I like cafes. They start early, and stay open all day.
They’re somewhere you can go for breakfast, a full meal, or for just an early morning espresso. More importantly, they’re a place to relax and linger over the morning paper or ponder the meaning of life - and where they soon know your name. Because of this they tend to attract a regular clientele who see their favourite cafe as a home from home.
Judd Campbell, of the Corner Cafe in Glenwood, for instance, says about a third of their customers pop in every day.
Naturally, menus and ambience vary widely.
Menu options range from simple toasted sandwiches to the food offered by EatMe Gourmet Cafe in Clarence Road, which has a fine dining sensibility. As for the ambience, it can be canteen-like, or homely.
Your choice is likely to depend on the vibe and friendliness of the welcome - or simply its convenience to your home or office.
Two new cafes have opened recently, both focusing on healthy eating.
The first is reFresh (031 572 7006), a cafe tucked to one side of the new EverFresh store at La Lucia Mall. The second, mentioned further on, is in Glenwood.
While the ambience is more canteen-line than intimate at reFresh, the menu, created by Shaun Smith and Caz England of the Fusion Cooking School, is a winner for the health and taste conscious.
The menu offers food that is either low-fat, fat-free, reduced sugar, or gluten and dairy-free.
It includes breakfast options, a wide choice of juices and freshly-made smoothies, coffees and teas, including organic Hojicha green tea. There’s also a children’s menu. Breakfast options include eggs and bacon, a veggie breakfast of tomatoes, mushrooms, basil pesto and feta served in a phyllo basket, DIY fruit salads and low-fat muffins.
The main menu offers salads which can be ordered as a salad sushi (salad ingredients wrapped in cucumber or carrot slices, for instance), in a wrap, on a focaccia or with pasta.
Options are: Lebanese chickpea salad (chickpeas with brinjal, mint and humus), Thai-style chicken salad, Chinese orange and ginger chicken salad, and a beef carpaccio salad with slow-roasted baby tomatoes, basil pesto and parmesan shavings.
We started with a citrus crush (orange juice, lemon and mint) which was divine and a carrot/apple and ginger mix, R18 each.
For mains we ordered a warm, spicy Kashmiri potato salad with coriander, lentils, minted yogurt raita in a wrap, R28, which was very tasty.
A little bland was the Japanese sushi salad, which included avo, spring onion and sprouts rolled in smoked salmon and cucumber and drizzled with a wasabi sauce, R38.
Perhaps more wasabi sauce would have helped. Much better was the warm Thai Panaeng chicken salad with coriander and a spicy Thai cashew and coconut dressing served on pasta, R36. It was an interesting combination of flavours and textures.
They also have a daily selection of cakes and muffins. We ordered the low-fat spinach and feta muffin served with sweet chilli jam, R18, and the gluten-free pear and ginger cake which used a mix of potato and rice flour, R15.
The muffin was good and the cake sublime.
Still at La Lucia Mall, I can also recommended Deli-cious, which serves a wide variety of wraps and excellent coffee, and the Hans Vrolik bakery, an Aladdin’s cave of baked treats. Their Dutch coffee is recommended, as are their lightly toasted wholewheat rolls topped with ingredients of your choice.
My favourite is thin slices of emmenthaler cheese, tomatoes and mustard. A simple but delicious treat. Both cafes have a friendly, homely vibe.
Another relative newcomer to the cafe scene is The Deli in Windermere Road, Morningside (031 303 8815).
Sharing premises with a paint shop (mixed retail is the trend these days), it’s in what was once a home, and is pretty with a small garden where you can sit under the trees.
The extensive menu includes breakfast, open sandwiches and salad items as well as more substantial alternatives.
Interesting options include chunky fillet burger, a chicken schnitzel (crumbed, in polenta), toasted pinenut, butternut and sweet potato salad, and sweetcorn cakes interlayered with lettuce, avocado, bacon and toasted tomatoes.
I can highly recommend the leek/feta/tomato omelette, R38, and their smoked salmon and potato cakes served on a fennel salad drizzled with homemade lemon and garlic mayonnaise, R46. They also have cakes of the day - the chocolate is especially good.
To Glenwood. When EarthMother Organic moved to new premises in Bulwer Road (031 202 1527), it gave them the chance to expand not only their shop, but to include a small cafe which spills out into the back garden and offers a safe area for kids to play.
The proprietors, sisters Eva Muller and Doris Bye, both vegetarian since the age of 7, offer simple food that is not only healthy, but organic where possible. Vegetarian restaurants are as rare as, well, vegetarian cafes, so finding another also in Glenwood (the other is Dawn’s place in Euforia, Davenport Road) is good news for non-meat eaters.
Options are simple. Salads or sandwiches with a variety of toppings and a choice of bread (ciabatta, rye or bread that is gluten and yeast free).
For example, you can have a salad topped with feta, pumpkin seeds, roasted veg and quionoa, or bread topped with avo, sprouts, sundried tomatoes, spring onion, olives and an omega seed mix. Or you can lash out on a mezze platter for two, R65.
The sweet of tooth can choose from a raw chocolate tart, banana, coconut milk and cardamom ice cream or a goji berry and banana icecream, R15 each. All packed with vitamins and guaranteed to keep your bowels moving. A nice, friendly place.
I’ve had a few disappointing meals recently at the Artscafe, at the KZNSA Gallery on Bulwer Road (031 201 9969), which discouraged me from returning.
But since I’ve always enjoyed the vibe - and chilling under the trees - I was happy to hear there was a new chef and menu.
We tried it last Sunday, on a beautiful warm day when all felt well with the world - a rare occasion.
The menu has now been reduced, which makes sense given the tiny kitchen. Breakfasts include the traditional farmhouse as well as French toast, skewered fruit with yoghurt, and ciabatta topped with beans and chorizo.
There are nine lunch options including lamb meatballs in tomato sauce, smoked salmon and potato fish cakes, a falafel wrap, salads and open sandwiches. There are also toasted sandwiches, scones, cheese blintzes and cakes of the day - mainly made in-house.
We were very impressed with our selection: penne topped with lemon pesto chicken and parmesan, R49; strawberry and leek risotto, R49, and citrus grilled whole chicken breast burger topped with coriander mayo, R49.
The risotto was an unusual combination but inspired, as it turned out, and the chicken elements of the remaining two dishes melt-in the-mouth tender.
We finished the meal with scones and carrot cake - both homemade and both good.
amp,hine,wb
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