Coffee Time means kosher

 Friday 1 March 2024 

 

COFFEE TIME

Astra Centre, 20 Breda Street, Cape Town

 

“It’s kosher,” the gatekeeper said quite firmly, “and vegetarian. No meat.”

 

I was standing on the pavement, outside the closed motor gate, begging to be allowed in to break my fast. Only my fierce hunger motivated me to accept the harshness of a bacon free breakfast.

 

Okay, so that’s an exaggeration. I have no objection against kosher vegetarian food. Heck, I even eat vegan. The cuisine, not the individuals.

 

The Astra Centre and Coffee Time are only a few minutes’ walk from our humble abode, just up the street from Woodlands Eatery, and has been there for many years, yet I’d never considered going there until today (and to be fair, on my wife’s suggestion). I often  walk past that closed motor gate and it always seemed mighty forbidding.

 

Once you’re allowed in, you walk to the rear of the parking lot, past the workshop building, turn left and find the garden  with a group of tables under umbrellas and the broad, covered stoep area that’s the main dining space.

 

The entire frontage of the stoep is enclosed with glass, which provides glorious natural light for a space that looks rather elegant (although the white linen table cloths are covered by white newsprint sheets) with mostly small tables and translucent, dark Perspex Louis XVI style chairs.

 

If it were more glamorous, one would think Sonny & Irene, but I suppose it relay  looks more like a room for  receptions than a simple dining space.

 

The breakfast menu is not extensive and, as advertised, features no meat and certainly no pork products, but is heavy on eggs and avocado and with one health option. You can add either 40g or 60g of salmon to your basic breakfast choice (other than the granola, I suppose.)

 

I went in for the big one and chose the kipper breakfast (R110) with toast if I’m not mistaken. I was about 11 the first and hitherto last time I ate a kipper, at the Victoria Falls Hotel in what was Rhodesia at the time, so this option was the most exotic option.  No shakshuka, no Turkish eggs.

 

The breakfast as workmanlike. The scrambled eggs weren’t as creamy as I like them but they weren’t overcooked. The promised hash browns were cubes of nicely roasted potatoes. The highlight was Spur style crisp onion rings. As for the kipper, I can confirm that I’ll probably be able to live without them for the next 50 years. I presume they were properly cooked, a tad salty but not dry. 

I should’ve immediately removed the ramekin with butter that perched on top of the toast. As is my wont, I left the toast until last and when I paid attention to it again, the butter had melted. I poured the liquified butter over my toast.

 

I had a large, slightly dense but  good raspberry muffin (R45) with my second coffee. There’s a table with the pastries, but either they didn’t put out many or the supply had been depleted by the time I arrived. I overheard enquiries about cheese cake and carrot cake and I’m not sure whether there were any.

 

The  bill came to E221,00, inclusive of coffee, before tip.

 

The coffee is by Lavazza and is good, the service was efficient and friendly and if  you want a quiet, peaceful basic breakfast in a pleasant environment, Coffee Time is ideal. There were only a few other patrons, who came and went, and the general tone is hushed gentility. It’s not a trendy place; no Millennials or younger, no MacBooks (except for mine) and no excited chatter about the social media phenomenon du jour.  Give it a try, it’s lovely and relaxing.