Boiler Room Café is a canteen within an urban office park, but underestimate it at your peril.
Graham and Gina Neilson have deviated from the high-end bistro food they prepare with aplomb at 9th Avenue Bistro to offer daytime diners beguiling back-to-basics café food.

Food

There is something deeply profound about the food at Boiler Room Café. It’s not a cerebral experience or an unparalleled gastronomic revelation. Better than that, it’s comfort food that evokes an emotional response – perhaps it triggers memories, evokes childhood glee or takes you back to a time when fresh, wholesome ingredients were combined to produce food with integrity?

Breakfasts include the heady simplicity of a pork sausage and rosemary caramelised onion bun, and boursin cheese and black pepper omelette with chives and lemon-dressed greens. The creative weekend brunch specials are pure nirvana: duck liver crumpets with port-marinated figs and gorgonzola cream; crispy fried pork on bubble and squeak with fried egg and peach chutney; red velvet pancakes with ricotta and honey ice cream; and fresh tuna burgers with Asian slaw and pickled ginger mayo. Standout staples on the menu segue from chicken and bacon Caesar salad to deeply gratifying charcoal-roasted pulled pork bun with pickled cabbage and kewpie mayonnaise, or slow-roasted lamb wrap with hummus and carrot offset by a minted cucumber salsa.

Boiler Room Café also stocks Wicked Donuts. These gourmet orbs of happiness are beautifully presented on a wooden board under a bell jar… in case of emergency, lift glass. Flavours change daily, but the dulce de leche version is unadulterated bliss. Here even the humble muffin is elevated to heady heights, as exemplified by the zucchini, spinach and feta muffin, served warm and topped with blocks of creamy cheese.

Boiler Room Cafe. Photo courtesy of the restaurant.

Drinks

Exemplary cappuccinos are offered in roasts of two different strengths while the decaffeinated brigade can opt for a smoothie – think pineapple and basil or banana and sesame – or choose from the best milkshake selection in town. They come served in glass jars and include flavours like popcorn and salted caramel, lemon meringue, and the Boris Becker, which is flavoured with tennis biscuits and German ginger cake, and topped with a flaming orange meringue. Thankfully, tap water is served sans a supercilious smirk and is quirkily dispensed from an enamel tea pot. Boiler Room Café is currently awaiting liquor licence.

Service

An eager-to-please team is spearheaded by a hands-on manager, and Gina is often spotted on the floor. The kitchen is efficient and service usually runs like clockwork. Waiters can sometimes be a little unsure of menu nuances and slow in clearing empty plates, but a genuine smile makes up for minor mishaps.

Ambience

The café is ensconced in the original boiler room of the old Lion Match factory, which remains one of Durban’s most instantly recognisable landmarks. Located within a contemporary office park, it’s an unapologetically urban space that has embraced its industrial heritage and African roots. A taxi mural and nine-metre-long park bench dominate the back wall, aloes have been planted indoors, double-volume factory windows dominate high walls, and metal chairs sit on concrete floors.

Boiler Room Cafe. Photo courtesy of the restaurant.

And…

There is a generator, so Boiler Room Café is immune to load shedding. Also remember that no reservations are taken.

Eat Out reviewers dine anonymously and pay for their meals. Read more about our editorial policy here. Have you been to Boiler Room Café recently? Let us know what you thought by writing a review.