Con Amore luxury home decor store at the Station precinct in Umgeni road.

If you like your coffee full-bodied without the bitterness you’ll find it at this coffee bar at Con Amore.

How to spend your Sundays eating, shopping for home furnishing and drinking fine coffee.

Wake up most Sundays wondering how to spend your day? Well, here’s some ideas. It’s a given you probably  know about the Morning Market at the Station precinct off Umgeni road, but if you haven’t been there in a while, go. There’s always something new to see, buy or eat.  And here’s an extra incentive to visit. Con Amore a luxury home furnishing and decor store is right next door. It’s open Sundays. But, not only can you browse around the furnishings, but you can also buy a superb cup of coffee. And in the near future, noodles and sushi will be available.

If you’re new to the Morning Market, there’s plenty to buy from the deli stands, such as fresh fish, cheeses, artisan breads and cakes, mayonnaise and pates, biltong and more. If you’re there to eat, food stalls range from traditional Greek to Indian with some vegetarian options if that’s your bent. There’s also stands selling deliciouss home-made ice-creams, crepes with a variety of fillings, homemade lemonade and cold-pressed vegetable and fruit juices, craft beer and so on. So, basically, you can have breakfast there – delicious Scotch eggs or egg and bacon rolls are possibilities  – or lunch. Greek patties on a roll with Greek-style coleslaw and minted yoghurt is one suggestion, or try the burger truck parked outside the market, Turn-Off,  which serves their burgers with bacon and a cheese sauce made with nutmeg and wine. All this is topped with melted cheese and drizzled with other spicy sauces. Both styles of burgers are delicious and bring a touch of class to this homely food.
Next door, just opened is Con Amore, which is owned by two partners, Charles Kerr and Maria Cochrane. It’s an amazing space – as you can see in pictures above – and taps into the latest trend to take a warehouse and turn it into something cool and chic. Stuff is pricey though. Whew. But if you like your furnishing classic or retro Con Amore (which means with love) is the place for you. Also more contemporary options. In fact, many, many options. This space is huge.
But since this is a food and coffee site, here’s the real point to this posting. You can also buy fantastic coffee there which uses both Coffee Merchant and Costa Rica beans. The two guys serving coffee, Leon and Deon, are very knowledgeable. They prepare their coffee a little differently in that they serve a double-strength portion, which has been extracted for only 15 seconds as opposed to the normal 22/25 seconds. This way, they say, it has all the rich-bodied flavour of coffee without the bitterness. And it did too. What superb coffee. And if you look behind  Leon and Deon (really their names) you will see a wide open area. Coming to that space soon is a noodle bar and a sushi bar.  Seating will be at long tables al la Wagamama in London.
More will be revealed when we know all the details.  – Ingrid Shevlin, October 18, 2015