I had a fortuitous meeting while tucking into a delicious bunny chow at Little Gujarat, while on my Durban curry mission. Three guys sat down next to me with steaming rotis and we started chatting about curry. When they found out I was doing foodie explorations around Durban, they offered their services to me. Richard Powell, Sthembiso Mbonambi and Jonas Barausse run Street Scene Tours, which offers alternative tours of Durban and its surrounds. They’re all really into the Durban food scene, so they were keen to take me on a tour of their favourite Durbs foodie spots.
The day after my curry mission I set off with Jonas and Richard for the tour, starting off at Colombo Coffee for a cup of java. I had the best red cappuccino I think I’ve ever had, while Richard and Jonas sampled one of Colombo’s fragrant roasts. Richard and Jonas reckon Colombo is the spot in Durban for coffee, and it’s a bit of a well-kept secret. While Colombo has been running for over 90 years and imports a lot of the coffee drunk in restaurants and coffee bars around Durban, not that many Durbanites know about this wonderfully-scented coffee warehouse.
Next it was off to the beautiful Valley of 1000 Hills, a twenty minute drive out of Durban to do a chutney, cheese and beer tasting at the Valley of 1000 Hills Chef School. The chef school only opened its deli a couple of months ago, so it’s not yet on the beaten foodie track, but I’m sure it soon will be. With lots of talented chef students around, they produce a fabulous array of pickles. jams, curds, chutneys, cheese and home-brewed beer. We tasted all of those as well as gorgeous buttery croissants that had just come out of the oven (the morning lesson’s work). Quills’ Beer is currently only available at the chef school and I would really recommend going for a tasting and getting a few bottles (R20 each or R15 if you buy a case). I particularly enjoyed the stout and the Red Karoo – no weird ingredients, no chemicals, just natural stuff (apparently that means you get less of a hangover).
We wound our way back to Durban, stopping in briefly at the perennially popular Sprigs in Kloof. This is a Melissa’s kind of vibe: a deli with ready-made meals and speciality ingredients, as well as lovely baked treats, and a lunch buffet table laden with wholesome delicious-looking salads, quiches, and pies.
Lunch for us wasn’t at Sprigs, however. Richard had enthused about Cafe 1999 all morning (in his opinion, Durban’s best restaurant) so that’s where we headed for our midday meal. It’s an unassuming place from the outside, overlooking a parking lot in Musgrave but the food and service more than make up for it. Richard had been raving about the stuffed olives all morning, so we had to try them. They were orgasmically delicious: ricotta-stuffed calamata olives deep fried and served with coriander mayonnaise. Yum. We had prawn ‘lollipops’ and stuffed peppadews for other tapas options, and while everyone else tucked into delicious-looking gravy soaked impala, I had a light grilled calamari salad with couscous, avo and roast peppers – the perfect dish for light lunch (I was still recovering from seven curries in one day).
Our last stop of the day was at the Corner Cafe. This eco-friendly restaurant serves breakfast (apparently green eggs and ham, welsh rarebit and egg with toast soldiers are the dishes to go for) and lunches (toasted sourdough sandwiches and highly recommended ‘man salad’ – biltong, lentils and roasted veg), great coffee and cakes. The milk tart and the baked cheesecake both looked great so I had to get the two of them (hey, it’s in the name of work).
If I lived in Durban the Corner Cafe would definitely be the place I’d hang out at a lot. It’s the kind of place where you come for long lazy breakfasts, equally long and lazy lunches and extended tea-and-cake sesssions, and I imagine it would also be a great place to bring your Apple Macbook and do some work over endless coffee if you’re one of those creative types without an office.
Most of all though I love the real eco-commitment the Corner Cafe adheres to. Many other restaurants do ‘the green thing’ as a kind of token effort or to superficially fit in with a current pervasive green trendiness. But having their own veggie and herb garden out back that supplies the restaurant (and is also watered with grey water), a wormery fed with organic waste from the restaurant, and only serving food made with seasonal ingredients make this the real deal.
And so, that was that: Durban food in a day. Of course there’s a lot more to Durban food than that, but we only had a day. I need to come back for a month to try all the foodie spots!
Jonas and Richard were great guides. They are passionate about this eclective, vibey, arty city and they are so enthusiastic about sharing their city with others. They’re knowledgeable (they kept up a running commentary about architecture, art and history while we drove through Durban), laid-back, friendly and willing to accommodate people. Next time you’re in Durbs, don’t miss taking an alternative city tour with Street Scene Tours.
Street Scene Tours also offer tours outside of Durban and will soon be running a gourmet trip through the Midlands Meander. Check out their website for more details about their tours.
Colombo Coffee
Address: 369 Gale Street
Tel 031-205-3283
Valley of 1000 Hills Chef School
Address: Wooton Avenue, Hillcrest
Tel 031-777-1566
Sprigs
Address: Fields Shopping Centre, Kloof
Tel 031-764-6031
Cafe 1999
Address: Silvervause Centre, corner of Silverton and Vause Roads, Berea
Tel 031-202-3406
Corner Cafe
Address: Corner Brand and Cromwell Roads, Glenwood
Tel 031-201-0219
