Bellevue Café in Durban will enrapture diners with its tasty breakfasts and Italian flair, says Tracy Gielink.

The food

The menu reflects chef-patron Chris Black’s predilection for and flair with Italian cuisine. This translates into risotto with tiger prawns, tomato, white wine and parmesan or the deeply gratifying penne salsiccia with slow-cooked Italian sausage, bacon, chianti, chilli, fennel, garlic and tomatoes in a light cream sauce. The diverse café menu also includes an exemplary calamari in lemon butter, pie of the day and soul-satisfying sarmies like the version with chicken schnitzel, peri-peri mayo and fresh tomato salsa. The breakfasts are worth the trip alone and the extensive selection – think Welsh rarebit, or warm chilli coriander corncake with avo, rocket, coriander, smoked salmon and lemon crème fraîche – will have diners enraptured.

Breakfast at Bellevue Cafe. Photograph courtesy of the restaurant.

The drinks

The wine-list offers a fairly succinct but well-considered core selection of local wines, which is augmented with a small seasonal list of reds and whites. Craft beers are also available.

The service

Service has high energy and the waiters are well choreographed. Overseen by eagle-eyed managers and backed up by an industrious kitchen, staff are as efficient as they are knowledgeable. The vibe may be laid back, but service is taken seriously.

The ambience

The contemporary, double-volume space manages to be both rustic and lightly industrial, with its metal beams and exposed brickwork. An interior tree reinforces the conservatory feel and acts as the pivot around which tables radiate. On warmer days, al fresco tables are in high demand.

 And…

Don’t linger too long with the menu at dinnertime: orders need to be placed by 8.30pm.

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