Every so often, even I need a friend. No, not the deep well of a whisky tumbler — a real friend; someone I can talk to. Whenever I feel like that I know exactly what our dear old friend Jacob Zuma feels like right now. Now that’s a man in need of a friend who knows how to nod and make sympathetic sounds. The state capture commission of inquiry has started. For years every citizen of this fine republic will be regaled with tales of how Zuma handed the crown jewels to the Gupta family. Again and again and again. When I think about the past 13 years of writing this column (yes, that’s 676 articles, or a meal every day for nearly two years), it is not the many restaurants that I had to visit to serve you, dear reader. It’s the times when I decided I wanted to go out and meet a friend and kvetch about the state of the nation. To have a proper vent like that you need a good friend, a fine meal, a satisfying drink and a convivial atmosphere. There is no place that I have found as satisfyin...

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