The Peli Peli journey began when
its first location opened at Vintage
Park (Northwest Houston) in 2009
and its location at the Houston Gal-
leria in 2015. Peli Peli Kitchen, a fast
casual concept featuring South Afri-
can-inspired comfort foods such as
naan tacos, plates, burgers and sand-
wiches, opened in 2016 and recently
won Eater Houston’s award for “Best
Fast Casual Concept” in 2017. When
you order ‘The Tour of South Afri-
ca’, your experience will first entail:
Sauteed chicken livers in a Caccia-
tore sauce for the first course in the
appetizer category. The other award
winning recipe called the Bobotie is
the most popular as a layered spiced
minced beef bottom cottage pie dish,
inside is a carrot mash with potatoes,
leeks, onions, cilantro, and finally
mango chutney on the pastry top. A
white flaky King Clip fish blackened,
Chilean sea bass stuffed mushrooms
in a spicy cream reduction sauce
drizzled all over. A rice pilaf with-
sauteed calamari, scallops & Peli Peli
shrimp scampi. South African tiger
palms shipped directly from South
Africa. Portuguese inspired Espanada
fillet is cut into medallions, garlic
butter drips down into the Espanada
from the top of the pole where there
34 iF Magazine | March 2018
are holes to allow the sauce to dance
down as it soaks down into every
crevice of the meat. All made with
Chef Paul’s special spice concoctions
that add a special layer to everything.
New dishes on the menu have in-
cluded a Capetown skillet, a stuffed
Snapper dish & the grand brunch
choice of a waffles and chicken duo!
I got to see these the day they were
introduced and see the customer’s
pleasure first hand. I hear the Sticky
Toffee pudding with vanilla bean ice
cream is out of this world & they
even gave vouchers for Chevron
marathon racers to treat themselves
with an entree purchase after the
race! This is only one little example
of their community contributions as
they can be constantly found giving
to organizations and not afraid to get
their hands dirty participating in any
culinary challenge!
Co-Founder, Thomas Nguyen, who
helped me with thus report says: “Peli
Peli Kitchen was created to allow
more people to experience our melt-
ing pot of flavors, and we want our
menu to reflect the diversity that you
see here in Houston. It is our goal to
create the most multicultural restau-
rant in Texas.”
Up next for Peli Peli includes a flag-
ship location in downtown Austin at
3rd & Colorado next to the W Hotel
and hopes to open by May 2018. An
additional Peli Peli Kitchen is slated
to open in fall 2018 in Houston.
For more information visit www.
pelipeli.com or follow the restau-
rant on Facebook at www.facebook.
com/peligalleria or Instagram at
www.instagram.com/peli_peli.
Peli Peli, with locations at 110 Vin-
tage Park Blvd, Houston, TX, 77070
and The Galleria at 5085 Westheimer
Rd, Houston, TX, 77056, Cinco
Ranch at 23501 Cinco Ranch Blvd
and Peli Peli Kitchen at 9090 Katy
Freeway, features South African cui-
sine by Executive Chef Paul Fried-
man. The restaurant has received
numerous awards, including 2013
Chef of Chefs Award Winner at
Wine & Food Week in The Wood-
lands and Top 100 Best Reviewed
American Fare Restaurants in the
U.S. by Opentable®, among others.
Both Peli Peli locations are currently
ranked in the top 10 in Houston by
TripAdvisor®.