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