R35 for a meal? Elizabeth Lodge in Boksburg pulls it off

It’s too good to be true, but don’t be fooled into disbelief. For months I have been driving past a sign that reads like a wallet’s fantasy with its prices. It was too irresistible not to investigate.

I thought that it had to have some strings attached. The Elizabeth Lodge in Boksburg offers more than affordable meals, and it will make date night less of a chore for your credit card.

You’d have to rewind at least a few decades to get a bill for a meal for two, for under R100. But at the Elizabeth Lodge in Boksburg that’s exactly what will happen when you dine there.

It’s cheaper than a take-away or drive-through convenience meal, and they are not shy with portions either. Picture spending R70 on lunch or dinner for two.

It’s hard to imagine, but this three-star guest lodge on the East Rand has pulled it off.

Add two glasses of wine at R30 each with your meal and you still see less than R150 in your bill folder. It’s the cheapest meal you will likely find anywhere.

The meal specials change every week, ranging from steak to a Prego or a chicken schnitzel, and all with chips on the side. At that price you might expect the food to taste like tires or cardboard, but it doesn’t. The food quality is pretty darn good.

You can dine either al fresco or inside, and the service is attentive and good. Everyone smiles here, and no matter whether you order the most expensive item on the menu or settle for the specials, you are treated as a guest, and someone who chose to spend your hard earned cash with them. It’s impressive.

As they say in the classics though, that’s not all.

Normally, plain pancakes retail for around R4 or R5 from supermarket kiosks and it comes in a plastic container. Here, there’s a whole selection of them, served on a plate, with prices ranging from R5 for a cinnamon sugar pancake through to R25 for a savoury version.

At most coffee shops, you won’t get away with less than R60 for a pancake with savoury mince or a creamed spinach and feta filling.

At the Elizabeth Lodge, a banana and caramel pancake will only set you back R20. The chocolatey Sweet Tooth pancake with peppermint crisp chocolate and chocolate sauce costs only R30. It’s the cheapest sweet tooth craving buster around.

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Importantly, there is also a great waffle menu for savoury and sweet.

A plain waffle with syrup and ice cream is served at only R25. It’s so affordable you can ditch the diet and have two of them. Even then you’d just-just match the normal menu price of other eateries.

A breakfast waffle, baked with muesli and served with banana, peanut butter, yoghurt and honey is only R40, a savoury chicken version tops the upper end of pricing at R45.

And remember as recently as two years ago it was possible to get a breakfast at a well-known chain restaurant for about R20. That same breakfast is now just over R40.

But at Elizabeth Lodge you can get it at its cheapest with the Cheapskate Breakfast for R20, a huge breakfast for R60 and in-between.

Breakfast is served between 8am and 10am.

Forget bargain hunting and retail therapy. Get some food therapy and, if you’re anything like me, stacks of waffle and pancake therapy.

The Elizabeth Lodge is a rare find. Give it a try.