Travelling the leafy suburbs of Jo'burg can be hungry work.
Stop in at Craighall's Burnside's Café next time you're in the area to
experience homegrown hospitality and a unique, wholesome take on great food.
With its wide veranda set back from the road, facing a neat
garden, Burnside's feels like a country lodge and is the epitome of simple
elegance, with white clothed tables and vases with simple fresh flowers widely
spaced apart to ensure your table is private.
Burnside's is the perfect spot to enjoy a delicious breakfast in
the warm sunshine. Try the poached eggs presented in a deep bowl, topped with
crispy bacon and a tomato relish. The fragrant African blend coffee is
particularly good.
If you feel like something at tea time, then the freshly baked
cakes are a must and include a lightly lemoned cheesecake, moist chocolate cake
and a lemon meringue pie, which are beautifully served with cream or mascarpone.
It's owned and managed by brother-sister team, Jess and Dillon du
Plessis, who are perfectionists that ensure each dish is made from scratch and
is artistically presented. They source the best organic products available, and
this attention to quality extends through every step of the preparation and
presentation of the meals they style.
The waiters at Burnside's are well-spoken and friendly but
professional, presenting the small but imaginative lunch menu with clarity and
making all at the table feel at ease.
My favourite off this menu is the Burnside salad — thinly shaved
pieces of pecorino on a bed of varied lettuce leaves, avocado and other crisp
vegetables drizzled with balsamic reduction, served with grilled
ciabatta.
Jess has many regular customers who she knows by name. It is the
kind of place where people feel welcome and relaxed, where the music is
pleasant and where the clientele is diverse and discerning.
In addition to the many business people who conduct their meetings
there, Burnside's is slowly building up an eclectic mix of patrons from well
known socialites to the owner of a group of hotels, all who return to
Burnside's clearly drawn by the allure of the ambience and fine fare that Jess
produces.
When dusk comes, the little bistro turns into a popular option for
many and it is wise to reserve a table. I was welcomed with a tasty amuse
bouche of Roquefort in phyllo pastry, accompanied with hot brioche-like rolls
with farm butter.
The roast tomato and basil soup is deliciously creamy, the sushi
quality salmon seared to perfection, bright in the centre and crisped on the
outside and presented on herb-scented mash and pak choi for main course. The
crisp Paul Cluver Sauvignon Blanc 2009, which is one of four carefully chosen
white wines on the list, complemented the meal well.
My son, James, devoured his fillet with black mushroom sauce and
said that it is one of the few places where his order for rare steak had been
taken seriously.
Each dessert described by our waiter sounded mouth-wateringly
tempting. We settled for the chocolate pudding with Kahlua custard and the
innovative affagato — ice-cream with Strawberry coulis served in a champagne
flute with small jugs of Belgian chocolate sauce and espresso. They were a
palate teasing end to a fine meal.
I recommend Burnside’s to you unhesitatingly. It has become a
favourite spot for me to sit on the spacious veranda and work on my computer,
sipping freshly squeezed apple and mint juice and revelling in the calm of this
restful oasis in the middle of a busy suburb.
Main meal: R70.00 -R110.00
Burnside's Café
6 Burnside Road
Craighall
011 326-3970
Closed Mondays
Open 09h00-17h00
Dinner Thursday and Friday only.
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