“So Lekker To Pop In”: Cape Town Mayor Visits Popular 56-Year-Old Gatsby Shop

• Geordin Hill-Lewis, the mayor of Cape Town, went to Athlone to try out a masala steak gatsby from a local takeaway establishment
• After the mayor went to the local food store, which was opened in 1969, he met up with residents in the area
• Super Fisheries businessman Rashaad Pandy accidentally invented the gatsby for hungry workers in the 1970s
• The name of the invention was suggested by one of Rashaad's friends and took inspiration from the book The Great Gatsby

Cape Town's Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis visited the predominantly Coloured area of Athlone to feast on a gatsby from Golden Dish, a local establishment that has been around for 56 years.

Taking to his TikTok account on 21 July, 2025, the mayor invited people to visit the store, saying:

"If you haven't been to Golden Dish, are you even Capetonian?"

It appeared he was accompanied by Capetonian TikTok content creator Cedric Laguma, who jokingly said he was on a diet, before ordering a filling masala steak gatsby.

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Hill-Lewis wrote in the caption of his post:

"This beloved local spot has been cooking it up since 1969, so lekker to pop in!"

Along the way, Hill-Lewis met with the residents of Cape Town, receiving praise from those who were proud to see him as a leader. One person even said:

"You are the best. I will even vote, and you can be the president. You are number one. Honest and straightforward."

Who invented the gatsby?

The gatsby was invented in the 1970s by a man named Rashaad Pandy, the owner of the takeaway business Super Fisheries in Athlone, Cape Town. The name of the meal, suggested by a friend, takes inspiration from American author F Scott Fitzgerald's iconic book, The Great Gatsby.

Rashaad noted that the meal was a happy accident and was never intended to be on his menu, but was a hit among customers after he made samples. It was initially made for hungry workers and consisted of a Portuguese roll, hot chips, polony, and atchar.

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After its success, many people in Cape Town, and even other parts of the country, have recreated the gatsby and put their unique twist on it. From masala steak to polony to vienna to a hunger buster full house, the gatsby is synonymous with Cape Town cuisine.

Take a look at the TikTok video below:

3 Other stories about the famous gatsby

• In another article, Briefly News reported that a Johannesburg restaurant charged R400 for a gatsby. The massive meal looked as if it could feed an entire village.
• An American man living in Cape Town shared how impressed he was with a gatsby he bought from an establishment which many people considered to sell the "best gatsby in South Africa."
• A Cape Town man surprised social media users when he bought a metre-long roti gatsby for himself and his cousins. The man revealed that it only cost him R240, but the price has since increased.

Source: Briefly News