You’ll light up like a Roman candle when visiting Juds Coffee Shop in St Helena Bay. Owned and run by the Siegfried family, the shop with its enchanting collection of vibrant artisanal Indian block print cotton clothing, tapestries, bags, baskets, sauces, potions and lotions is a destination in its own right.
Onto the eatery where, when seated outside, the scene unfolds like a pastoral painting come to life: a bustling farmyard framed by the vast expanse of sea and sky.
Very nice, simple things are on the breakfast menu. The French toast is an adventure of sweet, savoury and umami flavours. Thick slices of golden-brown French toast, crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, burst with the accompanying biltong’s smoky tang. Meanwhile, the cheese on top adds depth.
Make lunch as light or hearty as you please. In the Gourmet Bacon and Chicken Salad, tender caramel-basted chicken fillet strips nestle atop herbed greens with crunchy bacon bits, cucumber slices, pickled onions, coriander leaves and juicy cherry tomatoes. Feta chunks and velvety avocado slices enhance the creamy undertones, while Judy’s famous salad sauce amplifies the flavours.
Siegie’s Gourmet Burger is a whopper with its homemade beef patty topped with generous bacon slices, plus fresh rocket and coriander for a herbaceous note, melt-in-your-mouth Camembert and the jammy contrast of preserved figs. A tangy-sweet grenadilla balsamic sauce adds complexity.
At Juds they’ve made the sweetly familiar blissfully new again.
Where: Brandhuis, St Helena Bay entrance, 022 7361564.
