Our restaurant offers a unique South African experience, the first of its kind in the United States.
Since 1999 at our first restaurant in Fort Greene, Brooklyn we have proudly brought our guests
traditionally prepared specialities from our nation.
Madiba restaurant pays homage to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela and is dedicated to the future of
South Africa, a future that promises greater cultural harmony, economic development, and
collective enjoyment of “a World in One Country”.
Our concept is steeped in the tradition of a Shebeen, the informal dining halls in South African
townships. These gathering places are where South Africans leave the work day behind to
embrace joy, laughter, community, and a little beer to boot.
The Shebeen offers sanctuary to the weary and well-traveled; a visit to one is the ultimate
experience of everyday life one can have while touring South Africa.
From humble beginnings, South African townships – replete with history and culture – have
flourished as the hub of activity and social life in each community. The feeling of “Ubuntu” –
“humanity” in the Xhosa language – is the very core of each township’s existence.
Madiba restaurant is your gateway to South Africa.
Through our eclectic cuisine, authentic music, arts & crafts, Homesick? products, and highly
successful catering business, we are celebrating and preserving the culture and vitality of a
unique continent and extending it well beyond the shores of Africa.
We are honored to reinvest a percentage of our proceeds in the people of South Africa
via the charities Ubuntu Education Fund, Ethembeni School of the Blind, Achilles, and others.
Mark & Jenny Henegan
”It’s not often that you get to watch a restaurant
enact its slogan. Usually such words serve as mere
marketing, meant to be read but not experienced.
Madiba calls itself “a place of love” and love is
what we saw on a recent Friday night.”