Feigels joins the fabulous 50s brigade

SUZANNE BELLING

It all began in 1922, when Feigel Hadassin, then in her early 20s, stepped off a ship that arrived in South Africa, from Lithuania, with her family. They brought a wealth of traditional Lithuanian and Polish cooking with them. Feigel was the daughter of Solomon Hadassin, a chazan, shochet and mohel.

They came to Johannesburg, where she met and married Mully Zaslansky, who was the greatest fan of her cooking and “her big heart”.

They had four children. Feigel found work in 1966 at Judy’s Deli in Rockey Street, Yeoville and when Judy’s closed down, Feigel decided to fulfil her dream of creating her own deli.

She immediately sent a letter to two of her children, Jos and Patsy (young adults by then) who were in Israel, having volunteered to make a contribution in the Six-Day War. “Come home,” she said.

And so they did, both joining the business in the year it opened. The family signed a lease with Julian Kleft, who owned a building in Rockey Street – then the heart of Jewish Johannesburg. For rental, they took a R1 500 loan from the Gemillus Chesed.

“On a handshake, they then did a deal with Koval Brothers, who sold us our very first fridge” said Tamar Dakes, Patsy’s daughter, now a member of the third generation of the Feigels deli family.

With marketing and cooking skills inherited from her grandmother and mother, Tamar now plays a key role with her business partner, Neil Pollock. Earlier this year, they purchased Feigels from Patsy and Jos.

“Fritz Oppenheimer, the owner of Rand Kosher Meat Market, agreed to supply Feigels with meats on consignment,” Tamar says. “They did a deal with Table Bay Fisheries to provide additional stock.”

Then they went to Freddy Hirsch near Fordsburg to purchase their very first scale and meat slicer, and a polony rack for the wall. With this equipment, plus their family kitchen table and a small gas stove, they were nearly ready for business.

Jos and his brother Solly spent a few nights laying new flooring.

Mel Miller (the comedian), who in those days worked as a sales representative, helped with the design of the original blue Feigels logo.

In April 1968, Feigels took delivery of the fridge and filled it with salmon, snoek and cream cheese. On April 18 1968, Feigels opened its doors for business.

Since its inception, Feigels’ traditional recipes prevailed.

Filled with Jewish gerichten (traditional fare), including challahs and other baked delights, there is no traditional dish that Feigels doesn’t stock. And the kashrut is of the highest standard.

 Feigel passed away in 1979 , her influence having created a “home from home” kitchen, expanding, but never changing over the years.

“The following year, Rockey Street became a haven for drugs, so in 1980 we moved to new premises in Raleigh Street, Bellevue,” Patsy said.

“At the beginning of 1992, a new deli opened in Glenhazel.

In 1996, the Bellevue branch of Feigels moved to the Bramley shopping centre – and then to its current location in Lyndhurst.”

Before he emigrated in January this year, Alan Bender was Feigels’ executive chef. Now former Open Flame restaurant owner Eric Stern is contracted to Feigels. “He specialises in meat dishes, whereas Alan’s forte was fish,” Patsy said.

Recently, Feigels introduced Shabbos specials – three-course meals for four people at a cost of R360. The deli has also introduced frozen “heat-and-eat” meals.

Many staff members have been part of the Feigels family for more than 30 years. “We have second- and third-generation staff members from the same families,” said Jos.

Since the 1980s, Feigels has been supplying supermarkets with meals. Within the next few weeks, a deli will open at BluBird Shopping Centre and there’ll also be a new deli section at Kosher World.

“The beauty of Feigels is that the meals are essentially homemade as my grandmother used to make them – and one doesn’t tire of them,” Tamar concluded.