He’s been catcalled by lustful ladies in fast cars for having the sexiest legs on the streets. He’s been scammed and mocked and robbed. He’s as steadfast in the sweltering Cape Town summer as he is in the Mother City’s weeklong winter downpours. For Arno Arpin, it’s all in a day’s work; selling their family-recipe koeksisters at the traffic lights on the corner of Nathan Mallach and Giel Basson – a duty he’s been doing diligently for almost three decades.
Arno Arpin and his family have a no-nonsense policy when it comes to koeksisters. Together, they have mastered the threshold to where these golden braids must be fried to ensure ultimate crispiness – 12 minutes, exactly. He has perfected the density of the syrup in which the hot braided morsels are dunked. But more than that, Arno Arpin and his family have conquered consistency. They have been doing this for 29 years… and counting.