaurant, the revamp was necessary for them to be aware of what is trendy in the food world, but also to bring a modern twist to classic dishes.

The journey began with two starter options, kapana with salsa and local bread, as well as barbeque flavoured Mopane worms. I tried both. You could decide how cooked you wanted your kapana – rare, medium or well done.

The meat was soft. And that is saying something, because a trip to kapana is generally accompanied by hours of chewing, so the tenderness of the meat was a pleasant and most welcome surprise.

The Mopane worms were delicious, though not very different to what they normally taste like. Some were crunchy, others succulent, but overall a nice meal. I felt like they could’ve done with a bit more salt, a little bit of chilli, and they would’ve been perfect.

From the main courses, a new addition to the menu is marathon chicken served with fries. You can choose between lemon and herb, sweet chilli and peri peri flavours. I’m not generally a fan of this chicken, because of how dry it can get, but the flavours were different to the norm, so I just had to reach for a thigh.

There were also new pizza flavours introduced, served on a mahangu base. At this point, the other people at my table sat up straight in nervous anticipation of what was to come.

We debated over which would be the weirdest – the mopane pizza, the matangara pizza or the marathon pizza.

The answer? None of them. They were all pretty good, but the succulent and delicious matangara pizza came out on top. It was something I’d never imagined eating before, but suddenly became my all-time favourite. The tender meat and mushrooms complemented each other immensely.

By the time dessert rolled around, my stomach was so full, but I would never let that stop me.

Again we had some options – either the mahangu muffin or the mahangu koeksister, both served with an Omaere dip in the place of what would normally be a custard. I tried both.

The muffin was dense and a bit sweet. The koeksister was sticky in just the right way and somewhat chewy. Both were delicious in their own ways, but I felt like the Omaere did not complement either option. The sourness of the milk detracted from the sweetness one craves in a dessert.

Another dessert option, which I didn’t try, is the ys, which, as any self-respecting Namibian will know, is just a regular sugary drink in a sandwich bag, frozen. Perfect for any summer day.

All in all, the new menu is a welcome and refreshing change. I look forward to going back and trying my favourites again. Hopefully as the times change, they will keep coming up with new and yes, somewhat weird combinations.

– @MissAnneDastood on Twitter and Instagram

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.