Welcome to Yumfontein

Croque monsieur & mopane worms, trattorias & hipsterias - Braamfontein has it all. Andrea Burgener takes a tour

86 PUBLIC

87 Juta Street (entrance in The Grove), 0611571823. Open seven days a week from noon till late

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Percy Mosedie has long been considered the titan of the pizza base in Johannesburg. He trained in Naples and his former Illovo and Emmarentia pizzerias had hordes of followers. Former and new customers now flock to his latest venture.

It's a small place, modern, simple and slick but also cosy, with the big pizza oven at the far end of the space telling you the complete menu story: pizzas all the way. The same light flaky base is now enlivened with a variety of beers, depending on Percy's whim.

Pizzas are puffed up and charred around the edges as they should be; the tomato base is generous and the cheese correctly modest. They're now a staple lunch for workers and students and a regular supper for residents.

The curious name refers to the year 1886 when Johannesburg was made a public digging area, thus giving everyone a chance at the riches (well, in theory).

FATHER

Shop no 2, 73 Juta Street, 0825134258. Monday to Saturday, all day

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Father is so stylish it verges on formidable. It's not actually true that you pay extra for looking at the cool font, the exclusive, very Svenska milk jugs, the wooden walls, the hip owners' hairstyles - but you almost feel like you should.

Luckily things go beyond style, with some exceptionally good coffee in place. Coffee is, in fact, the big menu item here. Buy it in liquid form or get a good-looking bag of home-roasted to take away.

The other brilliant liquid option is their Lindt hot chocolate. You won't find too much food (cooking would make the elegant surroundings look way too untidy), and the customers are, accordingly, all very trim, taking up minimal space in the minimal space.

If you do want to eat, there are good rye sandwiches, pastries and doughnuts sitting in aesthetically pleasing rows on the counter.

LOVE FOOD

4 Ameshoff Street, 0836026511. Monday to Friday, all day

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A small, fresh daytime option with a varied clientele (in other words you won't feel spare if you aren't part of the local hipster crowd). The big drawcard here is the simple, good quality, distinctly Ottolenghi-esque buffet table which changes its offerings regularly.

Dishes are in the vein of cauliflower and caraway salad, beef kofta, crusted fish, roasted root vegetable salads, corn fritters and lots of green leafy freshness.

The kitchen also does unexpectedly nice things to barley. Everything feels like home food in the best possible sense. If you want to check what's on the menu for the day, just go to the www.lovefoodkitchen.com which is usually updated daily.

There's also a dinner club on the first Friday of every month, where the buffet table is swapped for a "fine dining" three-course meal.

BLACK FOREST BAKERY

102 Juta Street, 0114030065. Monday to Friday all day; Saturday till lunchtime

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The word "institution" can't be avoided here. This old-timer at the east end of Juta keeps going strong without changing a single thing.

 The dusty wooden cuckoo clock on the wall, ramshackle fridge display and distinct lack of cool fonts mark it as from another time in this area's history.

But why, as they say, fix it if it's not broken? The place is bursting at lunchtime when big, fresh, powdery German-style rolls, meat patties and their famous pretzels are dispensed.

On either side of lunch, peckish wanderers come in for jam doughnuts, proper Florentines, cheesecake and stupendous custard Danish. This is one of the few bakeries to offer wheat-free essene (eats) and spelt bread.

VELO

Shop 2, The Grove, corner Juta & Melle Streets, 0114030695. Monday to Saturday, all day

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Velo tells you what it is about on the menu: "Some say it's a gallery. Some say it's a café. We think it's both." Now you know. Changing artworks form the décor of the otherwise deliberately naked, informal space.

Despite being billed as a café, there's an extensive menu which goes beyond what that might suggest. As well as sandwiches, salads and such, there are "proper" meals such as sirloin and chips, trinchado and schnitzel. There are loads of options on the breakfast front, including eggs Benedict, of which I'm sure every city needs more.

A favourite meal with regulars is the Rooster Booster sandwich - grilled chicken, avo, homemade peri mayo and rocket on ciabatta. There are also some fine high-rise cakes, big enough and delicious enough to form a lunch on their own.

POST

70 Juta Street, 0722482078. Breakfast through to lunch, Monday to Saturday

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Almost an oldie by now, Post has a cool comfortableness in its skin that makes you feel it's been there forever and will be there forever more.

Students, architects, journos and the nearby gallery crowd sit cheek-by-jowl along the sunny windows, noshing croque monsieur and other friendly foods. Post was the first of the cool coffee hangouts to start changing the face of Braamies.

The tiny kitchen area manages to push out more than you'd expect from its size, and very good stuff it is too. Considering the fact that the Post crew are bothering to source Greenlands's award-winning grass-fed beef, brilliant (and also award-winning) Rio Largo olive oil, and are using as much organic produce as they can (there are plans to start a food garden to fill in the gaps), the prices are staggeringly good.

Offerings do run beyond the bread-and-fillings side of things, but excellent sandwich combinations are what they're known for.

RAMEN

Corner Juta & Melle Streets (entrance in The Grove), 0114030788. Open all day, every day, from 11am

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As the name suggests, the big thing here is noodles. Japanese noodles in a broth or in stir-fries are what most locals come in for.

As the no-nonsense décor suggests, it's basic and Japanese-inspired rather than what you'd expect at a true Japanese restaurant, so don't arrive in purist mode.

Most eating happens at a long central table. For non-noodlers, there are curries and bunny chows. Ramen offers its student customers a considerable discount.

OLIVES & PLATES at WAM

Corner Jorissen & Bertha Streets, 0117171723. Monday to Saturday, all day

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A huge minimalist coffee shop, almost canteen-like, adjacent to the Wits Art Museum. The Olives and Plates catering company, which provides food in different canteens and restaurants all over the Wits campus and further afield, is blissfully uncatering-like in its offerings.

The pastry and cake choices are a nightmare for the sweet-toothed: big fat doughnuts, sticky Chelsea buns smothered with lovely icing, buttery pecan pies, chocolate tarts, cheesecakes and more. There are also enormous sub-style sandwiches, good salads in takeaway vessels, and even hot takeaway oats.

At lunchtime, buffet dishes come out of swish chaffing dishes. It's a million miles away from the Wits canteen I not-so-fondly remember, with its gluey mash, oily omelettes and grey baby marrows.

DALEAH'S

6 De Beer Street, 0713930542 or 0114030243. Tuesday to Saturday, all day

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Housed in the one of the suburb's most charming buildings, with its grass-green exterior, Daleah's has charm to equal its site.

The menu is on a blackboard, higgledy-piggledy, and the whole feel is kinda vintage and homely. All-day breakfast, sandwiches, pastas and soups are the main offerings, with their mini-burgers or sliders the house speciality.

It's become another of the area's most popular coffee and all-day eating hangouts. If you're in luck there will be cheerful cheeky jelly and custard for pudding. There's a private dining room for lunches or business goings-on.

DOUBLE-SHOT Coffee & Tea

Corner Juta and Melle Streets, 0111005241. Monday to Saturday, all day

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Just in case the name doesn't give the game away, the humungous coffee machine sitting at the far end will add a helpful hint.

The style of coffee is a particularly fruity mix, quite different to what most of us are used to. All coffee and tea is sourced from a plantation in Malawi which grows both. Décor is minimal but the place feels warm.

 Most of the décor is actually coffee-related: shelves offering beans and ground coffee (roasted and ground on the premises, obviously), bodums, teapots and other tea and coffee paraphernalia.

Food-wise, the menu is short and sweet. If you do decide to go for eating purposes, bear in mind that they are "proudly vegetarian". With all glass walls and a corner location, it's great for people-watching and just feeling part of the street scene.

LAMUNU Restaurant & Bar

90 De Korte Street (or enter from The Grove), 0112428600. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, Monday to Sunday

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The restaurant adjacent to (and part of) Hotel Lamunu services hotel guests as well as all and sundry. The space is slick, pared-down and casual, in a way that has almost become the Braamfontein style.

The menu is modern global café style, with everything from breakfasts and light meals to good (and really reasonable) chicken curry, vegetable fritters and weightier meaty options.

What helps the appetite is seeing, through a glassed section of the wall, the impeccably clean and almost OCD-neat kitchen. Ditto the cooks. Far more impressive than the kitchens in many larnier establishments. And the staff in the restaurant are sweetness and light.

RAINBOW KRAAL

Corner Bertha & Jorissen Streets, 0114031473. Open all day and for early dinner, Monday to Saturday

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Definitely less glam than some of the newer venues in the area, this is a very small, cosy diner where a predominantly student crowd goes to knock back good budget breakfasts, lunches and suppers.

They're famous for having the best chips and potato wedges for miles. Yes, real chips made from actual potatoes, not the weird frozen reconstituted potato-mash that so many places now throw at you. You can also get mopane worms when on special.

THE SMOKEHOUSE & GRILL

Corner Juta and De Beer Streets, 011 403 1395. Lunch and dinner, Monday to Saturday

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New American-style steakhouse owned and run by the family who started Highwayman's Loft way back when, so they've had some practice in putting steaks on plates.

Burgers, pulled pork on a bun and ribs are going to be favourite highlights in this joint. If you have one iota of space left after the huge portions, go for the really good ice cream, freshly made on the premises.

PS The Smokehouse is opposite the Bannister Hotel, whose newly opened Greenwood restaurant, run by ex-Washington DC chef Carole Greenwood, may also be one to watch.