Eran “Chicken Joe” Surf Report : Woe is the Joe. Vida e for me.
Oh WOE is the Joe!!!!
The weather is the absolute pits today in Durbs. It’s kinda sunny but ultimately way too windy.
The wind is blowing all the waters flat as a pancake today – so no surfing for this piece of placid poultry.
Today is a day for the blogging it seems : I have been holed up for the last hour or so at the corner of Florida Rd and Innes Rd enjoying my cappuccino at Vida e Caffe and blogging away.
Wait… You don’t know WHO VIDA E are??? Holy Heck buddy – where have u been?
Vida e Caffe is the brainchild of some ex Durban boys who moved over to Cape Town after selling their awesome eatery “Fresh” in Musgrave Rd, next to Musgrave Centre, a few years back. Fresh was THE classic – they brought back the bagel in South Africa – selling the most AWESOME bagels and muffins ever.
In that tradition they continue by providing the most awesome 100% Arabicca coffee made by a killer cool crew behind the counter. The coffee is a Portuguese blend and they play Spanish/Portuguese music the whole day long.
The coffees at Vida E are available in the usual forms of cappuccino, macchiato, espresso, caffe americano and caffe latte. They also use Lindt chocolate to create a bunch of fantastic cocktails ranging from :
- caffe mocha (espresso, Lindt chocolate, milk and cream) – a hot chocolate beverage with a kick of arrabica espresso;
- Chocolate Quente (Lindt hot chocolate and cream) – whoa mr Decadance!
- Chocolate Frio (Blended ice,Lindt chocolate and milk) – toooo sweet for me! – but hugely popular.
They also serve all their drinks with a small square of 70% Lindt chocolate on the side.
Regarding the chocolate drinks – I don’t know what they did to the Lindt, and I feel that I am a bit of a chocolate connoisseur. I have sampled and enjoyed some of the very best chocolates that the world have to offer and I know Lindt chocolate products backwards. The Vida e boys have made a Lindt chocolate syrup for the purposes of their beverages, but ultimately something has gone wrong in the mix – the syrup is waaaaay too sweet and has tended to destroy the taste of the coffees. I strongly feel they need to look hard at this aspect of their product. Nonetheless many enjoy the taste of the super sweet frio.
Check out our amazing Lindt cappuccinos at eSquared. They definitely pip the Vida e variety.
The prices are pretty standard fare – a cappuccino setting you back R11.50 – in fact this is a good price for such a high quality cappuccino – loads of places are TOTAL rips and serve you the crap coffee at R12 and up. Fact is – Arabicca beans are about 5 times more expensive than Robusta for a reason : Robusta is crap. It’s bad for you and is totally unpalatable by itself. Robusta also contains more than double the recommended amount of caffeine per dose of espresso.
For those that want a change from the coffee culture – Vida e Caffe also provides Sumo de Laranja – freshly squeezed orange juice – they squeeze it right in front of you. Delicious!
Vida e Caffe also serve a range of pastries, muffins and rolls. The pastries range from the pasties da natta and pasties de coca to the awesome muffins. My fave muffins are the blueberry muffins and the Quatro – 4 cheese – muffins. There are a variety of others which range from an espresso/chocolate to the standard banana and nut and apple fare. There is also a really cool red pepper and cheese muffin favoured by many.
The rolls really are not my fave. Firstly there is not much of a range for people who cannot eat pork. There is a variety of Chorizo (Portuguese bases salami), ranging from combos with egg to other varieties. There is a salmon and egg as well as a roast beef option. I just think there is too much roll in the mix and the non-pork options are absolutely lacklustre. Mainly the rolls suck. They are just way too dry and flaky – yuk. I guess such is the Portuguese roll – but bagels would be so much better in my humble opinion.
Ultimately Vida e Caffe rocks - the vibe is phenomenal. They rock!!! It’s a bit dead right now –but here is a little video to entice you;)
the Chocolate Frio is the ultimate durban drink for summer…woop woop to that. love vida, got such a home vibe and fantastic coffee.
Yup Vida is pretty awesome. they are bloody everywhere in Cape Town, ones opening just a 5 minute walk from teh CT eSquared store….lunch mission perhaps, I’m obsessed with their muffins, I forget teh names but they ahve this triple cheese one and a uber apple muffin.
leYUM.