A taste of the orient, Indian cuisine at it’s best, the restaurant is owned and managed by Kanthi a well travelled proprietor who has a passion for her business and will always make visitors to her establishment feel completely at home. While enjoying traditional Indian cooking at reasonable prices, this will be an experience of a lifetime. The restaurant also caters for cultural Indian dancing given prior notice.
Horizon Restaurant opened in 1986, and is the only restaurant in town. The varied menu – with the obvious emphasis on tasty Indian fare – has plenty to do with popular demand. Hamburgers, curry and rice, fish dishes, chicken, beef, mutton – Kanthi can prepare a magnificent spread. Vegetarians are also catered for and can enjoy Kanthi’s specially prepared recipes. Indian spice tea made using cinnamon, ginger and cloves is to be enjoyed (and according to Khanti is good for sore throats and winter blues) as is the unusual, yet delicious combination of cheese and sweetcorn samoosas. Homemade mango atchar is a side dish and also for sale.
A local says that Horizon has “the best vegetarian briyani“.
The food at Horizon Restaurant is good value for money and quality oriented. Khanti specialises in East Indian cuisine where the spicing is traditional and pungent. A speciality at the Horizon is the bunny chow, rated by locals being the best in the province – mutton is the speciality and is the most popular.
A bunny must be eaten using only the fingers – no cutlery required. It is affordable, delicious and it takes a big appetite to tackle half a hollowed out loaf of bread filled to the brim with oozing gravy and topped with a thick wad of crustless bread. There is no better way to mop up the gravy than with the bread ‘lid’ of this famous dish. A group of friends sharing bunny together bring about a sense of ‘comaraderie’ – something that no other meal can do … and the atmosphere at the Horizon Restaurant is just right for that.
This uniquely South African cuisine unites all communities who instantly recognise it as the ideal for lunch or any time meal. But where did it all start? According to Kanthi, who has been making bunny chows and other Indian and Western dishes at the Horizon restaurant in Dannhauser for the past 15 years, the origin can be traced back to the turn of the century. “The term bunny chow is firmly entrenched in South African vocabulary; it has even been included in Professor Jean Barnard’s dictionary of South African English”. Derived from the original term Bania, which refers to Hindus belonging to the mercantile class and who are vegetarians, the slang arose in Indian restaurants in the province that served hunks of bread with a spicy bean curry. Bania chow was destined to become bunny chow.
Horizon Restaurant hosts annual functions for example a Valentines Day Dance, Mother’s Day Dance, Spring Ball and Christmas dinner/dance.
Like all chefs, Kanthi does not give any secrets away when it comes to preparing the curry that goes into the bunnies at Horizon. She and her husband, Prakash, have been providing food to local residents and visitors since June 1986. They focus on hospitality, home-cooked food, friendliness, quality service.
