Delight in new season specials

 Garden jasmine is budding and filling the air with sweet spring scent. Wanting to stock up at Doon Estate’s month end farmers market, (last Saturday of every month) I agreed to meet a young friend at the Shop Café for breakfast. I have written it up not so long ago – but not their breakfast, and its important to see that one’s  favourites are still delivering!
While parking, I spotted Shop Café proprietor, Kerry Wallace picking a huge bunch of flowers round the back of his restaurant – a dramatic mixture of succulents in shades of red and green and a purple flowering shrub. He loves flowers and fills the restaurant with imaginative arrangements.
As the season shifts the farmer’s market is bustling with lots of stall holders and more produce from everybody. Peter Pipers’ had fresh vegetables and lovely free range eggs in addition to their broad range of saucy pickles, chutneys and jams and signature chillies.  Plenty of sweet treats too are on offer ranging from Greek delights including snowy shortbread and loukoumia (homemade Turkish delight), to syrupy koeksisters. Proteas from Nyanga, home baked goods and a book stall add to the shopping variety.
I go back for my regulars – German rye bread, Nyanga tomatoes, fresh organic vegetables and the occasional chocolate croissant from VandeMeers chocolate shop to take home for breakfast. But today breakfast is under the pergola at the Café, a lovely space on a clear morning, offering intimacy as well as openness.
We ordered cappuccinos (US$2) while we studied the menu. Simple but all looking really tasty.  Omelettes are US$8 with a choice of fillings – mushroom, cheese and rocket, blue cheese and spring onion or cheese and tomato. Fried eggs, served with mushrooms and roasted tomatoes are US$7. Fruit salad topped with yoghurt or homemade muelsi are US$3 each. The specials of the day were scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, and eggs benedict which I couldn’t resist trying. 
Masterchef Australia has become regular viewing recently though I am finding it very hard to figure the rules of the competition. It’s very complicated to work out the different types of challenges – some offer immunity (or is that Big Brother?) Others involve cook offs against famous chefs or against each other while other contestants eat dinner in fancy restaurants or watch from the gallery above, calling out advice. I have not yet seen a winner and have no idea how or when we will get there!
A recent challenge was an eggs benedict race. Contestants had 15 minutes to knock up a perfect dish at the end of which two of them would be knocked out. The dish looks deceptively simple – poached eggs with bacon on English muffins topped with hollandaise sauce. But it involves getting a lot of things perfectly together at the right time and the hollandaise – a well seasoned savoury concoction of egg yolks with an acid zing from lemon or vinegar – can go wrong quite easily.
And did for the masterchef contestants – for two of them anyway.
Mine was delicious – though Shop Café’s homemade seed bread is so good I could willingly have foregone the muffin. My friend had the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.  Both dishes looked gorgeous garnished with a pretty salad and sprinkled with pumpkin seeds.
What a nice way to start off a Saturday. Breakfast for two including four cappucinos was US$26. (Shop Café will be closed for two weeks annual leave from August 8).