Offering fun comfort food that takes us back to our childhoods, the single dish restaurant is on the rise around the world. In New York, there are restaurants specializing in macaroni and cheese (S’MAC serves it topped with everything from brie to roasted figs, shiitake mushrooms and fresh rosemary), meatballs (at The Meatball Shop you’ll find beef, pork, chicken or vegetable meatballs in all manner of incarnations) and toasted cheese (The Melt Shop serves the humble toasted cheese exclusively; albeit with fillings like aged cheddar, maple glazed bacon and fontina and goat cheese with roasted wild mushrooms).

And in Mzansi, we’re not too far behind. Restaurants like Royale, Hudsons and Dukes have been applying the concept to the art of burgers for some time, and February 1st saw the opening of Cape Town’s first gourmet hotdog restaurant.

The dream
“I’ve been wanting to do it for years”, says chef Peter Ayub, “And I thought, if I don’t do it, somebody else is going to!” The owner of catering company and cooking school, Sense of Taste, Peter opened up On a Roll with his wife in Durban Road in Mowbray to make the idea a reality. “They’re one of my favourite things,” Peter admits. “I thought it would be nice to open up a restaurant, without all that… restaurant stuff.”

The dogs
The menu offers specialist ‘dogs like the German Shepherd (bockwurst sausage with German mustard, Granny Smith apple and sauerkraut), the Thai Lady Boy (chicken sausage with mango, pickled ginger, coriander and coconut cream) and the Chihuahua (cabanossi sausage with charcoaled pineapple, guacamole and blackbean).

I invite Julia, Eat Out’s former designer, along to stake out the joint, largely because I recall her secret passion for hotdogs. “Hot Diggety dog!” she chants in the car on the way there.

We order The Big Oink, a Debreziner sausage with chunky roast butternut, crispy bacon and sage cream which is a lovely mix of flavours and textures – and simply sublime – and the simpler Heart Stopper, a cheesy Käsegriller Emmenthaler sausage with tomato carpaccio topped with fresh greens.

With pork sourced from Raith Gourmet, chicken from Elgin Free Range Chickens and beef from Excellent Meat, these are ‘dogs with pedigree.

As for the rolls, Peter initially started with a range of gourmet options, but found that they were too much for diners to manage. He’s now using the soft, white Sasko variety which go down a treat.

The hotdogs come served with shoestring fries and three sauces as standard (chilli and garlic paste, gherkin relish and Portuguese prego sauce), but the hungrier diners can try potato side salad with buttermilk, Swiss chard and crispy bacon or one of three exciting salads.

If you’re a vegetarian, fear not, there’s even a dog for you, made with vegetarian sausage, smoked homemade tomato sauce and basil.

The drinks
Peter is a self-proclaimed beer fan, and insists on serving his Windhoek in 375 ml draughts so the last couple of sips aren’t warm. The wine list is brief – a Stellar Organics white or red, plus a wine of the week. But you’re welcome to bring your own for R25 corkage. There is also a range of boozy (and quite potent) milkshakes, made with vodka and ginger, hazelnut or cherry liqueur.

The space
Peter spent five months refurbishing the space, which used to house Greek, knocking down walls and building new ones. The result is an old-style American diner, with chic concrete screed floors, tables the colour of yellow mustard, and an array of hotdog-related art.

The verdict
Complete with soft serve ice cream for dessert, it’s nostalgia on a plate (albeit nostalgia for the gourmet childhood us foodies like to imagine we had). And with trendspotters declaring 2012 the year of the hotdog – and hip spots like Jason, &Union and The Power & The Glory offering ‘dogs a spot on the menu, Peter’s timing couldn’t be better. “The rise of the lowly hotdog!” declares Julia with glee.
 
Try it for yourself: win a meal for four at On a Roll, including a bottle of Stellar Organic wine.