It can be Fridays any day

Decadent menu options on offer with the highlight being the duck breast plate.

If you’ve ever wondered what one would get if you mixed a young food enthusiast with vast knowledge of the beverage and corporate industry and a talented chef with a passion for food and empowering young black people, the result is a trendy upmarket lifestyle restaurant with a catchy name that makes every other eat-out experience as tasteful as a Friday.

Located in Blue Hills shopping centre, Midrand, Johannesburg, Fridays restaurant is the next great thing when looking for a wholesome meal.

Owner Tumelo Maepa, 29, is a restaurateur from Mpumalanga who found himself head deep in the hospitality industry by accident as his previous job, working for Pernod Ricard, exposed him to numerous restaurants, pubs and other social venues that would have him curating menus with chefs on options to use when pairing food with a particular beverage.

“In corporate, I dealt with over 100 food places (restaurants, lounges etc), conducting events which included food pairing for private and corporate clients as a form of consumer engagement, which is where I fell in love with the idea of hosting and food.”

Tembisa-born chef Thokozani Shongwe, 32, fell in love with the culinary arts while working as a cleaner at the InterContinental Hotel. Shongwe’s skills, together with the creativity and food-pairing knowledge from Maepa resulted in a menu which mimics the mood, look and feel of Friday.

When spoilt for choice, Shongwe vows that his favourite meal to make has to be the duck breast plate as it incorporates a young and colourful plating which could appeal to the everyday guest who is having a business meeting or birthday dinner.

The restaurant serves breakfasts to full four-course meals, including a chef’s selection of dessert, an almond biscotti coconut-and-lime soil honey comb with ice cream – just to get your taste buds soaring into the weekend, regardless of what day of the week it is.