by Frank Chemaly

New Year’s Eve 2000 was a quiet night on Glenwood’s Davenport Road, a respectable tree lined street with its crumbling Victorian cottages.

The odd resident may have stood on their verandah and surveyed the flares over the harbour. There may have the odd car horn tooting, or even a function at the bowling club, but the party was elsewhere.

It’s always been elsewhere for the residents of the Cinderella suburb of Glenwood. Good food, good wine and good coffee was always on the other side of the highway.

But 2006/2007 was different. Not even the torrential rain could turn this street party into a pumpkin at midnight. For Davenport road has reason to pop the champagne corks. The respectable tree lined street is still intact, but those quaint old cottages now boast some of the city’s most popular restaurants.

Some liken it to the famed Florida Road, but they miss the point. This is a first and foremost a neighbourhood and it is the Glenwood community that is in the driving seat.

To quote Morne Fourie of Hemmingways it’s more like an “open-air food court that spills out onto the pavements” that creates the awesome atmosphere.

“There’s none of the agro of nightclubs, bars and takeaways, no tramps in doorways, just good food and good fun”– and you can usually get a parking place.

It was Yossi’s a few years back that started the trend. An extended front verandah, the walls painted with warm earth, some sumptuous Persian carpets and buckets full of good chunky hummous with shavings of freshly grilled lamb, that saw it packed in no time.

For lunch it’s estate agents, legal secretaries and businessmen, at night it’s friends chilling out listening to the equally chilled out sounds of regular jazz bands.

Here the theme is Middle Eastern and North African with interesting alternatives to the conventional mezze like Turkish beetroot relish and chermoula bread. And tagines are the thing, try lamb with dates and cinnamon served in the earthenware dishes and mopped up with almond rice. And the wine flows.

Hemmingways just up the street is more modern bistro than one might expect of that famed author’s beloved Cuba. But relaxing over lunch, the music is all Spanish guitar and the posters and comfy sofa in the inside chill spot add a certain authenticity.

Here the philosophy is fresh ingredients made freshly each day. So expect light lunches of smoked kudu salad with Drambuie vinaigrette, or home-made fish cakes with leek noodles or a very enjoyable veal ravioli with sage butter and Parmesan shavings.

While for dinner things move more up market with ostrich tartare, springbok shank and paella. Pesto prawns on pasta sounds like a good bet as do tomato tartlets or sweetcorn fritters on Mediterranean vegetables. Pizetta is one of the newcomers.

This modern stylish eatery – all white and stainless steel – is the brainchild of Sean Roberts and Marcel Labushagne of Café 99 fame. And their same dedication to good cooking has been heaped upon the humble pizza. This is not the cheese drenched stodge you’d expect of your average parlour, but a choice of 13 crispy based pizzas with some very gourmet ingredients – and six fine salads.

Now what more sociable a dinner can you have than to order a number 3, 8, 9, 10 and 13; chuck them in the middle of the table and tuck in hungrily.

What’s more, the waiter, conversant in everything from Wallpaper magazine to Chairman Mao, gets the order spot on. So what were we eating? How about gorgonzola, onion marmalade and wild rocket; or smoked salmon, leeks, capers and mascapone; or even camembert, sesame seeds and sweet chilli jam (a jam with quite a tingle).

And that tomato, buffalo mozzarella and pesto salad deserves mention because it is so refreshing and authentic. Pizza’s are there for dessert too, with fruit toppings or hazelnut paste, but we skipped that for a decent espresso and hazelnut liquer.

Now across the road is every mother’s dream – a coffee shop where you relax without worrying about the kids. Here an experienced child minder takes the stress out of your cappuccino and mum can chat with her girlfriends while little Johnny and Mary play in the sandpit, or at the playstation consoles.

Owners Marie Bamber and Nicolette Cardona are mothers themselves and know the relief at not having to constantly check up on what’s happening in the yard. The fare in this comfy home from home is South African inspired with a babotjie and melk tert that’s the talk of many local tannies.

Even the home-made hamburgers are done baked frikadel style – I’ll try that next. Kiddies parties are a regular, and Friday night braai evenings on the cards. Not your traditional braai pack and potato salad affair, this will include the likes of corn on the cob and vegetable skewers, plus an array of salads.

And mum can go home with armfuls of roses, because Cardona and her mother Lorraine de Goede run a florist in the front room. Euforia next door is causing just that. And eclectic mix of bookshop, coffee shop, organic deli and vintage clothes, it feels almost like Amsterdam or New York.

Relax on comfy couches on the verandah or under the trees and sip an excellent cappuccino with crisp peanut butter cookies and watch the world go by. Or sit inside and page through cookbooks – even a vegan one – or desirable coffee table numbers.

Paul Glazer runs the organic deli and really gets things going with a Tuesday and Friday organic market on tables in the garden. Here you can get fresh fruit and veg, from as far afield as Limpopo. Cheeses and breads complete the picture.

Glazer is going out of his way to source a greater range of products. The market opens again on January 15, and runs from 10.30am to 2.30pm. Not strictly on Davenport Road, but an establishment that has kept the flag flying in Glenwood for many years is the Arts café inside the NSA gallery on Bulwer Road.

It’s coffee’s are legendary and founder Ralph Bronzin the inspiration behind the city’s cappuccino cup which has done so much to promote coffee drinking. Now owned by Andre Schubert of Café 99 and Havana Grill fame, it sticks to its breakfast and light lunch formula, where you can sit out under the trees, the kids can play on the jungle gyms and, as a vegetarian himself, Schubert offers breakfasts where bacon isn’t missed.

Just opened above Woolworths in the old Villa d’Est site is Olive and Oil, a second outlet of the famed Umhlanga eatery.

Chef Brandon Lotz and co-owner Paula Visser keep their taste of the Med alive with the likes of Greek prawns in tomato, feta and ouzo, or grilled Parma ham and mozzeralla skewers with pesto, or pasta with a simple topping of sun dried tomatoes olives, parsley and pecorino.

There’s a kid’s menu that includes the proverbial pizzas and pastas in half portions for the lunch set.

So what makes the Davenport District so special – It’s the neighbourhood of course. And the owners have all bandied together to ensure security, vet car guards, control litter and noise. And to work with the city authorities and local residents. So there are no irate phone calls at 10pm – instead the locals will join in for a cup of coffee and to page through second hand art books.

For Steve Mandy at Euforia it’s this bond between the owners that makes the area unique. And in true neighbourly goodwill, it’s nothing to pass a cup of sugar over the fence or borrow some chairs from across the road.

Come New Year’s Eve 2007 no-one will be able to rain on Davenport’s parade.

The Restaurants (in alphabetical order)
Arts Café
Bulwer Road
031 201 9969
Coffee shop/breakfast
Tuesday to Sunday breakfast and lunch

Coffee on Davenport
130 Davenport Road
031 201 0569
Coffee shop/South African
Open Monday to Saturday 8am to 5pm (10pm on Friday)

Euforia
134 Davenport Road
Coffee shop/organic deli
Monday to Saturdays 8am to 5pm (10pm on Friday and Saturday)

Hemingways
131 Davenport Road
031 202 4906
Bistro
Open Tuesday to Sunday lunch and dinner

Olive and Oil
Corner Davenport and Bulwer Roads
031 201 6146
Mediterranean
Open Tuesday to Sunday lunch and dinner

Pizzetta
139 Davenport Road
031 201 1019
Gourmet pizzeria
Open Tuesday to Sunday lunch and dinner

Yossi’s
127 Davenport Road 031 201 0090
Middle eastern North African cuisine
Open Tuesday to Sunday 8am until late