Butcher Shop & Grill CC The | 30 Nelson Mandela Sq , Sandton, Sandton, 2146, Gauteng

Fay Pick was the first female butcher in South Africa, put to work at the family-owned Farmers Meat Supply in the mid-1930s. In the 1940s she met and married Dave Pick, also a butcher, and Alan was born in 1948. Soon afterwards, the family acquired the licence for the Kalk Bay Butchery, and Alans formal education began.His first official step into restaurants was aged 24, as a junior partner in Stellenboschs Arizona Spur. He then branched into shwarmas with Mi Vami, hamburgers with Late Nite Als, and steaks with Als Grillhouse. (The latter, now The Grillhouse, remains in its original location at The Firs in Rosebank, 22 years later.)Hillbrow, recalls Alan, was the centre of the universe. At Late Nite Als we were known for serving 500g steaks at 4am.Of course, on the plus side, I never had to switch on my headlights, because I arrived mid-afternoon and left mid-morning.In 1994, Alan identified a restaurant site within what was becoming Sandton Square. This became The Butcher Shop & Grill, where he i