A sunny winter Sunday in Kalk Bay started with a first-time visit to a delightful deli cafe called Kassia & Figg for lunch, followed by an energetic coastal walk to Muizenberg beach.
Kassie Watrobski and her daughter Inge opened this simple sea-facing spot in December 2008. It’s filled with deli items and clever colourful handmade trinkets items for kitchens - knitted pastel tea cosies for instance - and the daily menu consists of papers clothespegged on ‘washing lines’ inside a wooden frame. Cake stands on a central table tempt with daily bakes and iced biscuits. As the wire sign on the wall says, this is slow food.
Taking a window table opposite the Kalk Bay entrance tidal pool, we ordered a burger, and homemade chicken and mushroom pie with salad respectively. A ciabattaani (oval ciabatta) made of Eureka organic flour from Muizenberg baker La Petite Boulangerie made all the difference. Life is too short to eat bad bread, or burger rolls for that matter.
A free-range beef pattie had garlic mayo for zing, the salad filling complemented by sweet caramelised tanginess of Oded’s Kitchen konfyt of onion (also sold here).
The Merry Muncher’s appetite was sated and satisfied, and we took along wine as the place isn’t licenced. On that note, the water glasses are also the wine glasses.
My homemade pie with salad was delicious in that light, homemade-pastry-kind-of-way, but there was space for a sweet snack as we left for our coastal path walk to Muizenberg. A miniature lemon curd tart with feather-light pastry went too.
Fast forward an hour of brisk walking, after which we stopped in again for a shared buttermilk waffle with cream and syrup. Poor coffee was the day’s only sore point. One Americano had no crema - perhaps it’s because Kassia uses fair trade beans, in line with their social and environmental commitment to supporting organic or artisanal products. It extends to yukky unbleached serviettes and loo paper that disintegrate into shreds on touch.
Spend: R24 to R49 for salads, soups, creative bruschettas with fillings or sandwiches, homemade pies and burgers.
Waffles, brownies and miniature cakes: R18 to R25. Value: Very good. Flavour rating: high.
KASSIA & FIGG artisan deli, 24 Main Road, Kalk Bay. Tel 021 788 3337 website http://www.vanielje.com/kf/
A wonderful Sunday of eating over? Wishful thinking. I have a friend who is the Cape version of domestic culinary perfection. Arrive in her aromatic kitchen and she’s bound to be in an apron with cookbooks scattered about. While the rest of us work a full day and throw something together, she routinely boasts a stocked fridge, a recipe to be tested and something edible bubbling or baking. The passionate purist had been invited along to Kassia & Figg, as we enjoy communal eating expeditions. But a domestic non-cooking chore beckoned, so we were invited to drop in afterwards.
Inconveniently the message arrived late, after we were suitably stuffed. “But I knocked something up for tea,” she cajoled,“so I’m not taking no for an answer.” A delicate situation indeed, with Merry Muncher nursing the start of a migraine, me on a distinct sugar high. But such culinary enthusiasm is rare amongst friends.
I’m glad we soldiered on. On arrival a cake was being assembled and icing-dusted. Not just any old cake, but a triple lemon curd sponge cake sandwiched with lemon-seeped silky sauce and cream. Did I mention that lemon curd is one of my favourite things? I haven’t had curd in ages, then twice in one day - this runny, oozy version from lemons grown in her garden. Naturally I felt compelled to try a slice… delightful. Even more so the next day. No chance we’d be sent home without teatime take-aways!