Durban swagger is coming to Time Out Market Cape Town

A new Durban-inspired street-food concept, AWÉ, is coming to Time Out Market Cape Town, bringing together spice, memory, music, and plenty of KwaZulu-Natal attitude.

The new concept comes from The Wiggle Room and chef Ismail ‘Fish’ Amos, and its name is doing some serious work. AWÉh is that wonderfully elastic South African greeting that can mean hello, yes, good, I see you, or a knowing acknowledgement between people sharing the same moment.

For AWÉ, it fits.

The food is rooted in a meeting point: Durban.

Distinctly Durban

For Chef Ismail, that story is personal. Growing up in Newlands East, he was surrounded by Tamil, Cape Malay and German culinary traditions. These weren’t distant cultural influences to be studied later. They were part of everyday life, absorbed through family kitchens, grandmothers, aromas, stories and the rituals of cooking.

Then there is Durban itself, a city shaped by movement, migration and exchange. Its food tells that story, too. Indian culinary traditions met African ingredients, local circumstances, scarcity, ingenuity and the unmistakable heat of KwaZulu-Natal. What emerged was something distinctly Durban.

AWÉ isn’t trying to put that history behind glass.

Chef Ismail cooks from memory, giving those influences room to move. Street food and family recipes meet the technique and imagination of a chef whose career has taken him through some of South Africa’s most accomplished kitchens.

The result promises less of a nostalgia trip and more of a remix.

A different energy

That approach is right at home in The Wiggle Room universe. The Cape Town institution has built its identity around serious cooking without taking itself too seriously. It brings food, music, personality and culture, crashing into each other in unexpected ways.

AWÉ takes that energy outside.

Where The Wiggle Room is intimate, nocturnal and theatrical, AWÉ is brighter and more street-facing. Think sunshine, spice, speed and a generous helping of Durban swagger.

It also forms part of the wider WiggleVerse, the ever-expanding world of The Wiggle Room’s belief that interesting things happen when different cultures, people and disciplines collide.

More info:

• AWÉ will be opening in 06 October 2026
• Venue: Time Out Market Cape Town, The Old Power Station, Dock Rd, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront 
• Check out Time Out Market Cape Town’s Instagram page for further updates

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