If you missed part one of my East City Exploring series, featuring the super-cool new restaurant, Belly of the Beast, click here.
The 2nd new spot in my hood that I was dying to try out is the truly beautiful, French-style, Swan Cafe. Already a hit with pretty much every design magazine & designer out there, the rich interior basically equates to Instagram gold.
Sticking to the traditional French colours of blue, red & white, Swan Cafe succeeds in creating a very chic Parisian feel. The walls are adorned with vintage swan murals, with intricate, wooden bird cages hanging from the ceiling to complete the look.
On the menu? French crêpes, savoury buckwheat-based galettes & Swan Café exclusive tea blends with quirky names like “French Kiss” and “Paris Je T’aime”.
As the brainchild of French born & raised, Jessica Rushmere, the creator of another little French eatery you may know – La Petite Tarte – you are guaranteed an authentic French experience, complemented by soft French Café music and everything.
You can also view their full menu online over here.
I went for their French-style Earl Grey tea called “Lady Grey” (R32)… Early Grey is my absolute favourite tea indulgence, so this went down like a treat:
Love the presentation…
As well as the Sud-Af galette (R70) with bacon, roasted baby tomatoes, mushrooms, Swan cheese duo (Emmental and Gruberg) & a free range egg:
Seriously, what’s not to love? Egg = good, bacon = good, cheese & more cheese = gooooood. Although quite rich, this was delicious.
My friend Werner opted for the Croque Madame galette (R80) with gypsy ham, Bechamel, Swan Cheese duo (Emmental and Gruberg), chives & a free range egg:
I was slightly jealous that his was prettier than mine… he also seemed pretty damn happy with every bite… so some definite food envy there.
But yeah, both were really good & I’m now dead keen to go back and try a sweet crêpe too (just didn’t have space on the day).
For those who end up falling in love with their teas, or would like to buy some as a gift, they also sell their teas in pretty swan tins:
And if the swan-effect has hit you hard, you can also purchase Swan plates & trays…
For the fantastic attention to detail & fun French experienced, I’m going to give Swan Cafe a score of 
on my Miss K Kiss-o-Meter scale & recommend that you swan on over there immediately. 😉
You will find them on the corner of Buitenkant & Barrack Street, they’re open Mon to Fri from 8am to 4pm and Sat & public holidays from 8am to 2pm, and if you’d like to book a table, you can contact them on 079 45 44 758 or bonjour@swancafe.co.za.
Just note that they don’t take reservations on public holidays & Saturdays, so rather just get there early. For example, the Saturday morning when we were there we arrived at 9am and it was still pretty quiet, but by 10am people were waiting for tables.
xxx