Leafy Greens Café, Muldersdrift (082 882 7300)
If any restaurant can dispell the idea of raw, vegan food being dull and dry it's Leafy Greens Café in the Cradle of Humankind. The weekend lunch buffets are not only educational (you'll eat foods at Leafy Greens Café that you've never heard of), they're also as pretty as they are delicious.
Even if you're not sure what you're looking at, the best approach is to grab a plate (it's R50 for a small plate or R95 for a big plate) and start choosing whatever dishes most strike your fancy.
You'll find colours for all seasons laid out in front of you. Warm, winter rusty hues present themselves in the form of dehydrated onion bread and dried 'biltong' mushrooms, while fresh green salads, a big bowl of guacamole and a platter of perfectly rolled vegetable spring rolls add a splash of summer
to the vibrant spread.
to the vibrant spread.
Moving on to the 'main course' section of the buffet, we were greeted with a surprisingly moreish buckwheat vegan pizza as well as an entire hot tray of dishes dedicated to ward off the cold on a particularly gloomy winter's day. The artichoke soup and golden brown croutons was something unique, but the winning dishes of the day were without doubt the crumbed spinach croquettes, spicy chickpea curry, rice musaka, baked cauliflower in coconut cream and comforting tomato pasta.
It's not often that you walk away from a restaurant feeling significantly healthier than when you first walked in, but that is certainly the case at Leafy Greens. Their menu is entirely constructed around what is seasonal and thriving in the organic veggie garden on the premises, and the passion their very knowledgeable staff members have for healthy eating is quite contagious.
*Article first published in the September 2012 issue of SA Country Life magazine.
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