Eggs Benedict with a twist in Hartenbos

1 November 2021

 MOERBY TRADING CO

Hartenbos Waterfront

 

Our country is rife with cultural differences and the latest one I’ve picked up on relates to how restaurants in the Southern Cape present eggs Benedict, which I’d always thought of us a classic, standardised dish.  Not so in the Hartenbos area.  Here and at Salt & Copper, the other day, the chef presented eggs Benedict “with a twist.” 

 

Moerby Trading Co is a mixture of restaurant, deli and purveyor of braai equipment and other hardware and gift items, next to the Pick ‘n Pay store in the Hartenbos Waterfront. While the wife had her hair done nearby, I treated myself to breakfast.

 

The colourful printed menu lists standard breakfast items but a tiny blackboard outside the main entrance advertised  “Belgique waffles”, either sweet or savoury, the latter being the aforementioned eggs Benedict. 

 

Presumably, because not many people around here order this dish and the waffle had to be made from scratch, or least cooked from scratch, the wait for my food was a bit longer than I would otherwise have liked but seeing as how I had time to kill, and Twitter to keep me company, I didn’t mind too much.

 

For R70 I received a full waffle supporting two poached eggs resting on two large spinach leaves, bacon, tomato slices and processed cheese squares, all of it topped by a creamy sauce of unknown provenance.  The one thing I can say for this dish is that it was more substantial than the eggs Benedict one would get in Cape Town and the idea of a “breakfast” Benedict” is intriguing. 

 

The waffle was good, though eventually a tad soggy, and the elements were okay in combination. Unfortunately, the large eggs were overcooked despite my request for soft poached eggs. I know I should have returned my dish with suitable disdain but what the hell,  it wasn’t the kind of mishap that crushed my soul and I’d been wating for a while.  

 

The dish was filling, the coffee was good and the service was friendly and, apart from the wait for the food, which is not the fault of the service staff, efficient.

 

My bill, before tip came to R113, with one espresso and one flat white.  This is far mor reasonable, for a similar breakfast, than  what one would pay in Cape Town, even if you can expect properly poached eggs and a decent Hollandaise, though the latter is touch and go.