Built in 1914, the Shlom African Eating House is perhaps the only remaining example of its type in Johannesburg. African Eating Houses were rooted in the segregationist policies and practices of the colonial and Apartheid city. Though most eating houses catered for mineworkers and the poorest non-mining urban Africans, a small proportion, including Shlom's which served African traders at the nearby market, catered to the economically better off, and served meals of better quality to those who could afford it.