2Selai takes kota to new lip-smacking culinary heights

Street food with lip-smacking kasi savour topped with bougie attitude, that’s the best way to describe the kota at 2Selai & a Butter.

Make no mistake, the kota at 2Selai sets the culinary bar high, but it doesn’t lose its authentic township essence and mouth-watering flavours. It’s a chef-style kota, but deliciously hearty and soulful.

“When we came in, we sourced the highest quality produce, but it comes at a cost,” says founder Thabane Ledwaba. “The idea was to have different food profiles for different palettes.”

2Selai has three stores – at Diepkloof Square and Protea North in Soweto, and West Street in Sandton. The premises are used shipping containers that are given new life with vibrant butter-yellow paint and graphic artwork.

“The opportunity to venture into fast food came when one of my friends’ mother was closing her kota business, and the employees were at risk of losing their jobs. So, we decided to take over the business,” says the 31-year-old entrepreneur and food enthusiast.

“Their family surname was Selai and ‘selai’ loosely translates to slice of bread in township slang, and so the name of the business became a play on words.”

Growing up in Protea North, Ledwaba was an aspiring home cook who fanned his culinary passion through TV food channels.

“I was always the one trying to replicate what I saw on TV in our family kitchen, and I became relatively good at it too,” says Ledwaba.

“When I moved to res, I would prepare dishes for everyone, including my soccer teammates, especially sandwiches. I was always making different types of sandwiches and experimenting with different flavours.”

In his ambitious pursuit to elevate the humble kota, Ledwaba met with a backlash from township customers over pricing.

“To elevate the kota experience, we used high-end produce, which meant that our food costs were high compared to other kotas in the township,” he says.

“I would have these pop-ups called Corporate Friday, where I approached my friends to rally their colleagues to order kotas and deliver to their offices. This was at the price range we were looking for. Though it came at R80, as compared to R35 in the township, people were welcoming of the product. This was in 2018.” 

Ledwaba continued to open pop-ups at corporate events in northern Johannesburg and party hotspots around Soweto, and 2Selai’s popularity soon grew.

“We found ourselves entering food competitions and festivals such as the Gauteng Kota Fest, The Morning Show Kota World Cup and Pitch and Polish food competition in 2023. Through the competition winnings, we were able to open our doors in Sandton,” he says.

2Selai is a member of the SA Chefs Association and was encouraged by the association’s president’s enthusiasm for its exciting vision for the iconic street food.

“He was very stoked about what we were doing and happy that we were taking the kota out of the township,” says Ledwaba.

“Our must-try is the Porky OG. It’s our biggest seller. It has the best Russian I’ve ever tasted, vienna, ham, bacon, coleslaw, cheese and egg. All our kota bases are the standard ¼ toasted loaf of bread, chips and sauces,” he says.

“We added coleslaw to the dish because we needed something to cut through the greasiness as well as add texture with crunch from the freshness of lettuce and apples.

“For a flavour bomb,” Ledwaba recommends 2Selai patrons try the calamari and prawn tempura kota. “On our standard kota base, we add a layer of lettuce, avocado, spicy calamari, mushroom, and chorizo mix, which brings a meatiness to the meal. And it is topped off with an egg, cheese, tartare sauce and prawn tempura as the garnish.”