Twenty years after this popular Beach Boys song hit the charts, The Pink Fig, a renovated farm house on Heatherbank Rd. in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, opened its doors as a coffee shop / children's play area. Situated conveniently close to main thoroughfares, shopping centres, petrol stations, schools, and restaurants in town, The Pink Fig has retained a country atmosphere in both its decor and grounds. A short distance from the shop, horses and cows graze lazily in the African sunshine (well, on Thursday they had to graze in the rain because, you know, it always rains on crawl day!).
The Pink Fig is a great getaway spot right in PE for the young and young-at-heart. If you have children with you, they can play on the swings and other playground equipment or participate in craft activities at an adjacent shop while you sit outside and enjoy breakfast, a light lunch, or dessert and tea. When the lkids get hungry there is a special menu for them as well.
No kids? No problem. There is plenty of room inside to sit back and relax in this country home setting. The Pink Fig offers a pensioners' breakfast special Wednesday through Friday and also an All-You-Can-Eat Sunday breakfast buffet that, I hear, is to die for. Some other menu highlights include a South African Farmer Sandwich (Fran and Keith tell me this is a definite must-try), rooster brood (an SA favorite), the entire dessert and tea cake selection, and a special section of the menu titled, "Pimp Your Garden Salad!"
The Pink Fig uses Puro Fairtrade Brand for all of its delicious coffee beverages. All the waitrons on staff are also trained baristas. A few are registered in an upcoming barista competition in PE. Good luck to Orlane and Stanley.... we're rooting for you!!!
While giving permission to take pics on Thursday, Manager Brendon Albertze insisted on a whole staff picture because, he says, "We're a team here!" Well, that team feel was palpable when they all came out for the picture... you can always tell when people enjoy what they are doing...it makes for a very positive experience for the patrons. So, speaking of patrons, this week's crawlers included Fran and Keith de Beer, Stella and Beryl Dawson, June Nash (welcome back, June!), Beth Vieira, and my son, Jeff. (Yes, this is why I am late posting again this week...we've been out and about showing Jeff around. We've been beaching, hiking, canopy zip-lining, and jumping off bridges....well, Jeff and Lou jumped, I just watched!!).
Conversation at the table was all over the place, starting with the "end of the world" which I guess was supposed to happen last week!?! Better luck next time, Nostradamus!!! Next, we discussed bad photography which included some visual aids provided by Beth (sorry, those shots didn't make the cut for the blog!). We then went on to politics, democratic elections, and international affairs. Obama, Cameron, and the Bushes, Jr. and Sr. all were fair game. Regardless of our differing opinions, though, we all agreed on one thing...If You Don't Vote, You Can't Complain. I won't mention any names, but you know who you are........... : )
During the course of our attempt to fix the world's problem, Brendon offered the crawlers a round of coffees on the house! That was awesome!! Thank you, Brendon and staff!!! A big thank you also goes out to Mother Nature who, by the time our visit was over, decided to spread a little sunshine on PE's version of Kokomo.
Until next week,
Ellen
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| The Pink Fig Team |
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| Mett the Barista Orlane Chidiku |
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| This Week's Crawlers Jeff, Ellen, Keith, Beryl, Fran, June, Stella, Beth |
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| 2 for 2 |