Park Off: Farm-style comes to the 'burbs

Delta Café looks over a low embankment in Johannesburg's Craighall Park.

The latest café on the block is a place where you can "just chill and pat your pet", according to the menu, and is so new that Google Maps hasn't yet worked out where it is, and consequently I got lost.

When I finally got where I was going, I discovered one of the oldest houses in the neighbourhood on a property with indigenous plants and stables.

Four months ago, Daniel Basch and his partner Laura-Beth Eicker-Harris rented the house and started Delta Café.

Basch is the guy who drives the strEAT Cuisine van around town, parking off in the city's business hubs to offer office workers a real meal-on-wheels experience.

He didn't have any plans to open a restaurant but said that, after he'd travelled the world working in the public events industry, he wanted to create a relaxed atmosphere for people to enjoy themselves.

"There comes a time in life when people need to unplug and relax. Creating an outdoors, laid-back atmosphere in the middle of the suburbs makes the experience different from the mall," he says.

"The aim is to keep the café small and intimate - a place to get away from it all."

The café is in the Rand Epileptic Employment Association Foundation complex, a care facility and hostel for epilepsy sufferers. It houses a nursery, a farm stall that sells fresh eggs and grows veggies, and a charity shop.

Being away from a major commercial zone means you can enjoy a farm-style dish without distraction from the pair of shoes you saw in the window next door.

The simple menu includes dishes such as pannekoek , fish cakes, mini-frittatas and chicken pregos.

I had to taste the DC hot chocolate with a dash of Amarula, the only alcoholic drink on the menu. After the tongue-warmer, we had frittatas for a starter and, for mains, big D's grilled, clean-cut rump. It was prime, fresh and succulent, paired with broccoli mash.

The veggies and herbs are freshly picked from the garden by Daniella Alexander, who also supplies the REEA.

Almost all of Basch's fresh produce comes from the property.

A percentage of Delta Cafe's profits go to the foundation to help care for its patients.

The complex has become a little village. There's a secondhand book store and the Bamboo Palace, which upgrades old furniture. The Colourful Splendour Nursery is well worth a visit, especially at this time of the year.

The place is full of cyclists and runners during weekends so, if you can't get a table immediately, just take a slow walk around.