Restaurant Review: So good it's addictive

18 May 2016 - 10:17 By Sylvia McKeown

The corner of 7th and 1st streets in Melville has seen many incarnations - from a bead shop to a wedding dress emporium - but none has been as appealing as the new breakfast bar - Pablo Eggs-Go-Bar. In addition to the Columbian reference there's a mash of influences and origins enshrouding the space. The name plays on the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar, who controlled most of the world's cocaine manufacture and distribution, while alluding to the "egginess" of breakfast (though the menu omits the scrambled variety).Most of what's on offer is a homage to the Israeli origins of the owners, bar the stray Indonesian sweet soy sauce concoction and the random edition of open sandwiches claiming to be Cubanos (that recently did a star turn in the movie Chef and are usually closed toasted sandwiches).The Israeli-inspired breakfast menu replicates what you'd find in the street cafés of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, including Israeli breakfast salad and flat bread and the kitka French toast, which has banana flavours in the batter that melt at the back of each bite, making the light and balanced dish extra-moreish.There are also interesting twists on old favourites like bacon- wrapped asparagus soldiers for your soft boiled egg, or deep-fried eggs in a basil and apple cider vinaigrette that play nicely against the more traditional salmon egg muffin or their "omelette of the day" - in my case it was chorizo and cheese. The eggs were fluffy but the filling needed more cheese and a dash of tomato to counteract the dryness of the chorizo.The star of the show was definitely the shakshuka - a Middle Eastern dish of creamy poached eggs baked into a tangy tomato, olive and pepper sauce, served on crisp flatbread. At Pablo's shakshuka is either green-based (with spinach) or red-based (traditional tomato). It's glorious. The Yemeni flatbread is golden and crispy, the perfect stodge with which to scoop up the sauce awash with runny poached yoke and herb-sprinkled white. Add a dash of humus and diced-up Israeli salad (served separately) and it's the type of breakfast that has you spending the rest of the day dreaming about going back for more.Because, despite the music being too loud, the coffee taking too long and the dodginess of the origin of the name, the food is just right. And yes, that really is salt in your shaker.• Pablo Eggs-Go-Bar is on the corner of 7th and 1st, Melville, Johannesburg..

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