Shoots and Leaves
Where:
19 Park Lane, uMhlanga Ridge
Open:
Monday to Friday 6.30am-4.30pm
Call
: 078 532 3970
I like the name, and the concept. I had to wait for the holiday recess to be over before I could taste the food. But the wait was worth it.
The moment you walk into the simply designed eatery, you get a warm welcome from owners Robynne and Rob Colepeper.
Shoots and Leaves opened mid last year and is a welcome addition to the growing uMhlanga Ridge food options. It is a hands-on restaurant that serves fresh, healthy, on-the-go food, that celebrates the finest locally sourced ingredients.
Open for breakfast and lunch, it’s real food, prepared with imagination and cooked beautifully.
At the table, as I sip my excellent Americano (R25), I notice a bowl of soil. These will be shoots soon, pea shoots being particularly popular. It’s only that on the first day back, they’ve just been planted. It’s a fun touch.
The coffee itself is a Rwandan blend, from Dario Scilipoti’s BlueBird Coffee Roastery, in Westville, and it’s served with a dinky little shortbread biscuit.
Breakfast options were simple: there’s double thick yoghurt with granola and blueberries, or oats topped with granola clusters and toasted nut praline. Then there’s smashed avo on toasted sourdough with chilli and lime dressing (R50). This could be topped with eggs, however you want them cooked, crispy bacon, marinated peppers, mazavaroo or feta.
My friend tried this with the crispy bacon (R15) and gave it the thumbs up.
I opted for the spring omelette with fresh herbs, chopped chillies, aged gouda and crispy bacon (R65). It was garnished with pea shoots and served with a slice of good artisan ciabatta. This simple dish was magnificent. The omelette itself was soft, the quality and taste of the melting gouda lifting the dish, with the chillies just giving it a subtle kick.
All the cheeses and butters used here come from the Gourmet Greek and, as with everything, if you start with good basic ingredients, the end result can only be good.
I will be back to try the lunch menu soon. There is an option of a harvest table - or there’s a selection of dishes that changes daily.
The hand-written selection for the day I was there included simmered chicken with olives, capers and salami; a Vietnamese pork meatball salad; grilled marrows and eggplant, in a tomato and herb
sauce; a wild rice salad with chickpeas and lemon juice; roasted sweet potatoes, almonds, sundried tomatoes and spinach; and marinated tomatoes, olives basil and courgettes.
They’re all light meals, with prices ranging from R35 to R45 a dish, but it all looked fantastic. My mouth was watering so much I nearly stayed.
Instead we shared an impossibly rich but perfect gluten-free chocolate brownie, over a second cup of coffee. Crunchy on the outside, fudgy in the middle I would challenge anyone to finish a second one.
I will be back for lunch.
Food:
4 ½
Service:
4
Ambience:
4