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....
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