One eatery that definitely should be top of your cheat day list is the newly opened Coco Safar in Sea Point. Not only an exquisite pâtisserie for achingly pretty tasty treats on-the-go, but the space also offers an espresso bar, capsule emporium, sit-down café, and a soon to be launched rooibos bar. The flagship store also houses an onsite production kitchen, a coffee roastery, boutique store, and a botanical micro-brewery.
For me, one of the most exciting offerings from Coco Safar is the truly unique rooibos bar and botanical micro-brewery. The rooibos drinks are all 100% natural with zero alcohol and are life. I highly recommend the green rooibos and coffee-citrus, all the delicious concoctions are offered bottled as well as on-tap and in refill form to take home.
However as the name suggests the main focus and offering is coffee. The exclusively used Third Wave Coffee is all roasted, cold brewed, and crafted onsite and offers everything from espresso to grand latte, as well as more unusual offerings such as the Earl Grey sorbet affogato and the sparkling citrus coffee cold brew which can be served straight from the tap or float-style with lime and vanilla sorbet.
The concept for the couture espresso bar and pâtisserie was “conceived in New York, designed in Toronto and made in Cape Town” by South Africa born Wilhelm Liebenberg and French-Canadian Caroline Sirois. After opening a few pilot stores abroad and a smaller version in Cavendish in 2016, Sea Point Main Road now proudly plays host to this one-of-a-kind flagship store.
The décor is just as eye-catching and detail-attention orientated as the confectionaries and could be described as celestial glamour meets 1950's romance. Uber luxurious, it begs for long lingers over delicious morsels. I was invited to a tasting recently and did just that.
After a quick tour of the space, I settled down with the Kaapstad, a perfect in every way fermented red rooibos latte and a savoury and sweet tasting of the best sellers.
These included a light and flaky croissant, moreish Ricotta, sundried tomato and basil turnover, a wonderfully spiced lamb bobotie filled croissant (why has no one thought of this before) and a pulled lamb, poached egg and crunchy pickled butternut bao bun.
This was followed by tastings of the totally chocolate croissant, salted caramel mousse with candied pecan, rich chocolate mousse and orange blossom ganache with chocolate biscuit and the comforting sticky bun with sea salt caramel and pecan nuts.
*Surreptitiously unbuttons jeans*. Other unique croissant flavours include raspberry-rose-litchi and pistachio-white chocolate.
If not wanting to resolutely abandon your #cleaneating intentions, healthy options such as the grain and vegetable superbowl and fresh juices do exist on the menu. However, I say don’t be shy to dive into indulgence, it’s 100% worth the calories!
Coco Safar from Caroline Sirois on Vimeo.
Coco Safar is situated at the Artem Centre (previously Adelphi Centre), 277 Main Road and is open seven days a week, from 7am to 9pm. Exclusive tours and cupping experiences can also be booked.
For more info go to www.cocosafar.com.
