Olifants Café at The Big Red Barn in Olifantsfontein between Johannesburg and Pretoria offers crowd-pleasing food and milkshakes plus loads of outdoor fun for energetic youngsters, says Eat Out critic Hennie Fisher.

Best for: a casual breakfast or lunch
Star ratings: Food: 3 stars, Ambience: 3 stars, Service: 4 stars

Food

As the café is a predominantly day-time venue, the menu offers food best suited to these times. Breakfast selections are extensive, with something for everyone, whether you prefer a classic English fry-up with baked beans and chips (Barn Breakfast) or something more classic like pork sausage, mushrooms and tomato. They offer a banting breakfast, a breakfast roll, and a simple health breakfast of paw-paw, Greek yoghurt, honey and toasted seeds, and the Eggs Cullinan of toasted sourdough, spinach, avocado, ‘poached’ eggs, feta and a salsa on the side is good value for money. (For practical reasons, the hospitality industry does sell eggs steamed in little plastic cups as poached eggs, but the menu should be clear that that is the method.)

The poached eggs. Photo by Hennie Fisher.

The menu also lists some all-day favourites such as a Russian roll special and steak, eggs and chips. The quirkily named craft burgers sound particularly appetising. The Happy Cow comes with cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan mayo, fresh tomato, red onions and lettuce; then there’s The Hay Stack, Naked Beet, Offshore and Forest Floor, to name a few. Other items include a pulled-pork baguette and a steak panini.

An English breakfast. Photo by Hennie Fisher.

Olifants Café also has wood-fired pizzas in a range of familiar guises and some signature pizzas such as the Social Club with Greek lamb, feta and spinach, the Texan Pit, À la Wolfgang, Under the Tuscan Sun and a Bem Bom, topped with chorizo, potato and olives.

Drinks

Both plunger coffee and espresso-based drinks are good, and they serve both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. If you’re in a slightly more decadent mood, try an affogato or the Tin Roof Freak Shake, a double-thick almond milkshake smothered in whipped cream, served with toasted almonds, chocolate sprinkles, dark chocolate sauce and garnished with a cream-filled sugar cone and a flake. The Adamo Freak Shake is made with hazelnuts, chocolate, chocolate brownies and chocolate sauce, and is immensely popular with younger customers.

A selection of sweet treats. Photo by Hennie Fisher.

Service

Weekends at Olifants Café can be very busy, and the servers are forever scurrying around with food and empty plates, on the lookout for someone they can attend to. Both the owner and manageress are hands-on, eager and competent to answer questions and give advice. The service is friendly and always willing and keen, but can feel a little frenetic.

Ambience

This eatery operates from The Big Red Barn on the property of the Cullinan family, the owners of Sunherbs. The enormous barn with a bright red vaulted roof is almost entirely walled-in with glass and has a beautiful reed-covered stoep out front, overlooking the trees and a zip-line.

The big red barn. Photo by Hennie Fisher.

The space is lovely and welcoming, filled with an array of mismatched dining-room furniture and some white papier-mâché geese floating through the air. On the occasion of our visit there’s a band playing outside, leading me to hope that there are times when the serenity and peace of the venue and its surrounds are not sacrificed to activity of some sort.

The outside seating area. Photo by Hennie Fisher.

And…

There is an array of fun to choose from amongst the bluegum trees, such as bungee springs, tree-top gliding, MTB trails. Guests can also book the venue for private functions, kids’ parties and other events. Just across the road you can celebrate your inner Picasso at an innovative spot, the Clay Café (072 604 0090, 084 447 7740), where you can do DIY ceramic painting which they glaze for you afterwards.

Have you visited Olifants Café at The Big Red Barn in Olifantsfontein? Write a review now. (For every review you write, Eat Out pledges a meal to a hungry child through Stop Hunger Now SA.)

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