Johannesburg ( CNN ) -- At sunset , the smell of food simmering in dozens of pots starts to fill the air on 15th Avenue . Soon after , as if summoned by the aroma of meat and spices , a steady stream of cars starts rolling in , pulling up to the food stalls and carts where local women armed with serving spoons prepare to ladle out portions of South African comfort food -- ox tripe known as mogodu , chicken feet , beans and maize dusted with spicy pepper . A woman in a red dress loudly licked her lips as she waited to collect several containers full of food . `` Its food from the homeland , '' she said as she then hurried away to her waiting car . `` My husband 's going to be very happy . '' The neighbourhood that hungry South Africans flock to on Monday nights is a township called Alexandra , or Alex . This densely-populated district is often associated with poverty and crime . Squatters , many of them immigrants from other sub-Saharan countries in Africa , live in wretched conditions in shacks and derelict industrial buildings on the edges of the township , and within view of Sandton , one of the city 's wealthiest , leafy enclaves . Twenty-five-year-old Maurice Modipa wants to change the township 's negative image . `` More than anything , I want to put Alex on the map , '' he said . `` In terms of getting people into Alex and change the stigma that we have , I just want people to see it from my point of view . '' Modipa and his brothers are transforming their father 's small liquor store into a nightclub that they hope will one day offer panoramic views of Alexandra township . Their bar -- called `` Stoep , '' which is a South African term for the veranda where locals gather next to the house -- is part of a larger attempt to attract members of the country 's rising black middle class back to the townships . Workers at Stoep set up amplifiers and haul in cases of beer under the watchful eye of 66-year-old Shimmi Modipa , who first started selling beer to his friends at this property decades ago , when it was little more than a collection of shacks on 15th Avenue . `` I used to call it 'Amstel Lounge , ' because it 's where we used to entertain myself , my friends and visitors , '' the elder Modipa said . Deep inequalities . In the days of apartheid , Modipa said the white minority-ruled government confined black South Africans to the township after dark . He also said it was difficult to start a business , since white-owned banks refused to issue loans to blacks . And though the poverty that is visible today in Alexandra reflects the deep income inequalities and high unemployment that continue to plague South Africa , Modipa said this working class neighborhood has come a long way in the last 20 years . `` There were no tar roads , there were just gravel roads.There were no sewage systems ... in the olden days [ we had ] bucket systems , '' Shimmi Modipa said . Pointing to the paved road outside his family 's bar , Modipa said , `` We are still saying thanks , thanks , thanks . My thanks to our Papa Madiba , '' referring to Nelson Mandela , the first democratically-elected black president of South Africa , who has been lying in critical condition for weeks in a hospital in Pretoria . `` Mandela made this possible . '' By 9pm , loud dance music was blaring from amplifiers in the Modipa bar . Patrons arrived on roaring motorcycles , in Mercedes sedans and expensive sport utility vehicles They swayed to the music in the bar 's unfinished open structure , sipping beer and whiskey and munching on chicken feet , apparently oblivious to the winter chill . Maurice Modipa danced and played DJ behind a laptop with big headphones on his ears . The customers who used to drink beer at Stoep have changed dramatically in the last decade . `` We know quite a few people who have made something of themselves ... economically , '' Maurice Modipa said later . The scene of affluent South Africans returning from wealthy suburbs to the poor township for a taste of their roots was a homecoming of sorts . This uniquely South African night out showed much progress has been made since the end of apartheid , and highlighted how far the country still has to go to overcome its deep social and economic challenges .
In the days of apartheid , black South Africans were confined to the township after dark . They could not go out at night or even walk in their own neighborhood without a police escort. `` Mandela made this possible , '' he says .