Smart takes on food, coffee & service

Food News

URBAN REGENERATION AT 8 MORRISON STREET

Firebird Coffee Works, one of tenants at 8 Morrison Street. Picture courtesy of The Coffee Mag

Firebird Coffee Works, one of tenants at 8 Morrison Street. Picture courtesy of The Coffee Mag

The outside of 8 Morrison Street. Picture courtesy of Propertuity

8 Morrison Street was launched with much fanfare in 2014. Its brief was to offer an affordable platform to young, local creatives.    

8 Morrison Street is alive, but is it well?
The regenerated warehouse in Durban’s Rivertown Precinct is an amazing space architecturally, and its launch during the Architects’ World Conference in 2014 made sound sense.
After all, it was intended to form part of the city’s urban regeneration programme in certain areas, of which Rivertown is one.
The creation of small pods (shops) along the sides and on the mezzanine floor of 8 Morrison was aimed at offering  young, local artists, crafters and other creative people the opportunity to showcase their work, and make a living. It was a brilliant plan. It is a beautiful space and many young creatives simply can’t afford the rent at more commercially-driven properties.
So what’s wrong with this picture?

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Restaurants

PREP ROOM WILL MEET MOST CULINARY NEEDS

The Prep Room, a restaurant in the making

The Prep Room, a restaurant in the making

Restaurateur Judd Campbell is back and he has something new and different up his chef’s sleeves

Trust Judd Campbell to come up with something different for his new restaurant. Okay, so using shipping containers isn’t new. Look at what Freedom Cafe did with their containers.
But it is how Judd and his architect put the five containers together that makes it different. Quirky. And fun.
And it’s where he has located his restaurant that makes it something totally new and different.

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Restaurants

BREAKFAST LIKE A KING: THE BEREA

Panoramic view of the Arts Cafe

Panoramic view of the Arts Cafe

BEST FOR BREAKFAST: From Glenwood to Morningside. If you prefer to breakfast like a king there is where you can expect to be treated like royalty on the Berea 

Durban’s Berea, an area which stretches from Howard College to Burman Bush,  is full of gracious family homes, which reflect the elegant architecture of  Victorian and Edwardian eras, with oregon pine flooring mellowed to gold, high ceilings and cooling verandahs. Many parts of the Berea also offer panoramic views of Durban’s coastline.
But the Berea is rich, too, in Art Deco architecture. Examples include the Memorial Tower on the UKZN campus, Berea Court on Berea Road, Cheviot Court in Musgrave Road and Surrey Mansions in Currie Road. Find out more from the Durban Art Deco Society’s Facebook page.
The Berea (which is, apparently, ancient Greek for place that is well-watered) also boasts a lively hospitality industry with many restaurants taking advantage of Durban’s all-year-round balmy weather to offer outdoor seating in lush surrounds. Add good food, deeply satisfying coffee and you have a winning combination for breakfast.
All these restaurants below offer good breakfasts, pretty surrounds and outdoor eating.

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recipe books

REAL MEAL REVOLUTION, WHERE BUTTER IS KING

Butter and other animal fats are at the heart of Tim Noak'es banting diet

Butter and other animal fats are at the heart of Tim Noake’s Banting diet

Tim Noake’s book The Real Meal Revolution, offers all you need to know about the Banting diet and includes banting recipes – one of which is featured below. Buy from Adams Booksellers.

Reviewing The Real Meal Revolution: Changing the world one meal at a time by Prof Tim Noakes, nutritionist Sally-Ann Creed and chefs Jonno Proudfoot and David Grier, is a bit like trying to review the Bible. It’s almost a sacrilege and Banting devotees are so vociferous when it comes to promoting it – or defending it against criticism – that it’s best not to take them on.
Although I started out as a sceptic I’m less so after reading the book – although far from being a devotee. And the recipes will appeal, whatever your eating preferences.
So, if you want to know more about the diet and what’s in this one-stop Banting Bible, read on. It’s long, I admit, but I’ve broken it down into subsections so you can dip in and out as you please. And I hope you do.
It’s available at Adams for R310, which is not bad when you consider it’s 200 pages and packed with glossy illustrations.

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Asian restaurants

THE ‘NEW’ FREEDOM CAFE

Asian broth

Pork wontons in tom yum broth

Freedom Cafe
40 St Mary’s Avenue, Greyville
Call: 031 309 4453

Freedom Cafe is alive and well with a new menu and a newly revamped interior.
Following Lucy Markewicz’s departure to focus her energies on the Cake Lab and the Renegade Kitchen, Neil Roake took up the reins again of the restaurant he opened some years back, and which has won design awards.
But it’s essentially still the same uber stylish venue that was born from a collaboration between Neil Roake, founder and creative director of Durban ad agency, Modern Museum, and the awesomely talented Greg and Roche Dry of Egg Designs.
Neil is also a foodie, having authored six books on food. After outsourcing Freedom Cafe to Lucy for four years, he’s just relaunched it.
On Saturday I lunched there with my partner in Shrewd Food, Meleney Cunniff and Lucy Markewicz herself, all three of us eager to put the new menu to the tongue-tip test – and left happy after a long, relaxing lunch. 

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