It’s hard enough to survive in the competitive restaurant climate if you possess all the accepted start-up skills – let alone an ability to cook. I salute an exception: a green and virgin venture opened in April 2011 by 21-year-old twins with no cooking experience, that is not only still there, but is a popular fixture on the breakfast/lunch scene.
I’m skipping their tag line “luxury café” as I feel it gives a false impression. To the Oxford dictionary (and Google) luxury implies expense, exclusivity and opulence. None of which I’d associate with this pared-down venue. Style they have in abundance. There’s a clean-lined chic to Skinny Legs & All that’s in keeping with the fresh, back-to-basics food.
The against-all-odds success story behind the café rests on the airy confidence of the young. Jesse and Jamie Friedberg, both from Johannesburg, were studying at UCT, but were feeling “bored and suffocated” by their studies. Wanting to find “something better” to do with their lives, they decided to open a café. When I raise my eyebrows with the comment “Brave!” the twins laugh, confiding that their father thought it foolhardy.
But they had thought things through, seeing simplicity and “real, unadulterated food” as the key to a steady following. As for formal training, they believe that if you have a clear idea of what you want to do, you can learn what you need from cookery books – “and there’s always Google”.
So when the João Ferreira gallery, with its pressed ceiling and sense of space came up for grabs, they saw their chance. As João loves food and the twins love art, it’s an arrangement that suits both: his vibrant art collection is sold from the café walls.
The amusing name is hijacked from Tom Robbins’s wacky book, Skinny Legs and All, where the first sentence sets a food mood “...the newlyweds were driving cross country in a large roast turkey...”. But that turkey was a remodelled caravan, and the far simpler reason is that the café is opposite a casting agency and, come breakfast, is packed with models boasting legs up to their armpits.
The self-taught twins are essentially pragmatic. “We don’t like the idea of food being fiddled with too much in preparation, so we just got in there and cooked,” explains Jamie. “Fortunately we’re fast learners.” Within a week Jessie was scrambling her first eggs in the café kitchen.
They’re more relaxed now; have created a space that they want to come to every day. This pleasure permeates all aspects of the café, from personal welcome to tempting daily specials and fresh bakes.
The emphasis is organic, healthy and flavour-packed. Produce is locally sourced; eggs are free-range; savoury tarts, salads and open sandwiches (on rye or sourdough bread) burst with fresh, inventive ingredient combos. Soups, served in generous, specially crafted bowls, are filling and tasty.
I relished my forest-floor fresh mushroom risotto, but my irresistible “afters” – an outsize pecan, apple and carrot muffin – came home with me. Date scones are also a drawcard: I marvel at the customer who managed three.
l Breakfasts range from soft scrambled eggs at R40 to smoked Franschhoek trout at R70; fresh bakes round R25; soups, open sandwiches, salads and mains from R50 to R95, depending on ingredients. Refreshing juices from R20 and well-priced craft beers and wines.