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Bob Moodley gives me fair warning before I try the Mexican burger. He says there’s a fine line between being brave and being stupid. I take a bite anyway. The chilli hits immediately, but there’s enough flavour beneath the heat to keep me eating.
It’s one of several things I work my way through at Coconut Grove, which now has a new home in Umhlanga. For many Durbanites, though, the name will always bring back memories of Blue Lagoon, where Bob opened the first shop in the 1980s.
Families came during the day, younger crowds gathered in the evening, and clubgoers stopped for food on their way home. Some weekends, the kitchen stayed open until dawn. You could go for a burger and end up spending half the night there.
Looking through the family’s collection of newspaper clippings with Bob, I get a sense of just how much history sits behind the counter. He talks about the early days, when he saw promise in an empty shop that others thought would never work.
There wasn’t a pile of money to get things going. Buying the building meant a payment plan, and the family put in long hours. On opening morning, Bob arrived with his wife, children and a priest to pray over the venture. The previous owner, John Thallman, joined them.
“He became my big brother instantly,” Bob says.
One early break came when the nearby roadhouse closed for a weekend. Hungry customers found their way to Coconut Grove, giving the fledgling business a chance to show what it could do. Bob and his wife, Paran, wanted people to eat well, feel welcome and know what to expect when they came back.
Over time, the shop became a regular meeting place, particularly for Durban’s Indian community. People met friends there, brought their families and returned after nights out. Those are the memories customers still associate with Coconut Grove, even with a different address on the door.
READ: Inside Johnny’s Rotis, another Durban late-night favourite
I start with the mutton burger before moving on to the mutton roti. The roti is soft and the meat tender, with a curry that makes you pay attention to more than the chilli. There’s a bean bunny too, the bread filled with bean curry and ready to be pulled apart. It’s a familiar order for plenty of Durbanites, and an easy one to understand once you start eating.
The Mexican is a considerably less gentle affair. Bob clearly enjoys issuing the warning, and I suspect he’s had plenty of practice watching customers decide whether to take his advice.
Then comes the Coconut Grove special: a toasted roll with two patties, egg, chips, sauce and garnish. It’s a substantial undertaking. This is what I mean by institutional Durban food, the sort of order that makes complete sense when you’re hungry after a long night.
Bob says Coconut Grove has always been halal. He talks about respect and integrity, but also about getting the food right each time. Customers remember a sauce or a curry, and they expect to find that same taste when they return.
That’s quite an expectation to carry from one shop to another. At the Umhlanga address, Bob has decades of customers’ memories to live up to. Judging by the food in front of me, he knows exactly what they’ve come back for.
READ: Nick Hamman goes in search of the first bunny chow at Patel’s
Coconut Grove, 11 McCausland Crescent, Umhlanga, Durban.
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