Minding my Ps and Us
Savior Café
Where: Corner Bulwer and Ferguson Roads, Glenwood
Open: Monday to Saturday 7am to 5pm
Call: 076 606 5440
I ask the Maths Professor if he feels like joining me for breakfast. When I suggest Savior Café because it’s in his neck of the woods, he’s quick to say: “Ah, the place that’s dropped the U.” That’s it ‒ and yes it always feels odd typing the name.
We agree to meet after Barkis the airedale has had her morning constitutional.
Savior is a comfortable homely space in an old Victorian house. It’s divided into a number of different rooms with the coffee machine counter at the front. This is doing overtime as people pop in for a quick pick-me-up. And then there are tables and chairs scattered throughout the paved garden. On a warm winter’s morning the garden is a lovely place to be and we were soon sipping on nice, flavourful but mellow coffees.
Mangled language came up again with Prof pointing out some horror in the paper that morning in a story on the water supply in Glenwood. I tell him we keep a book of howlers. Some I could remember include Jacob Zuma being “illegible” to enter Parliament, or the new minister of agriculture who had “earned her kudus…” A personal favourite (or favorite) which many eagle eyes had let slip through on the IOS some years back was: “She suffers form dyslexia.” Ouch. He laughs. He has a sense of humor.
The breakfast menu is interesting and is served all day. From the super healthy smashed avo on toast or mushrooms on toast or honeyed oats to a full works that includes sausage, bacon, three eggs and beef patty and chips. There are croissants and an eggs Benedict, a breakfast burger and breakfast bun and chicken livers with eggs.
I like the look of the spicy green omelette (R85) with coriander and mazavaroo topped with avo and micro greens. I ask for some cheese to be added to the mazavaroo mix (R20) and a side order of bacon (R28). It was a really lovely breakfast. The omelette was perfectly cooked, nice and soft and light ‒ the mazavaroo wasn’t overpoweringly hot but gave everything a good kick, and the cheese somehow pulled it all together. It was topped with a crispy onion sprinkle which was another inspired touch. One of the better omelettes I’d had in Durban in a while.
The Maths Professor enjoyed his savoury mince on toast topped with a poached egg and micro greens (R105). Although I think he might have been happy to have lost the micro greens. The Bolognaise was a good one built on the “holy trinity” (as an Italian chef I follow on Instagram calls it) of onion, carrot and celery. I might have gone heavier on the tomato but it had good flavour, and an egg cooked exactly to order.
Over a second coffee and soaking up that morning sunlight we decide to give the home baking a whirl. There are things like toasted banana bread or honey and raisin buns, peanut butter and choc chip cookies and a Savior brownie. And don’t forget the lemon cheesecake.
The Maths prof enjoyed his carrot and pineapple cake (R45) which was wonderfully moist and had a really good spice mix. My blueberry cake was pleasant although a shade sweet. Both were enormous. We’d both be having cake for dinner that night. I’m sure a few crumbs for Barkis too.
Savior’s lunch menu has a range of pizzas which include interesting flavours like roasted aubergines and olives, or slow-cooked lamb with chilli mint sauce. There are also some toasties, and a range of lunch staples: a burger, butter chicken, chicken strips, fish and chips and hake and calamari combo. There are also interesting salad options including a warm Asian salad and one with fillet steak.
We leave as the office calls. Some of the coffee crowd from earlier have popped in again for a refill. As I faced a day of editing, the Maths Professor admonished me to “mind my Ps and Us”.
Food: 3 ½
Service: 3 ½
Ambience: 3 ½
The Bill: R484 excluding tip
Independent on Saturday