A little café with a big heart.
Café Riza opened its doors in New Brighton — Gqeberha's oldest township — to bring the food we grew up on into a space where everyone is welcome. We are proudly the area's first dedicated township heritage café.
For us, food is memory. It's the pot of umngqusho on a Sunday afternoon. It's the smell of vetkoek frying after church. It's the people who sit around the table afterwards.
Chef Vuyokazi Duze
Vuyokazi learned to cook in her grandmother's kitchen long before she ever wore a chef's coat. After years in professional kitchens around the Eastern Cape, she came home to New Brighton with one mission: to put Xhosa cuisine on the map without diluting a single drop of its character.
"I cook the food I love for the people I love. The fact that strangers walk in and call it home — that's the magic of Café Riza."
Our values
Hospitality
Everyone leaves fuller than they arrived — body and spirit.
Local first
Local produce, local people, local stories on every plate.
Community
We hire from our neighbourhood and reinvest in our township.
Heritage
Recipes preserved, not modernised away. The old ways still taste best.
Awards & press
- 2024
Township Heritage Hotspot — Eastern Cape Tourism
- 2024
Top 10 Cultural Dining Experiences — Gqeberha Food Guide
- 2023
Featured in SA Country Life — 'Township Tables'
