When I popped in to Salad Daze for lunch this week during a visit to East London, I was delighted by food bursting with fresh flavours and two women having a lot of fun doing what they love. Jo and Alison started the quaint eatery where pink is queen and it works, in March last year and things have been buzzing ever since.
Conceptualized around a salad bar boasting only the freshest ingredients and salads made with flare, Salad Daze combines great food, feel good décor and friendly service. Nutty, couscous and roasted vegetables share the salad table with among others, fresh salad leaves, coriander spiked yoghurty mushrooms and tangy mustard potato salad.
Don’t be put off if you’re not into the rabbit food. Wraps of thai fillet and coronation chicken, generous open sandwiches, quiches and hearty pastas ensure that there’s a dream meal here for the fussiest eater. I tucked into the thai fillet wrap, served with a shot glass of spicey vinaigrette dressing and a selection from the salad table. Fragrant, wholesome and delicious. There is no pretension here, just a sense of reveling in nature’s bounty and an enthusiasm for preparing good food, beautifully presented.
“I try and source local ingredients as much as possible,” says Jo. “We have a herb garden out front and are very excited about one of our local producers just been certified organic.” Jo and Alison are serious about environmental responsibly and recycle wherever possible. This progressive bent also permeates their attitude to enlightening their staff and customers about “unusual” ingredients in this erstwhile culinary sleepy hollow in the Eastern Cape. “I have customers complaining about the peppery leaf in their salad,” says Alison of a rocket epiphany. “I do blind herb tastings with my staff. They love it! And customers seem to keep coming back for more.”
The positive energy of Salad Daze is infectious and never more so than when you’re indulging in their tea time treats and desserts. My mother swears the Berry Pavolva has medicinal properties. With its homemade strawberry and lemon yoghurt ice-creams, fresh berries and berry coulis piled on a meringue drizzled in butterscotch, it’s just what the doctor ordered. The chocolate brownie crammed with nuts and rum and served with homemade orange ice-cream is another must-nibble as are the gorgeous cupcakes smothered in pastel icing and dusted with silver balls and little pink and red hearts.
I leave Salad Daze after stocking up at their deli, which Alison promises will be even more prolific with the addition of their soon-to-be-released signature deli range. I think the world would be a better place if we were all a bit more free and easy with the silver balls and miniature icing hearts.
When I popped in to Salad Daze for lunch this week during a visit to 
No comments:
Post a Comment