The other night, I went to Greenside with some friends for a girls night out. This is one of many outings over the last couple year's to the vibey, villagey suburb.
Greenside was initially part of a farm founded by the Geldenhuys brothers, who owned a huge area that now includes Linden, Emmarentia, Saxonwold, Parkhurst and Victory Park.
The main drag of Gleneagles Drive is lined with restaurants and bars on one side and small businesses on the other. There are all sorts of cuisines to choose from, Indian (at Spiceburg and Karma), South African (Mama Tembo's), Asian (Tokyo Star), Italian (Topo Gigio), burgers at Dukes and the list goes on.
It's a great place for sundowners, with Topo Gigio offering jugs of cocktails at half price between 3 and 5. They also have great food and the vibe is great!
If you're there for a night out and aren't having dinner, this is what I recommend...
1. Have a couple drinks at The Office. It's a vibey, busy bar. It does get super full after about 9, but that's ok because by then it's time to move on.
2. Stop in at Gin, next door to The Office. This has a more chilled, less hoity toity feel. It's a great place for a couple more drinks and bit of a dance. The music ranges from old school rap, to hip hop to rock to pop. Try and avoid the bathroom though... it's not great.
3. Wander along to Tokyo Star. There are 2 sections to Tokyo, the bar/restaurant that plays chilled acid jazz type music and the club side that plays everything. And I mean everything, from Dr Dre to Nirvana, it just depends on who the DJ is.
There is also Bob Rock's around the corner, but the night we went there, we were underwhelmed and the music wasn't that good.
Because it is all in a residential area, everything closes down at 2am, so you have a time limit. There are also sometimes cops on Barry Hertzog and Tana, so watch out! Parking is also a bit of a nightmare and you'll find you will end up parking in some side street but there are car guards everywhere so it's pretty safe.
During the day, it's great driving down the main streets of the suburbs, under the canopy of oak trees, looking at the old houses.
All in all, it's a great suburb day or night and there is always something to do and see.
