where to eat in East London?

the Buffalo City. the buffalo would have decided by now.

justpick in East London Karen explains, reluctantly

East London is small enough that you think you know every option, which is exactly why you keep going to the same one. justpick shows you what Google has around you in Buffalo City, one card at a time, so you can swipe past the usual and find something else.

Staying in counts too. Pick Stay In and Karen looks at delivery instead, then points you to Mr D Food or Uber Eats to order. She can’t promise either delivers to your street; that part is up to them.

pick for me in East London

free. no sign-up. type your suburb on the next screen. Karen does the rest.

areas to type in real places. Karen checked.

justpick doesn’t keep its own list of East London restaurants. Karen refuses to play favourites. It searches around whatever area you give it, so the more specific you are, the better the deck. A few you could start with, if you’re capable of starting:

Tip for East London: if you are in Beacon Bay or Gonubie, type that. Crossing the river for dinner is a choice Karen wants you to make on purpose.

you have one favourite restaurant. Karen found you eleven more. you’re welcome.

how it works here five steps. you can manage five.

  1. Say where you are. Type a suburb or street in East London, or tap “use my location” and let your phone snitch to Karen. Your location is only used for this search and isn’t stored. She’s nosy, not creepy.
  2. Go Out or Stay In. Go Out shows restaurants you can sit down in, on real chairs, in real shoes. Stay In looks at delivery and hands you over to Mr D Food or Uber Eats to order. Pyjamas optional.
  3. Set a budget. Chilled is under R150 a person, Lekker is R150 to R300 a person, Full Send is R300+ a person. Karen doesn’t judge. (She judges.)
  4. Pick cravings and dealbreakers. One cuisine or several, plus anything you flat-out refuse to eat. Karen respects a hard no.
  5. Swipe. Right to keep, left to skip. Each card shows the photo, Google rating, distance and whether it’s open. Tap for directions. Stop at the first one that makes your stomach growl.

Try this in East London: Vincent, Chilled, Chinese and Pizza. Then swipe until something makes you hungry, or until Karen loses patience. Whichever comes first. (It’s Karen.)

cuisines and dealbreakers she has a comment for every one

Thirteen cuisines to choose from. That’s thirteen more than you managed on your own:

And the dealbreakers, which take places out of the deck instead of adding them. Every group has one person who lives in this section:

Can’t face any of it? WTF Mode picks go out or stay in, the budget and the cuisine for you, then serves up restaurants. You just eat. Honestly, Karen’s favourite button.

Karen, unprompted nobody asked. she’s saying it anyway.

The Bokke don’t run the same play every single week. You’ve run the same restaurant every Friday since forever. Karen is calling a new play.

The same table every Friday. By now your name might as well be carved into it like a desk at wizard school. Swipe on something new.

what Karen won’t pretend she has standards. a few.

Restaurants, photos, ratings and opening hours come live from Google Places when you search. justpick doesn’t rank East London’s “best” restaurants, doesn’t take payment to show a place, and doesn’t run ads. Karen can’t be bought, and she’s offended you wondered. If a place is missing or out of date, it is missing or out of date on Google too. Take it up with them. Politely.

you’ve read enough. go eat.

let’s pick already

Karen is waiting. she’s not patient. she was never patient.

other cities she gets around. the whole country is her playground.