There is a story behind the creation of the business, which dates back to the 1960s, just after my parents’ wedding. Around 1966, they opened an eating house in Beira, where Restaurante 2+1 stands today, and there they began to prepare, successfully and in great demand among the residents of Beira from the Maquinino area, and even from other neighbourhoods, roast meat sandwiches and charcoal-grilled chicken, which were my mother’s signature dishes. A few years later, they decided to invest in a grocery shop and left the restaurant business for some time, only passing on to relatives and friends the preparation of delicious dishes that could be made in that city in the difficult years of the late 1970s and the 1980s. The imagination needed to prepare tasty dishes in those times (owing to the scarce supply of food and the shortage of resources) determined the fame my mother went on to achieve in the years after 1986.
So, in 1987, a great and special friend challenged us to run a “small” Social Centre at the Acampamento do Corredor da Beira, which would become one of the biggest restaurants in Beira during the 1990s and part of the 2000s. The recipes possible over those years underwent the “mutations” of my mother’s imagination, of the refined and very critical palate of my father and my brothers, and of the advice of the many friends who frequented our home in the Palmeiras neighbourhood. Today, Wing’s Maputo (Wing’s Kitchen) is a journey into that history, which spans decades, and into the days we spent in Beira, in the two restaurants that my parents and my brother Eduardo (Eduardinho) ran there. Many of today’s customers are the same as before and remember which dishes were their favourites there. They still recall the family atmosphere of the two venues we had in Beira, which we are now trying to recreate in Maputo. A friend of the family, happy about our new challenge in the city of Maputo, said: “The Chiveve has overflowed into Maputo”, and I believe he was right: we came to Maputo to share the tastes and flavours we prepared in Beira, our home town.
“Wing’s Maputo (Wing’s Kitchen) is a journey into a history that spans decades, and into the days we spent in Beira, in the two restaurants that my parents and my brother Eduardo ran there“
Eduardinho, our only chef with formal training at an academy (Prue Leith in Pretoria), is an artist. He has an exclusive palate and an inexhaustible imagination, as well as “playing” with the ingredients. His cooking, based on our mother’s recipes, is the true formula for the success of our house in Maputo. That, our family and our retro-chic seaside atmosphere! Food definitely plays a very important role, but it is not the most important. The food, the presentation of the dish, the atmosphere and the location of the venue, combined, play the fundamental role.
In gastronomic terms, we have a “fusion” cuisine, a mixture of Mediterranean, Chinese and Indian, which makes up what Mozambican cooking is and what you always refer to: that of flavours let loose! Our menu is reviewed regularly and has a lot to do with what our customers ask for from our mother’s menu, and also with the imagination of our Chef Eduardinho. We have a weekly menu, and it is different from the regular menu, the fruit of Eduardo’s imagination. Whenever possible, we use a lot of organic produce (in partnership with local suppliers: eggs, vegetables, meat) and we work to develop small businesses, whether through partnerships or hiring. Besides the restaurant, we provide catering services for events and, of course, takeaway food in family portions. The restaurant is part of a consultancy and events company and, besides catering, we organise conferences and other corporate events.
Wings Maputo (Wings Kitchen) opened in a context of crisis and pandemic. The measures we implemented were those decreed by the President of the Republic to prevent the spread of covid-19, and we redoubled our efforts to prevent our employees from running risks. We managed to join the private-sector COVAX initiative and vaccinated all our staff as soon as vaccines were available, we quarantined and isolated whenever we had had high-risk contacts, and we spared no effort in disinfecting and sanitising everyone (customers and staff). That, in itself, is a very high cost for an emerging business and reduced our earnings very significantly and with great impact, but at no point did we regret it, because we managed, even so, to remain in the market, and all our customers always felt safe when they visited us. The inspections carried out by government officials were very educational and pertinent, despite the fact that they were usually triggered by complaints that did not convey the reality.
We have noticed, in recent times, the rise of digital and, fortunately, the family has young members and, with the help of the nephews and nieces – the third generation of the Wings – it has been very successful. As some of these platforms have costs for a professional performance, we thought it best to start with what is available at low cost, and move into the future at a slower pace. We are considering creating a page and having an online menu for orders and reservations, among other things. We have not yet reached the level we want; in a city as big as Maputo, we very much want to expand in the short and medium term, and consolidate our position in the market. Our plans for the future are simply to carry on doing this wonderful work that we love so much, to have friends and customers around our tables and to be able to offer beautiful, tasty dishes. And may they always want to come back for more.”
