If there is one place where embattled businessman Schabir Shaik has appeared more often than in the media, it's at Spiga D'Oro, a popular Italian restaurant in Durban's Florida Road.

In fact, Shaik is such a fixture that a dish, the Linguine ala Shaik, has been named after him. With a sauce of plum tomatoes, chilli and garlic, the dish suggests that Shaik, who will be sweating it out in court over the next few months, isn't averse to fiery encounters at the dinner table.

"He was always telling us to add a bit of chilli here, a bit of ginger there. Eventually we made a dish especially for him and he loved it and ordered it over and over again," said proprietor Luca Santoniccolo.

Shaik confesses to eating at Spiga D'Oro three to four times a week, and returns because "it's very relaxed".

"As you can see it's largely ordinary people who come here, no bourgeoisie come here," said Shaik at a table last Wednesday.

With acknowledgements to the Sunday Argus.