Port Elizabeth Coffee Crawl: Park Lane Cafe

Did you ever have one of those days when a nice surprise catches you off guard? Well, this past Sunday, while driving around exploring the Addo Elephant National Park area, Lou and I stumbled upon the Zuurberg section of the park. We stopped, had a bite to eat, then set out for what we thought would be a quick jaunt around the vicinity. We ended up on a four hour hike which included river crossings, beautiful scenery, and game sightings (some of which were too close for comfort!). The nice surprise came, however, toward the end of the hike when Lou's cell phone signaled that he had a new text message. The message was from our son, Jeff (the "retired barista" Jeff) informing us that he had a few weeks to kill and wanted to come visit us in South Africa! This adds "spontaneous" to my list of adjectives to describe Jeff. So, that was Sunday evening....we picked Jeff up at the airport here in PE on Wednesday evening. Jeff's first order of business, after getting settled in at our house, was to join me Thursday morning for the coffee crawl (despite feeling somewhat jet-lagged after a 30 hour trip...you're the man, Jeff!).

This week's crawl took us to Park Lane Cafe at 7 Park Lane in Central. I decided to visit this shop because Heather, a PE Coffee Crawl blog reader, suggested it in her comment on Foong's (see comments for April 7 crawl). I figured Heather must be Park Lane's owner, barista, or a staff member, but it turns out she is just a real fan of the cafe. That's good news for Grant Houzet. Obviously, Grant has a loyal fan base after owning the shop for only five months. He and finacee, Edelweiss van Rensburg, who happens to be Park Lane's chief cook, have done a major renovation of what was previously a curry house. The place is now a tastefully decorated, three room cafe. One of the rooms is the perfect setting for small conferences. I just love the high back leather chairs and very cool coffee pics adorning the walls. Edelweiss tells me that Park Lane has become a favorite of the staff of nearby St. George's Hospital as well as some of the local book clubs.

This week's crawlers, Beth Vieira, Fran and Keith de Beer, Nomusa Nkomo, my son, Jeff, and I enjoyed the Park Lane Cafe so much on Thursday that we all ordered a second round. Our waitress, Mantho, served us a secret Park Lane Blend coffee, the recipe of which is known only to Grant. He did, however, divulge that the blend includes 40% of an Ethiopian coffee. I must say, Grant, that whatever your secret is, you nailed it!!! Joining us also this week via text messages was June Nash. She was enjoying a cappuccino in Cape Town at the same time. She made sure to mention to us that the weather there was beautiful knowing that it was probably raining in PE. Of course it was, June...thanks for rubbing it in!

With this being Jeff's first visit to the African continent, the conversation around the table was a crash course in South African culture...languages, rugby, and biltong. After learning some inappropriate words in Afrikaans, Jeff tried to learn some words in Xhosa. The Xhosa clicks still elude me, but after a quick lesson form the Park Lane staff, Jeff was catching on to it. Nomusa also gave him a lesson in her native Zimbabwean language as well. Jeff''s already somewhat familiar with rugby so that leaves biltong...what?!?
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, biltong is like jerky in the U.S. (btw, Jeff tried some kudu biltong today-Saturday the 21st, and loved it!) At the table Jeff and I also toasted to my grandson/Jeff's nephew, Alexander, who turned two years old on Thursday. Happy Birthday, Alexander!!!!!!!

The "No Food On The Crawl" rule was broken again on Thursday. Jeff ordered an egg on toast breakfast. Well, I couldn't have him eating all alone, so I ordered a raisin / coconut muffin. What a mother will do for her son! The muffin was excellent... my compliments to the chef. To top off the morning, Jeff and I stopped by Sweet Somethings, a cupcakery that shares the same address with Park Lane Cafe. We bought one each of Thursday's cupcake specials. It's a good thing that Jeff and I went to the gym later in the day.

Lots of thank you's this week-
*Thank you to Park Lane's hospitable owner, Grant, and his fiancee, Edelweiss... you have a great coffee shop! Best wishes on your new business venture.
*Thank you to Heather for suggesting Park Lane to me
*Thank you to this week's crawlers for making my son feel so welcome
*Thank you to my blog readers for being patient.....

Until next week,

Ellen