The smell of brewing coffee, delectable savoury surprises and decadent sweet treats enhanced by an ambience of warmth, happiness and friendship make For the Love of Food a little corner of heaven.
The family-run coffee shop, deli and bakery, where even the hot chocolate and brownies are made with to-die-for Belgian chocolate, is this month celebrating its first birthday with a brand new menu boasting a variety of new mouth-watering temptations.
Having started to sell their special brand of mostly pies at the well-known farmer’s market at the Pioneer open air museum six years ago, the Uys family believed it was time to realise their dream by spreading their passion for food to a wider market by opening a shop in Faerie Glen.
“We live in the area and believe that this part of Pretoria is the perfect market for what we have to offer. The people are not sceptical about new tastes and appreciate being introduced to unique food,” says Leon Uys.
With mother and daughter team Lynette and Annika using their decorating talents, father Leon bringing their ideas to life and putting a team of enthusiastic and dedicated staff together, they created For the Love of Food, a shop with a quaint atmosphere yet generous with its portions, warm service and friendliness.
But the family did not leave its roots at the farmer’s market and son Reghardt still runs a stall at the popular early-morning event. It is also from this market that they purchase the flowers in their shop, the home-made Dutch cheese and the Polish cold meats available in their deli section.
“When it comes to being adventurous, Leon is the one coming up with unique new recipe ideas while I tend to stick to the more traditional home-cooked tastes,” said Lynette. Annika is the expert when it comes to taking care of customers with a sweet tooth and plans to make the kitchen her career.
It appears that Leon’s ideas are a hit with patrons lining up to buy ‘duck and black cherry”, ox tongue and mustard, lamb and dried pear, pork and cherry and rabbit pies or the more traditional chicken, steak and ale or pepper steak – to eat in store or take home as a special treat for family and friends.
For the Love of Food has now turned strangers into friends by opening its doors at 07:00 to cater for business people, with an all day breakfast menu packed with delicacies such as smoked salmon scrambled eggs, eggs Florentine, eggs Benedict and other popular early morning meals. For those who prefer something sweet, the shop is known for its chocolate brownies and signature apple pie and of course, their very famous and popular variety of homemade quiche. They also sell little gifts and cookies.
The shop is in the DisChem Centre in Solomon Mahlanghu Drive, boasting a loaded catering menu as well as ready-to-eat warm dishes and casseroles to take home. It sells assorted cheeses, home-baked bread and a wide range of pâtés including impala and spring onion, kudu and Moroccan pepper, ostrich and cranberry and crocodile and parsley.
“But, what brings our patrons back time and time again is our selection of coffees,” said Leon, who is very proud of having a Barista with 15 years’ experience in brewing the tastiest coffee this side of the Hennop’s River.
For the Love of Food can be contacted on 012 991 3686.
Leon.
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