A gem hidden in the suburbs

Neighbourhood cafe and bar

Where: Beside Still Waters Boutique Hotel, 30 Braemar Ave, Glen Ashley

Open: Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday 7am to 4pm, Thursday to Saturday 7am to 9pm.

Call: 082 370 5225

Neighbourhood Cafe is a suburban charmer we didn’t know existed. The Glass Guy found it online - on my instructions to find something different, and interesting. And it fulfilled on both accounts.

It is a really lovely setting, a smart restaurant off a garden of a boutique hotel that’s strung with fairy lights and hung with twinkling lanterns. And yet from the road you would never know it was there. It would be a superb spot for a small wedding or one of those major birthdays. Friends, fun, foliage and lights.

On the one side is Gatvol coffee, another spot I’ve been meaning to get to. At least now I know where it is. 

We’re welcomed warmly but decided to sit inside - it had rained and looked like it might do so again. It’s comfortable and despite basically being a large open room, remarkably cosy.

And yes the menu is interesting too. It’s a small list, but does offer some things you won’t see elsewhere. 

So while there’s starters of chicken livers, crispy squid and spicy mussels mariniere, we eye the escargot puffs (R120). These were most enjoyable with the garlic snails served on pieces of puff pastry and topped with parmesan crumbs in a creamy white wine sauce. It was a big and incredibly rich dish, the white wine sauce almost a soup on which the puff pastry floated. We also shared the lamb liver parfait en croute (R80), a lovely silky smooth liver pate on top of ciabatta slices (rather than strictly en croute) and topped with pickled red onion, drunken sultanas and crispy onions. We were impressed.

There a re a couple of salads you could choose including one with prawns avo and jalapenos as well as soups that included bouillabaisse and vichyssoise.

Pastas include chorizo and almonds or lamb gnocchi or even French onion mac and cheese. There’s also a spicy lamb burger and truffled parmesan burger. 

Grills take in a range of steaks, lamb chops, and line fish and prawns. There’s also prawn curry and a Vietnamese calamari curry, which tempted.

The Glass Guy wanted to go light and decided to go the chicken route. There’s a chicken confit with confit potatoes and chicken butterscotch sauce. It sounded the most interesting if for no other reason than to see what chicken butterscotch sauce tasted like. Then there’s an Asian inspired peanut chicken, and a Tuscan variant on fettuccini. He went for the piccata (R160) at our waitress's suggestion. It came atop mash with a lemon and caper sauce and slithers of grilled parmesan zucchini. He enjoyed it, although admitted chicken will always be chicken.

I settled on the slow-braised brisket (R185) on mash with rocket pesto, horseradish aioli and more of those crispy onions. The brisket was meltingly tender and the horseradish and crispy onions lifted it nicely. 

We decided we could squeeze in a dessert - just. A chai masala creme brulee sounded good, especially to someone who likes cardamom. There’s a salted chocolate torte and a traditional tiramisu. Instead we opted to share another of our waitress’s suggestions - the citrus yoghurt cake (R75). This was a lovely moist sponge on a bed of yoghurt with citrus syrup drizzle and crumbled meringue. It was lovely in that it wasn’t too sweet.

Food: 3 ½

Service: 3 ½

Ambience: 3 ½

The Bill: R755