The brand famous as an instigator in the city’s coffee culture, and putting it on the world’s radar, is taking traditional kaapse cooking to a whole new level.
By day, caffeine enthusiasts get their fix at TRUTH Café (TRUTH Coffee’s bustling steampunk-style headquarters), but from 6pm it’s all unserious cocktails and serious cuisine at TRUTH. After dark.
With TRUTH Café having been voted ‘Best Coffee Shop in the World’ for two years running by The Daily Telegraph, TRUTH founder David Donde and his team felt inspired to do for the local food scene what they’ve done for coffee by expanding their culinary offering to include dinner, and extending their opening hours to midnight.
“We brainstormed some cool – or rather kif – ideas and kept one-upping each other until we hit on a concept to serve up re-imagined, sophisticated versions of the typical Sowf Effrekin comfort food we all grew up with”
“The menu celebrates our diversity and traditions, icons and clichés without taking them too seriously. Locals will appreciate the effort we’ve gone to to elevate and create luxury versions of everyday staples like pap and wors, samoosas and frikkedels. And for non-locals, we put together a comprehensive glossary explaining everything from babalas and bredie, to papsak, Oros and regmakers” says David.
Opt for a food and cocktail paired heppy meal – swig a Stoner (Blitsem Witblits, ginger puree, lime and hemp) or a zingy OROSie (blood orange juice, Triple Sec and Grenadine), or mix and match your own selection from the menu.
Light meals feature Bovril-y on toast, and a bietjie Biltong (ostrich carpaccio, exotic mushroom biltong and meat jelly on a buttery brioche) and nie Jou Ma se Yellowtail Frikkadel nie (yellowtail pâté ‘meatballs’ with gluten-free garlic bread and apricot jam).
Mains include a hearty Mixed Grill (barbeque basted free-range rack of lamb, chicken and handcrafted boerewors with spicy umfino and grilled corn), a one hundred percent vegan Sosatie, and a Durban-inspired slow-cooked Lamb Bunny Chow.
Leave room for deluxe versions of your tannie’s Sunday best desserts that’ll no doubt put hers to question: Melktert (white couverture chocolate, coffee ice cream, mango passion cremeux on a crispy Speculaas biscuit), Malva Pudding (with Amarula and Valhrona chocolate) or Peppermint Crisp Tart (biscuit, salted caramel, chocolate ganache, milk chocolate and mint ice cream, and Valhrona chocolate).
“We don’t want to say too much about this new offering and detract from the delight that awaits our customers. There simply is nowhere else in Cape Town to show off nostalgic local cuisine in an unconventionally romantic environment. Prepare to be pleasantly surprised” says David.
TRUTH. After Dark is open Tuesdays to Saturday from 6pm until midnight. 36 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town. +27 (0) 21 2000 440
Images courtesy of Crave Photography www.crave.ng / @CraveCPT