Shrewd Food – Page 13 – Smart takes on food, coffee & service

ORGANIC FOOD STORE AND CAFE FINDS NEW HOME

Entrance to Earthmother Organic’s new home

This purveyor of all things organic, particularly food, and home to a vegetarian cafe, has moved. About time too, writes Ingrid Shevlin

Earthmother Organic
482 Lilian Ngoyi Rd (Windermere)
031 202 1527

There’s rustic and then there’s dingy and, in truth, Earthmother Organic’s home in Bulwer Road had tipped over from rustic and quaint to dingy and in dire need of a paint.
But that’s all in the past now as Earthmother has just moved to a new home in Windermere (Lilian Ngoyi) Road.
And what stunning new premises.

Coffee Shops

COFFEE AND BIKES, WHATS NOT TO LIKE

Duke & Duchess: the (h)art of coffee making

If you like your coffee rich and strong Duke & Duchess is the place to go. Oh, and you can also pick up a motorbike to take home. By Ingrid Shevlin

DUKE & DUCHESS MOTORCYCLES
2, Outlet Park, 59 Meridian Drive, Umhlanga
Call 031 584 7411
Open: Monday to Saturday 7am to 4.30pm (closes 1 pm Saturday)

I was trawling through the internet trying to find a menu for Duke & Duchess, the cafe part, but found nothing. Nada. They didn’t even have one on their own Facebook page.
This was in an attempt to keep you informed. So, sorry.
Instead I came across a short insert about the cafe screened by iTEN TV for their programme called Hashtag Durban, which was painful. A young woman asks the cafe manager, Scott (no surname given) a couple of questions, and he answers. There’s no interaction, no chatting or responding to the answers. It was like they were reading from a script.
But don’t let that put you off. Duke & Duchess Motorcycles is a really cool place that primarily sells motorbikes. It just so happens they also serve great cafe food (thank’s to Scott, who’s surname is actually Bain, who is also a chef) and seriously good coffee.

Restaurants

PINTXADA, FLAVOURS OF SPAIN. I THINK

The chicken rotisserie that is Martin Lombrd's pride and joy

Chicken rotisserie, Martin Lombrd’s pride and joy

It’s new, it’s in Umhlanga, it has been open for only a week or two and it’s already packing them in. It’s Pintxada. Yay. by Ingrid Shevlin

Pintxada
Grenada Square,
Chartwell Drive, Umhlanga Rocks
Call 082 688 1310

It’s rare that rotisserie chicken is the star of any menu. I mean, rotisserie chicken. But it’s what everyone suggests you order at Pintxada – pronounced pinchada apparently. By everyone I mean food critic Frank Chemaly.
As it happened he was already at Pintxada when Megan Harker and I arrived for Sunday lunch. “Have the rosisserie chicken”, he enthused when he spotted us. “It’s fantastic.”
He’d been to Pintxada before and had already reviewed it. Now he was back for more. He was that enamoured.
I was less enamoured at the end of my meal, but enjoyed it enough to want to return. I had some orgasmic moments, some head-blowing moments and some disappointing moments. Like life I suppose.

Food News

CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINING MADE EASY

Gordon Ramsay makes Christmas entertaining seem easy in this new recipe book

Gordon Ramsay makes Christmas entertaining seem easy in his new recipe book called, yes, Christmas writes Ingrid Shevlin

Christmas by Gordon Ramsay (Quadrille Publishing). R340 from Adams in Musgrave

This is not a book you buy someone for Christmas. This is a book you buy yourself ahead of Christmas if you are planning some serious entertaining over the festive season.
And if you don’t celebrate Christmas or hate it to the point you feel like self-harming every time you hear Bony M singing Jesus Was A Boy Child, there is still something for you here. Just think of it as entertaining made easy. A party book in other words.
In the forward to the book Ramsay says it’s in response to the many requests he’s had over the years for ideas about what food to serve at Christmas parties, how to cook the perfect roast turkey and what to do with leftovers.
I don’t believe that for a moment. I think Ramsay’s publishers wanted to make money and Christmas, which many of us feel sentimental about – seemed a good time to part his devotees from their hard-earned cash. Having got that off my chest, I would like to be fair and say there is much to enjoy in this book, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

Restaurants

LA BELLA – BEST PIZZAS

My delicious quattro stagioni pizza

SOMETIMES ALL YOU NEED IS A PIZZA TO MAKE THE WORLD FEEL A BETTER PLACE

La Bella Cafe
199 Stephen Dlamini Rd (formerly Essenwood), Durban
Call 031 201 9176
Open 6.30am to 11pm

I’m not a regular at La Bella Cafe, but I’ve seen enough to know it’s not a traditional Italian restaurant. There is no mama in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove, no papa greeting customers by name. In fact, La Bella is a somewhat impersonal venue and if there is anyone in charge – and course there must be – it’s not obvious. But on some level it seems to work. It’s big, bustly and cheerful and the food is good, sometimes really good, and it’s cheap. And they have been around long enough to have proven themselves.
Adding to their popularity is their cheap lunchtime and evening specials (Monday and Sunday nights), and events like quiz nights. And, in February this year, they won the Best Pizza in Durban vote by followers of the The Good, The Bad, The Nastyyyy. In fact they’re doing so well a second La Bella has opened in Durban North – address below.

Newer Posts
1
…
11
12
13
14
15
…
23
Older Posts