The Bay Leaf

Since the beginning of the year the PE Coffee Crawlers have, for the most part, visited coffee shops in the Walmer and Summerstrand areas.  This past week we decided to head to the Kabega area at the opposite end of PE.  The Bay Leaf Bistro and Coffee Bar is the first shop we've been to in this part of town.  The Bay Leaf is located in the Metlife Plaza Shopping Centre next to Makro (for the benefit of my friends in the U.S., Makro is like Walmart or Target).

Well, all I can say is that it was good that the Crawlers arrived early and got a table because the shop got very busy very quickly.  Due to high winds on Thursday (no kidding,,, it's PE!!!) we chose to sit inside where there is available seating for sixty.  On a less windy day the outside patio area, which seats about fifty, would be quite pleasant.

Upon entering The Bay Leaf the thing I immediately noticed was the advertisement for Pavin Brand Italian coffee... another first for Thursday's Crawl.  After a year of Crawling, what a surprise for us to come across a brand of coffee we haven't had yet!  The Bay Leaf uses Pavin for the specialty coffee beverages and Sumatran Pride for their filter coffee.  Needless to say, with a new brand to be tasted, most everyone ordered cappuccinos, lattes or Americanos.  As for me I had to try one of each.  I also needed to order some Mozart cake just to keep the caffeine jitters in check! 

The decision to get the Mozart cake was extremely difficult as The Bay Leaf's baked goods display was "hands down" the most impressive we've seen to date!  All the cakes, pies, muffins and breads are made on site to owner Antonio Perreira's specs.  Besides the amazing pastries/breads, The Bay Leaf offers a full menu (breakfast, lunch, light dinner) menu for eat-in and a condensed version of the menu for take-away.  The staff also does catering for off-site functions as well as on-site special events.  A Sunday Roast Special for R49 with a free dessert is offered on Sundays for lunch.  The shop's hours will fit into everyone's busy schedules.... Mon-Thurs 8am-8pm,  Fri-Sat 8am-9pm,  Sun 8am-5pm.  So, have breakfast at The Bay Leaf before your shopping trip to Makro or get all your shopping done first and you'll still have plenty of time to pop over to The Bay Leaf for quick refreshments or dinner.

Meet the Owner
Antonio Perreira

Meet the Baristas
Maria and Chantel

My suspicion that Antonio had a "story" behind the shop's name was confirmed when I chatted with him and baristas Chantel and Maria after the Crawlers left.  The story goes that 20 years ago Antonio, in order to make some points with his future mother-in-law, asked his soon-to-be wife if a bay leaf plant would be an appropriate gift for her mother.  Well, 20 years later his mother-in-law's bay leaf tree and his marriage are both flourishing!  Hence, the name of this coffee shop that Antonio just opened in November, 2011.  Good luck, Antonio on your new business venture!

As Thursday's Crawlers, Beth Vieira, June Nash, Fran and Keith de Beer, Leanne Waller, Nomusa Nkomo, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Gail Darne, Jenny Fowler, Sylvia Mynhardt, gathered at The Bay Leaf we were all treated once again to the harvest from Nomusa's garden, this time in the form of tomatoes (to-mah-toes, whatever).  Thank you for sharing, Nomusa... you're spoiling us!

This Week's Crawlers
Nomusa, Jenny, Beth, Keith, Gail,
Fran, June, Stella, Beryl, Leanne, Sylvia

So, with the U.S. Presidential election process in full swing, the hot topic at my end of the table was U.S. and SA politics.  As with any political discussion there's never a shortage of opinions.  We then moved on to what is becoming a regular topic at the Crawl... books and authors.  Thursday's featured book was, "Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black" and other short stories, a collection of stories by Nobel Prize winning South African author, Nadine Gordimer.  Definitely an interesting read.  This one is on the must-read list for the Crawlers once The Elephant Whisperer  finishes making its rounds.  And the discussion as we were paying the bill and collecting our change.... SA car guards.  When Lou and I moved here the idea of car guards was "foreign" to us.  Now that we've been here a while we've grown accustomed to the services they provide like helping unload packages, taking your cart away, stopping cars and backing you out (not to mention watching your car).  During our most recent trip to NY I almost got hit by another car while I was pulling out of a parking spot at Walmart.  I thought, "Where's a good old fashioned car guard when you need one?"  Their services are certainly worth keeping change in my car for.

~Thank you to Antonio and staff for introducing us to Pavin brand coffee... oh, and the wonderful cake!
   I'll be stopping by soon to give you some bay leaves from my backyard tree!

~Happy Sadie Hawkins Day!!!

Until next week,

Ellen

Flavours

When I started this blog a year ago my friend from NY, Jackie, asked me if there were really enough coffee shops in PE to keep a blog going for a while.  I responded with a onfident and enthusiastic, "Yes," figuring "a while" meant six months... tops.  Well, as of last Thursday's Crawl to Flavours, the PE Coffee Crawlers have visited a year's worth of coffee shops.  That's right, 52 and counting!  Who would have thought?

Meet the Owners
Elmarie and Richard Moore

It's not typical for me to do a pre-Crawl scouting trip but when I was out and about early last week doing some errands I found myself in the vicinity of Flavours and decided to check it out.  I had a chance then to talk to owner, Richard Moore about the shop, tell him about the Crawl, and purchase some goodies to take home.  By the time Thursday's Crawl rolled around I was looking forward to a return trip to Flavours to spend some time enjoying a few Sumatran Pride cappuccinos with the Crawlers.

Fudge and cookies wrapped and ready to go!

Flavours is situated in the 17th Quarter on 17th Street in Walmer near GAME.  Richard Moore and his wife, Elmarie, started their bakery/confectionery business from their home a number of years ago.  They eventually outgrew their kitchen and so acquired the 17th Quarter shop from which they have worked for almost two years.  Their primary business is providing homemade fudge, cookies, muffins, scones, savory and sweet pies, and other baked goods to 80 stores in the PE area and as far east as East London and west to Mossel Bay.  Richard and Elmarie operate Flavours Coffee Shop on the premises as well.  The coffee shop's menu includes breakfasts, light lunches, and a variety of hot and cold beverages.  The shop's hours are Mon-Fri, 9-5 and Sat, 9-4.

Along with the bakery, confectionery, and coffee shop the Moores also make lovely gift baskets for all occasions.  Just stop by the shop, choose items from the store's selection of preserves made at local farms, gifts/curios/stationery creations made by talented local artisans, and Flavours' sweets and baked goods to include in a basket, and let Richard and Elmarie do the rest.  With Easter just around the corner one of these beautiful baskets would be the perfect hostess gift.



Meet the Barista
Monique

This Week's Crawlers
Stella, Beryl, June, Beth, Nomusa, Fran
Catherine, Margaret, Keith, Terry
not pictured: Leanne

The Coffee Crawl usually starts at 9:30 on Thursday mornings.  This past Thursday I needed to buy electricity, and make stops at the bank and post office before the Crawl.  So, anticipating heavy traffic and long lines, I left the house way early so as to make it to the Crawl on time.  Well, light traffic and no lines got me to Flavours early...just as the shop was opening.  Margaret Zoetmulder and family members visiting from the UK, Catherine MacFarland and Terry Murphy, were already there and waiting for me.  We were quickly joined by June Nash, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Fran and Keith de Beer, Beth Vieira, Nomusa Nkomo and Leanne Waller.  By 9:30 our barista, Monique, was busy prepping coffees/teas, and Richard was taking orders for breakfast.  The No-Food-On-The-Crawl rule is becoming a distant memory!  While others took advantage of the R15 coffee/muffin special, I took the recommendation of the SA'ns at the table and ordered roosterkoek with jam and cheese... delicious!  My favorite at Flavours, though, are the Hertzog cookies.  If you like coconut with a hint of apricot, these are phenomenal!  I bought some to take home since I finished off the ones I bought earlier in the week.... I see more gym time in my future!

Cappuccino and Hertzog cookies



Cappuccino and Roosterkoek





With a year of Crawls under our belts, Thursday's Crawlers shared stories about all the shops we've visited.  A few have closed and a few we wish would close....   We've met many interesting owners/baristas, had a lot of laughs, enjoyed great coffee and conversation, and made memories that I, for one, will truly cherish. 


~Happy Birthday to Crawler, Beryl Dawson (Feb 22)
~Thank you to Richard and Elmarie Moore and the Flavours' staff
~Thank you to the coffee shop entrepreneurs of PE for providing a year's worth of awesome venues for the
   PE Coffee Crawl
~Thank you to Keith for emailing me a recipe for Hertzog cookies.... with Flavours just down the street I
   won't need to try the recipe until we move back to NY!
~Jackie, when you come to visit I'll give you the choice of where to go for coffee....oh sorry... tea!

Until next week,

Ellen

Linga Longa Cafe

One of my fondest memories from my childhood is my mother singing the "oldies" (1910s - 1940s) as she  went about her daily activities of managing a household and raising seven awesome children.  She always seemed to be singing or humming something, and I think oftentimes she didn't even realize she was doing it.  One of her favorites was the 1937 Gershwin song, "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off."  As a kid I just thought of it as the "po-ta-to, po-tah-to, to-ma-to, to-mah-to" song.

Meet the Cook, Owner, and Barista
Cleo, Pat and Sylvia

Last Thursday, upon entering Linga Longa Cafe I met owner, Pat de Kock, and she and I got to chatting about the shop.  When I asked what inspired the name "Linga Longa" she said it was the name of a restaurant that she and her husband, Mike, frequented while living in Gaborone, Botswana.  Figuring it meant something in Tswana (official language of Botswana) I asked Pat more about it.  Well, this led to one of those exchanges where each conversant is following a different train of thought from the other.  It took a few minutes before I realized that "Linga Longa" is just the South African accent phonetic spelling of "Linger Longer" .... po-ta-to, po-tah-to, to-ma-to, to-mah-to....  No one else in Thursday's Crawl group seemed to suffer from the same confusion!

Once I got the cafe's name all sorted Pat briefed me on a management change at Linga Longa.  As of this past weekend Pat and Mike passed the torch to Pat's son, George Foley, who is now the shop's owner/manager/chef.  Pat and Mike are pursuing a new business opportunity as managers of the Savoy Hotel in Umtata.  Good luck with this new venture!!!

The brother-sister Linga Longa team
Merelda and George

So, more about Linga Longa Cafe....
The shop is located in the Mercado Centre, 1527 Strandfontein Rd. in Summerstrand.  Pat and Mike opened Linga Longa in April, 2011 with the idea of running a dual purpose establishment, that being a coffee shop and off-site catering business.  Over the past number of months, Pat's daughter, pastry chef Merelda Foley, has added specialty cakes/cupcakes to the business as well.  Merelda has been busy with wedding, birthday and other special occasion cake orders.  Decorating Valentine's cakes kept her hopping on Thursday... check out the pic....beautiful!

Merelda's Valentine Cake



Merelda and her Africa Cake creation



Along with Merelda's cakes and Masterton's coffee beverages prepared by Barista Sylvia, Linga Longa's menu includes breakfasts, light lunches and home-cooked hot meals.  A special Sunday roast for only R45 is served on Sunday afternoons 12-2.  Everything on the menu is available for eat-in, take-away, or off-site catered events.  Also available are party platters and kids' platters.  So many options!  If you choose to eat-in, Linga Longa's hours are 9am-7pm daily.  Patrons can enjoy FREE WiFi on the premises as well as a large screen television with DSTV in the upstairs lounge area. 

Not into computer or TV?... No problem, Linga Longa has an assortment of board games available for customers' use... Rummikub, Scrabble, Backgammon, Trivial Pursuit and more!  After my chat with Pat and on my way to join the Crawlers at the table I happened to eye a Backgammon board perched on a shelf.  I figured I'd get a few games in while enjoying my coffee.  Well, no one at the table knew how to play.  Gail was up for learning, though, and after a few games I think she's hooked.  I love Backgammon and am looking forward to playing someone besides my husband.  He and I have had an ongoing Backgammon tournament for 30-plus years and I believe I'm winning something like 8,365,246 to 8,365,244!

This Week's Crawlers
Beryl, Gail, Jenny, Stella, Keith, Nomusa, Fran, Les

So, after the Backgammon tutorial, this week's Crawlers, Gail Darne, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Jenny Fowler, Les Baldwin, Nomusa Nkomo, and Fran and Keith de Beer, decided to break out the Trivial Pursuit game and just ask questions from the cards.  I never realized how many questions about South Africa are in the game.  I was at a major disadvantage... oh, until Keith found a Scrabble question... right up my alley!  The following dialogue ensued....
     Keith:  "In Scrabble, how many points does the word 'JAW' get on a double word score?"
     Ellen:   (mentally calculating)  J=8, A=1, W=4       13x2=26
     Ellen:   "That would be 26."
     Keith:  "Wrong, it's 20."
     Ellen:   "WHAT?!?   ARE YOU CRAZY? ;  J=8, A=1, W=4 ;  13x2=26"
     Keith:  "Ellen, the word is 'JAW.'"
     Ellen:   "I know... 'JAW'"
     Keith:  "No, 'JAW'"
     Ellen:   "Yeah, 'JAW'"
...and as all the Crawlers started to see (hear) what was happening.....
     Keith:  "Ellen, the word is 'JAW'.... J--A--R."
...cue the Gershwin tune....
    ".....po-ta-to, po-tah-to, to-ma-to, to-mah-to...... Let's Call the Whole Thing Off......

~Thank you to Pat and Mike, George and Merelda - We all had a great time at Linga Longa!
~Happy Valentine's Day to all!!!
~Happy Birthday #24 to my son, Jeff!!!
~Apologies to my sisters who will now have po-ta-toh, po-tah-to, etc stuck in their heads for a few days!

Until next week,

Ellen








comocaffe... New York Deli

Taken on our afternoon game drive at Amakhala

When I started this blog in Feb, 2011 I was very good about getting each coffee shop posted within a day or two of our visit.  In July/August my posts were getting pushed out later which I blamed on the fact that my daughter, Liz, was visiting.  Once September rolled around I found that I had no late post excuses except that "real life" gets in the way.  So, here I am, close to a week after our Wed., Feb 1 Crawl with some "real life" reasons why I didn't post earlier:
             1) Thurs-Fri - overnight at Amakhala Game Reserve- great game sightings and awesome coffee
             2) Sat - power failure...TIA
             3) Sun - watching the Super Bowl XLII (NY Giants/NE Patriots) rerun and the Super Bowl
                          XLVI Pre-game show
             4) Mon - Since we had to record the Super Bowl XLVI (NY Giants/NE Pats ... again!) I didn't get
                            on the computer all day for fear of finding out who won the game before I had a chance
                            to watch it on Monday night.  (Thanks, Jeff, for not texting me with the results!)

It was  a nail biter of a game with the NY Giants winning 21-17!  WooHoo!!!!...... and NY celebrates!

Another great NY story can be found right here in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa, that being the January 22, 2012 opening of comocaffe... New York Deli located at 86 Heugh Rd. in Walmer.  There could not have been a better venue for Coffee Crawl #50!  Owner Minas Mandis spent a few years in New York City (NYC) and, upon returning to SA, decided to bring a bit of The Big Apple to PE.  Well Minas, you nailed it.....the furnishings, decor, Little Italy theme, amazing menu, deli and bagels... the pentultimate NY deli!  comocaffe is named after Lago di Como (Lake Como) situated in the Northern Lakes District in Italy near the Swiss border.  Along with a wall painting of the famous NYC skyline, adorning the walls of the shop are fun maps of Italy and large framed photos of NYC brought here directly from NY.  Minas' attention to detail makes this shop so authentic.  Even the ellipsis in the logo consists of a basil leaf, a mozzarella ball and a tomato in the colors of the Italian flag... brilliant!!!

Meet the Owners
Minas and Ari

Meet the Waitress and Barista
Lee-anne and Sisa

comocaffe is sandwiched between Gates to Africa Leather Furniture and The Cotton Mill Interiors, both owned and operated by Minas' brother, Ari.  The shop's hours are Tues-Fri, 7:30am - 6:30pm and Sat-Sun, 8:30 - 4:00.  The menu includes breakfast (served weekdays until 11:30), and a wide variety of sandwiches, burgers, salads, antipasti, dips and desserts.  Liz, when you come to visit in June you may find the "Hell's Kitchen" burger worth investigating.  Everything on the menu looked so tempting that for the third week in a row a number of the Crawlers broke the No-Food-On-The-Crawl rule.  I had the Apple Pear Crumble with Caramel Sauce...delizioso!  We all kept our waitress, Lee-anne hopping and she she was all service with a smile.  I am definitely planning a return visit to comocaffe to check out the Weekend Brunch Special (Sat-Sun, 9:00-2:30) which includes a complimentary Bloody Mary or Mimosa.  What a way to get the weekend started!




This Week's Crawlers
Tolla, Sylvia, Keith, Stella, Beryl, June,
Leanne, Gail, Fran, Belinda, Maureen, Nomusa



Sisa demonstrating his barista skills



With all this talk of food I haven't even mentioned the coffee.  Our barista on Wednesday was none other than PE Barista Champ, Sisa, who we met a number of months ago.  He was as amazing as ever as he demonstrated his skills tableside again for us.  My LavAzza cappuccino was incredible as was the iced caramel macchiato I ordered because it was hot..hot..hot on Wednesday.  Sisa is competing in the SA National Barista Competition in March in Cape Town.  Good luck, Sisa!!!

As was mentioned earlier, our visit to comocaffe was PE Coffee Crawl #50!  Joining me to celebrate the occasion were Gail Darne, Nomusa Nkomo, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Sylvia Mynhardt, Fran and Keith de Beer, June Nash, Leanne Waller, Belinda Waller, Tolla and Maureen Koetze.  Nomusa came bearing gifts for the Crawlers in the form of granadillas (passion fruit) from her garden/orchard...yummy.  Thank you, Nomusa!

Talk at the table ended up mostly being about how much we all liked comocaffe.... oh, and chocolate.  Speaking of "liking,"...., Minas asks all (Crawlers and Readers alike) to please "like" his shop on Facebook <facebook.com/comocaffe>     All I can say to that, Minas, is that it is too bad there's not a "love it" on facebook!

~Thank you to Minas, Sisa and Lee-anne for making Crawl #50 a memorable one!
~Thank you to all the Crawlers for making the first 50 Crawls so much fun.  Here's to 50 more!
~Thank you to Kerry and Steve at Amakhala Game Reserve... tremendous game drives!
~Congrats to Super Bowl XLVI Champs, the NY Giants!

Until next week,

Ellen