Nestled amongst the eclectic mix of restaurants and bars in Jozi’s trendy Maboneng Precinct, Uncle Merv’s Original Shakes & Coffee is a hole-in-the-wall smoothie spot for healthy snacks with a home-made touch.

Food

This is the home of nicely brewed coffee, homemade muesli, honey with fresh fruit, healthy lunch snacks of rye or seedbread with avo and tomato, poached chicken or soups. But it is really the place of weird but exceptionally wonderful, gob-smacking, giant icy smoothies, for which Uncle Merv’s draws the fashionably hung-over and the Maboneng tourists. A tahini, date, banana, cashew, honey, soymilk one called Macci-Porter is gooily good. The mixed berry, yoghurt, honey and cranberry version is called Blanche Brown. ?

Wine

You are encouraged to bring your own.

Service

At the counter.

Ambience

This hole in the wall has an open-out table, stackable chairs, and now rustic pavement benches with vases of coloured cabbages.

And…

The sunlight pours down; the sky is ridiculously blue. Nothing seems quite real on a bench in the street. You could be on a Disney movie set.

By Marie-Lais Emond

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