The Funeatery’s playful food, inspired proprietor

It’s not often that a restaurant lives up to its Instagram posts or, for that matter, the flattering reviews of online pundits.

But the Funeatery in Blackheath delivers all that it’s been cracked up to be, and more.

Here the meals are as playful and inspired as the proprietor.

The service is good and the atmosphere, well, just fun. After going once, you’d want to go again.

Before even getting to the food, the Funeatery is a wee bit whack and eccentric. But accessibly so.

Inside the small eatery, diners have fallen in love with the nested perch seats, a Tetris-like interior seating arrangement against the wall, overlooking the deli-counter like service area.

Outside, the usual table seating.

It’s a shopping centre diner, but it’s no mallrat establishment.

It’s easy to fall in love with Funeatery

Owner Janie Radford opened her doors two years ago and has not looked back.

The restaurant gets busy, very busy. It’s easy to see why. Her energy is infectious and so too is her passion for what she does.

After all, she said, being a restaurateur runs in her family; her mother owned a well-known patisserie in the Northcliff area for years.

“I grew up in the business,” she said, “and I cannot imagine doing anything else with my life. It’s my absolute happy place,” she said.

“Food is my love language, and if I can share it with people, then I can truly be myself.”

A brief segue from the foodie business didn’t work out.

After school, Radford enrolled to study engineering but dropped out.

“It just wasn’t for me,” she said and added that the food business kept on beckoning her to return.

She spent a dozen years of so racking up the hours as a pastry chef, eventually opening a cake shop in Melville, north of Joburg.

The pandemic forced its closure.

“After 12 years of doing the same thing, I wanted to prove I wasn’t a one-trick pony,” she said. Radford’s reinvention led to the birth of Funeatery.

Also Read: Gatsby glam and guts: Claudia Moruzzi’s dazzling stage comeback

The menu is a fresh take on health-conscious eating, inspired by Radford’s personal transformation.

“During Covid, I realised the only thing I could change was myself,” she said. After shedding weight and embracing healthier choices, she wanted to show others that “lovely food can still be healthy.”

However, catering to South African tastes meant finding a balance. “We still want chips and Coke,” she said, “so we’ve had to be creative in incorporating those flavours in a healthier way.”

Fun, healthy and playful food

And she’s done it very successfully and deliciously.

Try the Nacho Average Waffle for a delicious savoury plate of yum. It’s got a bit of wild to it, but mild enough with a kick of sweetness that turns this dish into an everyday anytime meal.

The coffee is good too, while the chicken nuggets are so moreish that even the pickiest four-year-old will want to order a second helping off the kiddie’s menu.

The collection of bagels, bowls and snacky bites are all just as yummy.

Back to the bagels… try the Philly Cheese Steak, the Fish Called Wanda or the irresistible Marvelous Mrs Mayo chicken bagel with cream cheese, sweet mustard, avo and sweet herbs.

Portions are generous.

You won’t go hungry here. And the milkshakes are to absolutely sugar-rush for. Try the colour-changing lemonade with candyfloss or the Salted Caramel hot drink. There’s also a Dirty Milktart coffee.

For dessert, the Salted Caramel Apple Crumble is a breakfast oats bowl, but it could easily be a pudding, it’s that good.

The sweet waffle range is seduction with standouts the Wonka Waffle, a bubble waffle with ice cream and chocolate muesli, caramel and strawberries or the Humble Crumble, a waffle with apple crumble, ice cream and custard. And yes, it’s as decadent as it sounds. But taste it to believe it.

Menu inspired by showbiz characters

You may have noticed, but many of the dishes on the menu are named after or inspired by films and characters in it.

“I’m a total nerd,” said Radford. “Anything Marvel, Harry Potter, Disney. You name it, I love it.”

Even the drinks are christened with themes.

“I love watching people giggle as they read the menu and recognise characters,” she said. “It’s like finding kindred spirits.”

Unlike almost every other eatery, Radford has resisted joining a food delivery service. She said she just won’t do it.

“I miss the old-fashioned restaurants where people come, sit down, and actually communicate,” she said. “We want people to experience the food in the store. It’s just so much nicer than anything in a takeaway package.”

Sidebar note though, in peak times it is recommended that you book.

And try to get a seat perched at the top of the seating hive. It changes the experience completely.

Now Read: Banshee: Super violent but addictive TV