Enjoy best food for fast times

    A combination of Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans and English, we’re already familiar with many of the words. Most of us go jolling at the weekend and can count any number of skelms, skebengas and mamparas among our acquaintances.
When things get out of hand and we suffer from bhabhalazi, a variety of mutis will cure a headache: at lunchtime nothing tastes better than a delicious wors roll with onion and tomato.
 When traversing the pot holes of New Avondale Shopping Centre car park recently, an involuntary ‘eish!’ (Xhosa expletive) escaped my lips.
The IB (Italian Bakery), iconic meeting place of beautiful people, literati, jollers and skebengas, was closed and deserted.
A wind was blowing and the landscape might have been part of U2’s Where the Streets Have No Name.
I fastened my seat belt and sped off to Kensington in search of warmth, light and human company. I found it in abundance at Vali’s Bakery.
 A family owned business, Vali’s Bakery attracts a varied clientele, which flows in and out like the tide for morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea.  Expect to see courting couples, young mothers with  toddlers snoozing in strollers, and wheeler-dealers discussing the latest scam over a Sprite and a toastie.
The urbane dealer in buzzy headphones and other exciting equipment may nip out of his shop for a double espresso, in between demonstrating a set of Dr Dre’s Beats, or initiating a client into the techie side of Lady Gaga’s Heartbeats.
The friendly Kensington butcher will probably drop by for a cup of tea, after lunchtime regulars have returned to work.
 Most of Vali’s Bakery patrons like to sit around pavement tables, coyly screened from the traffic by pot plants.  If the wind is blowing in Kensington, there are a few cosy inside tables.
The waiters are renowned for their good humour and could almost be part of the family, considering their length of service.
 When George and I arrived for lunch last week, we found a table on the crowded verandah, and considered the Feta and spinach quiche special, conveniently chalked up on the menu board. George chose his all-time favourite, a hamburger ($4), and I decided on a pepper steak pie ($3).
 Anyone who watches Masterchef or Come Dine with Me on TV understands the importance of food presentation.
Whether the cook at Vali’s enjoys DSTV’s food channel or is simply an artist at heart, the hamburger was a thing of beauty.
Served on a large white plate inside a freshly made hamburger bun, the luscious beef patty was garnished with onion and tomato and a small fresh salad.
Artistically sprinkled with paprika, the crowning glory was a large yellow nasturtium, peeking perkily between bun and burger.
Fundis may not think nasturtiums and burgers appropriate partners, but the hamburger was swiftly consumed and said to be delicious. The pepper steak pie was tasty, if on the small side, and a mixed salad on the side moderately pleasant. Some left over pastry trimmings, fried and sprinkled with paprika and served alongside the pie, were tasteless, and merely took up space on a small plate.
Cappuccinos ($1) were hot and foaming and made with full cream milk. A toasted hot cross bun for George was $2.
I asked for an Eccles cake, which is really a puff pastry and currant bun and dates back to 1769, when it appeared in a best-selling recipe book in the English village of Eccles.
At $2, this might be considered a snip, considering that an Eccles cake with a slice of Lancashire cheese in London could cost up to £6.60. As FIFA fever increases, the production at Vali’s Bakery of typically South African favourites, such as Koek Sisters and Melk Tart, is probably set to increase.
So if you have a sweet tooth, keep some space after your pie and pastry for a lekker sweet treat.

Vali’s Bakery
Shop 5
Kensington Shopping Centre
Tel:706857