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Juicies, this one’s worth the drive! Minari is a Korean kitchen tucked into a courtyard in the heart of Stellenbosch, sharing its space (and its menu) with neighbouring noodle bar Slurp. One of the Juice team went for lunch, ordered far too much and came back raving. Here’s the full story.
Some meals are just so good that you keep ordering, even when you know you’ve probably gone a little overboard. That was us at Minari in Stellenbosch. Did we order too much? Absolutely. Would we do it again? Without a doubt!
Tucked away in a cute little courtyard, with festoon lights overhead and a lovely, relaxed atmosphere, Minari was such a great find. It’s one of those places where you settle in, start looking at the menu and suddenly want to try everything.
Minari sits alongside Slurp, its neighbouring noodle bar, and the best part is that you can pretty much order across both menus. Which, as you can imagine, did absolutely nothing to help our over-ordering situation.
We kicked things off with the chicken wings, and oh my word, they were good! Perfectly fried, beautifully crunchy on the outside, but still moist and juicy inside. And the sauce! So delicious that we ended up using it on just about everything else we ordered. Honestly, they could bottle that stuff.
Next up was one of my favourites of the meal – a DIY lettuce wrap situation with little balls of rice, tender beef strips, pickled vegetables and daikon. You pile everything into a fresh lettuce leaf, fold it up like a little taco and tuck in. So simple, so fresh and SO tasty. And yes, naturally, we added some of that chicken wing sauce to these too!
By this point we’d already eaten plenty, but apparently we were just getting started.
For mains, we ordered another round of chicken wings (because once clearly wasn’t enough), along with a beef pho and chicken ramen to share. Both broth dishes were packed with flavour, fresh, comforting and just delicious. The kind of food that feels like a warm hug, without being too heavy.
Needless to say, we didn’t quite make it through everything. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs, and we left with takeaway containers and absolutely no regrets.
What I loved most about Minari was that the whole experience just worked. The lovely little courtyard, the relaxed setting, the variety of dishes and, most importantly, really, really good food. Nothing felt overly fussy – just fresh, flavourful food that made us want to keep trying more.
Would I go back? In a heartbeat. In fact, I’d happily drive out to Stellenbosch just to eat here again.
Go hungry, order a few things to share and definitely don’t skip the chicken wings.
A Juice tip
Minari and Slurp share the courtyard, so you can order across both menus in one sitting. Bring a crew, order everything to share, and ask for extra wing sauce for the table.
- Where: Shop 5, Simonsplein Centre, Plein Street, Stellenbosch (Winelands)
- Book: Reserve a table or +27 69 191 1202
