Superette, Cape Town, South Africa

My friend Catherine, who was the first "guest" in our Quest for the Perfect Brunch wanted to make sure my visit to Cape Town would not go off-the-record. So, she took me to Superette, a cool, trendy and worth of NYC's Soho cafe located in the up and coming neighborhood of Woodstock, one of Cape Town's oldest suburbs (about 4km from the city centre).

In South Africa, brunch happens on Saturdays, and Superette makes sure you start your weekend with a breakfast that is all about eggs (boiled, poached, scrambled, fried), French toasts and delicious -albeit too strong for my

taste!- coffee. Accordingly, Catherine and I both had a variation of the same dish (although the menu was extensive and creative; by no means our boring choices should discourage you to visit!- such a pity that they don't post the menus online, as I don't remember the other options...): eggs (fried for me; boiled for her), butter-goldened toast and meat (moist and tender bacon for her; peppered ham for me), with a side of arugula (rocket for the locals) lightly dressed with vinaigrette and peppercorns. By now maybe you realized I actually ordered a Croque Madame (so there was also cheese in it), which they very kindly brought without the Bechamel sauce, despite a large sign asking for no changes in the orders as the kitchen was too small and busy

to fulfill all requests. All this was brought in the cutest plates, with hand-painted phrases and drawings on them...

To summarize, the food was really good. In addition, the space is sunny, there are complimentary newspapers, the staff is friendly but non-intrusive and the general atmosphere invites one to relax and enjoy the weekend. I have not been to other brunches in Cape Town, but I have blind faith in Catherine's good taste and gastronomic expertise; if she says this is the perfect Cape brunch, it probably is.

The Veranda Cafe, Mtubatuba, South Africa

Two weekends ago, the quest for the perfect brunch took me to the town of Mtubatuba (about 15,000 inhabitants), in the middle of the South African sabana. Who would have thought that in between the lions-filled game reserves and mud houses one would find this lovely English countryside-style cafe hidden inside the town's plant nursery?

The menu is equally unexpected, with Italian-style cappuccinos -finished with brown sugar on top-, American-style corn breads (with scrambled eggs on top; Erofili's choice) and strawberry milkshakes (Sebastian's choice), as well as savory muffins (James' choice) served with bacon, cheese and jam.

I went with bacon and avocado sandwich; a bruschetta filled

with at least one large sliced avocado and what looked like five ounces of thickly cut, moist and decadent bacon. As a side I had "Greek" salad: a local favorite, simply consisting of lettuce, tomato, carrots and feta cheese (you can also opt for the "French" option, sans the cheese).

The main "con" of the place is that since the kitchen is so small and does not have a huge clientele (mostly for the tiny Africans population, or foreigners) they have a very limited supply of ingredients and run out of them fairly quickly. I

was told I should be honored that there was some bacon (avos were in season), as whenwe asked for flapper jacks, muffins other than James' or fruit juices there were none left -or in stock-.

Despite this minor setback -better fresh food and just made than with tons of preservatives and coming straight from the freezer!-, I think the idea of the place is beautiful; delicious yet simple food surrounded by exotic vegetation in the shop's prettily decorated veranda. This is possible the perfect brunch... if only it were closer to home....

Island Creek Oyster Bar, Kenmore Sq., Boston, MA

 Did you say Oysters for Brunch? I'm game!

A few days ago (actually, ages ago, but we are still trying to catch up and go back to normal blogging mode after our unexpected break), we decided to try a rather new cool place in Kenmore Sq. It is called Island Creek Oyster Bar (ICOB, from now on). The name comes from the infamous local oysters (Island Creek) that are produced in Duxbury, MA. They are certainly the more popular type of oysters you'll find in the Boston area. However, you shouldn't be fooled as IC oysters are just the tip of the iceberg at ICOB...

First off, I should say that oysters and brunch are a match made in heaven. If you don't appreciate this as a self evident truth, as, say, human rights, you have no business reading a Brunch Blog :). In any case, if you do enjoy oysters and brunch, ICOB is the place to go.

This establishment is decorated in a very post-modern fashion that makes you feel as one of the cool kids in school. Although, I have not been to ICOB for drinks or dinner, it looks like the kind of place to see and be seen.

The menu is quite nice and it is prepared especially each day. Although they print the menu, it simulates a handwritten list of items you might find in a local clam shack in New England; very clever. Although they offer many different dishes, the indisputable highlight of the menu is the great offer of oysters. I won't go into a comprehensive description of each kind of oyster, so you should probably go there and try them for yourself. Needless to say, we opened our brunch excursion with a selection of a few different types of oysters.

Being the case that ICOB is set up as a bar, they offer many interesting drinks. I decided to go with a Clamato (Tomato juice mixed with clam juice!) Bloody Mary while Ana had some sort of sophisticated  Mimosa. Although the drinks looked impressive on paper, they were nothing to write home about. In particular, the Clamato Bloody Mary here can't rival the wonderful self-serve bar (which includes clamato) at East Coast Grill.

After our drinks and oysters arrived we did not see much of the waiter for the next 40 minutes. After having a nice chat with the manager, she apologized and said our entrees would be on the house. Not only that, she brought over some wonderful crab cakes so we could wait for our dishes with a happy stomach. All in all, we felt we were being taken care of, although we did not catch a single glimpse of our waiter for the rest of our meal.

So, what did we order? I could not resist to order the Oysters Benedict. They were fantastic. They consisted of English muffins with a layer of Spinach, topped by fried oysters with Hollandaise sauce. Yummy. Although, the dish was awesome as it was, I could not help feeling nostalgic about the missing poached eggs... To my great embarrassment, Ana order a Seafood free dish. Some sort of grilled cheese sandwich (which tasted great, I have to say) coupled with Sriracha fries. If you have never tried Sriracha, let me educate you. It is some form of  VERY hot sweet and sour thai version of ketchup. Delicious, yet devilishly hot and spicy. Although I love this sort of thing, it is still a mystery to me why Ana would order such a thing...

I have to say that, in spite of the uninspiring drinks and the absent minded waiter, I had a great time at ICOB. Their cool decor and impressive oyster menu more than make up for any issue we may have experienced. I am sure that, next time we have an oyster brunch craving, we'll put ICOB at the top of our list.

Cafe Crespin, Buenos Aires, Argentina

One of the most famous Argentine tangos sings "The afternoons in Buenos Aires have this... well, you know". And Horacio Ferrer (the lyricist)'s lack of words was spot on: you cannot describe Buenos Aires, only live it. So, I will do my best to write about our Sunday brunch while visiting family and friends in Argentina's capital, but my honest recommendation is to stop reading, start planning a trip down there, and see for yourself!

First, let me state the obvious: we haven't posted for about three months, and some of you might have wondered whether we had given up on our quest for the perfect brunch. We did suffer a minor setback: I tore my left ACL and meniscus in late December and underwent surgery for it a couple of days after our last posting. Then I was on crutches for almost a month, with Boston's lovely winter weather to help me through. So, we stayed at home (we may have had some home-brunches courtesy of S&S in the meantime, but nothing worthy to blog about!) with my leg raised until the Argentine trip.

That's why we were very eager to resume our quest with a bang. We queried our Argentine friends about perfect Buenos Aires brunch spots, and after some debate we decided to go with Pamela and Juan's recommendation: Cafe Crespin, in Villa Crespo. Cafe Crespin is located at the corner of two relatively quiet streets, in (according to the tourism marketing lingo) Palermo Queens, which has not yet been the victim of the tourist hostile takeover that neighboring Palermo Soho has suffered in the last few years. So, if you are around and want to know what beautiful Palermo Soho looked like before it turned into a -granted, posh, trendy and cool- open-air mall, head South-West about 10 blocks, grab a complimentary Sunday newspaper and enjoy brunch a la Buenos Aires.

We first sat inside Crespin, with diner-style decor -white tiles, open kitchen, long bar- except for the wooden tables and chairs, that remind you you are, after all, in a Buenos Aires cafe. When Pamela and Juan arrived they suggested we moved to one of the sidewalk tables; better suited for a party of six (Tommy and Pedro, Pame and Juan's lovely and well-behaved 4 and 1 year old sons, joined us). Sidewalk tables in Buenos Aires are exactly that: no rope or fence or veranda; people walking their dogs, doing their grocery shopping and parking their cars walk by or stop next to your table. Might be intrusive if you are a "glass half-empty" kind of person, but perfect for people watching and enjoying the Sunday morning atmosphere if your glass is always full.

The main drawback of Cafe Crespin's brunch is that there is no menu, just a fixed plate with some variations: coffee OR tea + Mimosa + a pastry (cinnamon bun or lemon poppy seed pound cake or brownie) + French Toast with berries preserver and creme fraiche + scrambled egg (too runny for my taste) + three slices of salmon gravlax OR a side of bacon + homefries. The good news is that every single item is absolutely delicious, fresh and lavishly served.

We ordered three combinations for the six of us, plus extra coffees and a mango and passion fruit shake (incredibly refreshing and with a great texture, as the passion fruit seeds were crushed in the glass instead of strained out). It was more than plenty. Initially, Diego and I thought it was too expensive (about 19 usd per brunch). But it is so abundant, that it is impossible not to share it, making it a very good brunch outing.

So, was this the perfect brunch? I guess the lack of options would eventually drive me crazy if I went there frequently. And it doesn’t have any “Argentine” twists…. But it is affordable, tasty, on a quintessential Buenos Aires neighborhood, and –this is very important- our best friends were there with us. So, it was perfect for that particular Sunday, although we will probably try another place next time….