Craft opened in trendy Parkhurst late in 2013, aiming to please crowds at the height of the craft beer and casual eating craze, with the additional draw of a pizza oven and extensive drinks menu of innovative milkshakes, homemade soft drinks, coffees, and an impressive wine list. Hennie Fisher takes a closer look.

The food

Craft is a great drinks-and-snacks spot, offering a number of plates to share, such as the cured meat board or a vegetable board including artichokes, marinated courgettes, dolmades, and falafel. Sitting down to a hearty meal will prove equally satisfying. The large, wood-fired pizza oven looming in a corner delivers items like the delightful fig and brie pizza – an excellent starter to share – which comes to your table piping hot. Even the breakfast menu has a number of items that fly out of the pizza oven, such as the breakfast lasagne (layers of mince, scrambled egg, spinach, hickory ham and cheese) and the breakfast pizza (a Margarita with bacon, eggs and fresh herbs). For lunch, order some easy-going dishes like hake goujons in a batter (made from the house ale) with potato wedges and aioli. The burger on the dinner menu features a juicy, handmade beef patty and a bun loaded with seeds. You could also order hearty, old-fashioned bobotie and yellow rice, an ale rarebit rump or a pretty nifty chickpea burger. One off-note, however, was the dish of large pasta shells with a lacklustre meat sauce; it needed a whole lot more oomph to put it in the same class as the rest.

Someone in the kitchen has a deft hand with desserts and pastries. Although the desserts might sound slightly mainstream, they are made with great care and are utterly delicious. A salted caramel cheesecake, flourless chocolate truffle cake, and a perfectly wobbly panna cotta with caramel popcorn are some examples of the wider selection.

The drinks

The drinks list is comprehensive, with the wine list highlights four wine farms – Babylonstoren, Lords Winery, Lynx Winery and Gabrielskloof – with background information on the location and owners. The rest of the wine offering is unfussy, with a mix of well-chosen, well-priced options such as Mount Babylon Pioneer Brut Reserve, Ataraxia Chardonnay, Crystallum Pinot Noir and JD Initial Red, to name but a few. There are many craft beers on tap, including the 11 Shillings, a craft beer apparently exclusive to Parkhurst. Other niceties include hand-paddled milkshakes in flavours such as candy floss and Ferrero Rocher chocolate; a spritzer made with pomegranate, rose and raspberry cordial from Kuhestan organic farm http://www.kuhestan.co.za in Magoebaskloof; and an old-school lemonade. Just give one of the passionate staff the opportunity and before you know it you’ll be doing a tequila tasting.

The service

Waiters are young and sassy, while managers are always on hand to make suggestions about the particularly large collection of beverages or urge you to order a single-origin Kenyan AA Karimikui cappuccino – they’re darn good, too. All staff members are well trained; our waitress was careful to mention that the chocolate ganache cake was made with alcohol.

The ambience

The restaurant takes up a corner in one of Johannesburg’s most famous foodie streets, across from other landmarks such as Coobs, YuMe, Melissa’s and a lovely little late-night grocer called Urban Spaza. Happily, Joburg appears to be coming into its African identity. Craft’s tables spill out onto the sidewalk and at around 7.30pm there were no unoccupied seats. Even a table in the cosy bar area makes you feel part of the buzz, once the office-folk have departed after their post-work drinks. Neutral colours, a wall tiled entirely in black (behind the grill section), and some trendy lighting make for a casual but simultaneously smart atmosphere. Tables are bare, in keeping with the quick-paced bistro vibe, but perhaps slightly more substantial serviettes or cloth napkins would not go amiss, since much of the food warrants eating by hand.

And…

Take home the super-tasty Karimikui coffee, Aceh Tengah organic tea, and the very chic and utterly desirable leather aprons worn by the waiters.

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