Cafe Culture: The Ant has plenty of legs

The Ant Cafe turns 20 this year. Long the bohemian hangout in the area, little about it has changed. Still at home on 7th Street in Melville, Johannesburg, the front of shop is small but welcoming.

Lights are low, the walls darkened by pictures and posters, and long ago smoke. Washing glasses and wiping surfaces behind the counter where drinks are kept, Theuns Botha tells me he bought the place six years ago from his friend, Ronnie van der Walt.

"It was time to give back to Melville," he said. I presume he is an old student who once worked the Melville streets hard.

From the time I first came for a drink 15 years ago, the only obvious change is that it has expanded into the back yard. It probably seats twice the number of people it did then, some in a covered section with more tables in the open.

It was busy when we visited on Monday night. Tables of locals, tourists and students were making the most of the pizza special - any pizza for R50. I had two young dinner companions with me. Told by the delightful waitress that children are not welcome after 7pm, she gave us a table even though there were only 20 minutes left before our curfew.

I ordered a tomato soup (R50) and an Italian salad (R70), and the two girls ordered pizzas.

There isn't a wine list. Instead a small selection of bottles is displayed on an open shelf near the counter. My glass of Bonnievale Unpretentious Red was just fine. I could have ordered bottles of 2013 David Niewoudt Ghost Corner Pinot Noir or the 2012 Warwick The First Lady Cabernet Sauvignon.

The straightforward, unfussy menu offers ciabatta sandwiches, platters (meat or vegetarian), soups, salads and pastas. I don't remember the menu ever offering anything less or more.

My soup, unevenly heated, was okay. The salad was simple and fresh. The girls both said their pizzas were "really, really good".

Although The Ant is renowned for its thin, crispy pizza bases, it's not only the food that draws people off the streets. With an open log fire at the far end of the narrow room, it's cosy inside and has a lingering smell of late-night parties. If you've been around these hoods for a while, you'll know that, like its soundtrack of Edith Piaf, The Kinks and The Everly Brothers, The Ant has a comforting familiarity. Eat Out magazine calls it "a charming, idiosyncratic place usually crammed with arty types".

The kitchen closes at 10.30pm and doors at 12.30am. Besides the extra seats, the only other obvious change is that they now take bookings.

• 11, 7th Street, Melville, Johannesburg, 076-476-5671