Chill at The Hussar Grill

 18 March 2022

 

ByConcept.Café  

60 Kloof Street, Cape Town

 

I’d recommend that you don’t delay if you want to try out ByConcept.Café. By mid-morning Arnold’s, the next door neighbour and Kloof Street veteran, is jumping, and this goes for most other eateries in the area, while this joint is virtually empty. 

 

Perhaps they roar at night.

 

These premises have seen several restaurants come and go since I arrived in Cape Town. In 1986 it was Nicky’s, at the rear of the present space, then Maestro’s, which expanded into what was originally a paved outside space, and has been the longest lasting restaurant here, but was eventually, after a disastrous experiment at  franchising, replaced by a steady turnover of places like Café Sofia, Vovo Telo and Stacked Diner, which closed in the latter part of 2021.

 

Maybe one can’t justifiably call it a bad luck venue but there are those sites where restaurants, no matter how good the intentions, never seem to make it.

 

The elegantly chic, wood and metal, bistro-styled interior is spacious and open with lots of natural light from the windows and stack doors on three sides. There’s a substantial  service counter at the rear, on one side, and what looks like sushi counter seating, on the other. On the far side of the room, there are four wooden bench tables outside, close to the pizza oven, for warm, wind free mornings like today, though there’s a far better view of the mountain from one of the inside tables.

 

It’s a marvellous space crying out for a happy throng.

 

The menu is large and offers many, many dishes for a wide variety of tastes but the list of breakfast items (breakfast is served only until 11h30) is not as princely. There are a couple of things on toast, French toast, three types of Benedict, shakshuka, rustic sandwich, one fry up, various bagels, croissants, and some vegan bowls.

 

The espresso (R20) comes in plentiful quantity.

 

I tried the mushroom Benedict with sourdough bread (R79).  Good, crusty bread, eggs poached to order on some okay sautéed mushrooms, and the Hollandaise (as is so distressingly customary all  over Cape Town), though well made,  lacked the requisite lemon tang. This is by no means the best benny on show in this city and just whets one’s appetite.

 

Hence, I ordered the vegan chia seed waffle (R79) and a large cappuccino (R25.) It’s an excellent, waffle with the characteristic home-made marshmallow-like texture of a banana based batter,  and the engaging combination of sweet and the slightly sour berries and coconut yoghurt.

 

A notable quirk of the friendly service is that I had to point out the desired menu items to the waiter, instead of just telling him what I want, and when I ordered the waffle and coffee, he specifically asked whether I wanted the coffee first or with the waffle. I chose the latter option; a few minutes later the quite substantial  cappuccino made a solo turn at my table.

 

My bill came to R203,00 before tip.

 

If you want breakfast in Kloof Street in peace and quiet, ByConcept.Café  seems to be the ticket. Going by what I ate, I‘d say you’ll get decent, unspectacular food and good coffee.