Pssst... we've discovered a genuine Spanish salumiere in Joburg

While sniffing around New Doornfontein, Roberta Thatcher discovered one of the city's best kept secrets: a deli selling divine locally-made cured meats and sausages

Johannesburg is a big city. This may not seem like the most profound statement, but it's something I tend to forget as I mosey around the northern suburbs. Every now and again though, I climb into my car and go exploring, and it's seldom that I come back without a story under my belt.

Recently I spent a few hours exploring New Doornfontein and surrounding areas. For those of you who haven't been there lately, the area - just by Ellis Park Stadium - may be run down and peppered with scrap-metal workshops, but if you're willing to look past the grittiness, you'll find it's packed with hidden gems.

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I was shown around by a friend who works in the area, and, knowing my penchant for a good sausage, she took me to Fama delicatessen. Now let me say upfront that this is not the kind of place you're likely to wander into while out for a Saturday stroll.

Set in a run-down part of Lorentzville, the deli doesn't exactly reach out and grab the foot traffic on its verge, and you have to navigate two intercoms and two security gates to enter.

Once inside though, even the most ardent of epicures would be impressed. Both times I've been I was greeted by an old Portuguese couple who point out the various sausages in broken English. On my second visit, I ascertained that all the sausages I had previously assumed were imported, are actually made on site, right there in Lorentzville.

Founded in 1987 by Spanish salumiere and slow-food aficionado Roberto Sa Gimenez, Fama sells a small but impeccable selection of cured pork products, mainly supplying the hospitality industry, although the public can buy from the deli.

Seven years ago, Gimenez decided to retire, and despite several suitors who tried to buy his company, he hand-picked his successors, Nuno and Carla Fernandes, a younger Portuguese couple with a background in hospitality.

"Roberto's family had been in the sausage industry for generations in Spain, and he feels very passionately about the business," says Nuno. "As he doesn't have kids of his own, he didn't want to leave Fama to just anyone," he adds. Nuno spent months in the factory being trained by Gimenez.

With only seven or eight products, including salamis, chorizos, coppa, jamon and pancetta, and a few varieties within each product, the offering is contained and huge passion and quality control goes into each recipe. "We still use Roberto's recipes," says Nuno, "although we've added a few over the years as we see what our customers are looking for."

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He adds that what makes Fama special is that, because they only make cured meats, the sausages aren't a by-product as they tend to be with butcheries. "All our pork is locally sourced and we use noble meats rather than offcuts."

Fama is the real deal, and with great prices to boot. Turns out that if you're willing to go exploring, you may just find a small bit of Europe in the most unexpected of Joburg corners.

Address: Fama Delicatessen, 12 Viljoen Street, Lorentzville, famadeli.co.za