Due to various set-backs in our flat-hunting mission, we have
been forced to rent a temporary place for another 2 weeks before we can
finally move into our proper home. The upside to this has been the chance to explore a new 'hood, which we wouldn't otherwise have spent much time in - Linden.
It may be a bit out of the way, but Linden is a special
little place. It's got that friendly small town feel to it,
with a healthy smattering of local shops and cafes, just one
supermarket and not a mall in sight. There's a real sense of community here which many areas of modern Johannesburg seem to lack.
Here are
some of my favourite places in Linden:
Corner 7th Street and 4th Avenue, Linden
An
Argentinian bakery specialising in croissants. You can get a really
good fresh breakfast roll (or croissant) with eggs, mushrooms and
more here, plus a juice and a coffee for about 50Rand - excellent
value. The music is good old-fashioned 1960s folk from Bob, Janis and
the gang, staff are absolutely lovely, there's free wifi and not a
whiff of pretension. I'd breakfast here everyday if I didn't think
such behaviour was absurdly extravagant.
 |
| I haven't eaten many croissants in Africa, but these are definitely very good |
Corner 7th Street and 4th Avenue, Linden
This is
Linden's trendy cafe and it's always packed at lunchtimes. They have
all kinds of smart, well-appointed design details like light bulbs in
jam jars and Phillipe Starck inspired tea pots. The Whippet has an
impressive selection of exotic tea blends from across the continent
and great coffee too. The wifi is not wholly efficient (just 25mb at
a time), but the food is gorgeous, they open late on Fridays for
after work drinks and they are very dedicated to the local community - as they say themselves it's all about 'South
Africans rediscovering their neighborhoods and their own history'.
 |
| The Whippet in Linden |
Yugo
Store
56 4th Avenue, Linden
Yugo
store is an historic relic that looks like it just fell out of 1980s
Bradford, although apparently according to some web reports Yugo dates back as far as 1946. Impressive. It says it's a supermarket, but actually it's more a warren
of all kinds of random odds and ends, some of which have real obvious
use, such as the African brand pots and pans, and others which have
evidently been here for the past three decades waiting patiently for
someone to come in and say 'yes, that's it! The pineapple shaped ashtray I was looking for!' It's like Poundsaver only most
things cost around three pounds and some of the stuff is really old.
In fact I might go so far as to say that Yugo Store needs a blog post all of its own - it is just such a unique place in this land of countless anonymous shopping malls. It's an absolute Aladdin's cave of random stuff; bucket and spade, bicycle wheel, photo frames, nails, strange local soap brands, toy soldiers, loose cigarettes (sold individually - many people queuing up for these), sweets (so many sweets), seeds, towels, coca-cola. You can buy it all in this one shop.
There's
an old fella (Mr Yugo I presume) who mans the till all hours, greets
everyone by their first name and knows where literally every item in
his store is. I've come here on numerous occasions in the last week
looking for tin openers, irons, saucepans etc and he always reels off
the exact directions 'left side of the store, 3rd
shelf, bottom' in a heartbeat. He seems to know everyone and always has time to chat. He is the reason that local stores are so important in the 21st Century - they keep communities together and remind us to be friendly to each other. Love Yugo Stores.
The
Cheese Shop and Cheese Cafe
71 7th Street, corner 3rd Avenue, Linden
I love
cheese. Me and my husband even had a cake made entirely of cheese at
our wedding, because that was my cheese dream. For me cheese is
basically an improvement to pretty much any meal. At the Cheese Shop
you can not only buy fancy small-farm South African cheeses such as
extra strong Karoo cheddar, you can also have a cheese meal in the
cheese restaurant next door – class.
Rembrandt
Slaghuis
57 4th Avenue, Linden
Slaghuis
means slaughterhouse in Afrikaans (one of many amusing Afrikaans
words) and Rembrandt is the real deal. This meat is really
outstanding stuff, some of it is so succulent and fresh you could eat
it cooked up just with salt and pepper. Damn, it just has so much
flavour, it's pure meat feast luxury. Mr Rembrandt likes to give me a
gentle ribbing over my terrible Afrikaans, which I actually find
quite charming and not annoying as I have been wont to feel in other
places. In fact he's actually trying to help me learn. Sweet.
 |
| Rembrandt Slaghuis |
Oh and
on Saturday mornings they set up a braai outside the shop – nyom!
Linden
Cycle
63 3rd Avenue
At some
point I think I am going to quit walking everywhere and splash out on
a bike. When I do, I am definitely getting it from here. They have
decent looking second-hand bikes from as little as 500Rand (about
35quid).
Herby's
Need a
Swiss or Bavarian hairstylist? Call this guy.
The Blue
Room
57 3rd Avenue, Linden
This is
a cute little store specialising in 1950s era furniture and other
sweet design pieces. They have a set of sparkly early 1960s kitchen
chairs in there which I am in love with, but alas I think sensibility
will win out. They
also sell Lenin bust candles (randomly) and have a good value clothes
store next door.
34 5th Street, corner of 4th Avenue, Linden
Unfortunately
there are not many bars in Linden. In fact I could rephrase that and
say there are next to no bars in Linden. Thank heavens the football
season's over.
Linden's one contribution to nightlife is the inviting, vaguely bohemian and gay friendly Amuse Cafe. They have live music from local bands Thursday through Saturday (acoustic night on Thursdays) and the friendly owner Dirk is so laidback he doesn't mind punters just hanging out drinking after-hours and getting on stage to mime the West End Girls video while listening to the full whack of Pet Shop Boys Greatest Hits, as we did last weekend. Thoroughly enjoyable.
 |
| Local folk singer Lucy Kruger |
No comments:
Post a Comment