Vovo Telo
Where: 241 Florida Road, Morningside
Open: Daily 6.30am to 6pm
Call: 031 303 1133
Order: ubereats.com
It all started with fresh baguettes delivered by an old man on a green bicycle on a beach in Madagascar, or so the menu says. It was the smell of fresh baking that led to the opening of the first outlet ‒ bakery, coffee shop, light eatery ‒ in a charming old house on Port Elizabeth’s Richmond Hill, which would soon become that city’s Florida Road.
Although a chain today, the concept still revolves around the bakery and that smell of bread, and being situated in an old home on Florida Road, albeit with an Urban Lime make-over, lends it the olde worlde feeling that many of the outlets in malls such as Sandton and the V&A have lost.
“Fresh from scratch” has always been the philosophy as the range expanded to delicious pastries, tarts and cakes, and to gluten free and banting offerings.
They were a lifesaver during the hard lockdown when everything in a household one had on hand had to be made fresh and from scratch. It wasn’t long before one got tired of all that meal prep (and the washing up) and ‒ faced with deliveries that were very burger or pizza heavy ‒Vovo Telo’s fluffy three-egg omelette filled with whatever you felt like was a lifesaver. It always arrived hot with a couple of (also hot) slices of their toasted artisanal ciabatta. As did their big breakfast with boerewors, bacon, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and sweet potato chips. And one morning when Eskom gave us an impromptu session of loadshedding, the cappuccino was decent too.
The joy here was you could easily justify sneaking in a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) or a pastéis de nata or one of their individual little lemon meringue tarts. Or even just a loaf of fresh bread for a decent sandwich for lunch.
But with restrictions lifting, we relished the opportunity to relax on their veranda in the winter sun, and watch the world go by ‒ well in these Covid times, half the world at least. And the service was as warm.
We enjoyed a decent cappuccino and a good double-shot Americano as we perused the menu.
There are classic sarmies, served on sourdough, including chicken mayo, gypsy ham and cheese, salmon and cream cheese, BLT or pastrami on rye. I fancied the latter.
There are a few pastas daily, and then there’s pissaladière, the French style flat bread ‒ pizza if you will ‒ usually served with caramelised onions and a variety of toppings. Salads like a tomato Caesar, roast chickpea and pesto and Bulgar wheat and lentils look like quality healthy options.
I looked no further than breakfast, which was closing any minute (11.30am) and settled for the breakfast waffle (R75) – a delicious stack of bacon, poached eggs and mushrooms on a waffle, garnished with cherry tomatoes and basil pesto. The flavours worked well together, the eggs cooked to order.
My friend settled for their burger on home-baked brioche bun (R120). There’s a chicken and beef version, and his beef comprised a sizeable patty piled high with good boerenkaas cheese and crispy gypsy ham. It was a real gobstopper, served with oven-baked crisps rather than traditional chips. He pronounced it very good.
We finished with Vietnamese coffees ‒ basically coffee milkshakes ‒ and another waffle option. Their Very Berry waffle (R61) was enjoyable, even though the berry coulis was a little sweet and very jam like. It was saved by some fresh strawberries.
I left with a crispy almond croissant as a guilty afternoon snack that day.
Food: 3 ½
Service: 3 ½
Ambience: 3 ½
The Independent on Saturday