One of the city’s oldest suburbs, overlooking the harbour, has become ‘quietly cool’. Bakery owner Carin Robinson gives us a local’s tour.
Image supplied
Co-owner of the Glenwood Bakery
Carin’s chef husband Adam had previously owned only restaurants and gastro pubs. ‘But he’d always baked bread for them. When he sold his last restaurant, he decided to open a bakery in 2014. His interest lies in traditional methods, with the emphasis on sourdoughs.
Of all the suburbs of Durban, Glenwood probably has the largest range of cafes that take coffee very seriously – I would say coffee nearly defines Glenwood! We are also very lucky to have the KZNSA Gallery in our neighbourhood.
Durban is an easy city to live in – what it offers in terms of art, culture and nature is accessible to most people. It also has a strong culture of home cooking, which means there is really wonderful fresh produce available from the many market gardens. I also love the ubiquitous smell of curry, and the city’s philharmonic orchestra – it is particularly excellent.’ 398 Esther Roberts Road, 0312050217
Image from Glenwood Bakery
Social scene
‘Glenwood doesn’t have enough bars, unless you are a student or like sports bars! I’d say the best grown-up place to drink is The Glenwood Restaurant – it has become famous for martinis.’ 113 Brand Road, 0826179768. ‘There is also The Winston, which has a long and respectable tradition of alternative live music and now has underground comedy too.’ 9 Clark Road, 0721005353
Local cuisine
Habesha Café for very delicious Ethiopian food (124 Helen Joseph Road,076-046-2516), Mooki Noodles for the brown rice with peanut and chilli (190 Brand Road, 0318119199) and Mrs Govender’s Curry Kitchen (483 Sydney Road, 0312053374)
Image from Habesha Cafe
Grab a coffee
Bean Green is a wonderful, very small cafe dedicated to coffee and music, with a few sofas and an old record player that customers use.’ 147 Helen Joseph Road, 0312018122. ‘Otherwise, there’s Savior – if you’d like very strong coffee on a beautiful Victorian veranda. 203 Bulwer Road, 0632255711
Unique finds
‘WTF! (aka What They Found) does not sell just any old junk – the stuff in there is carefully selected vintage items.’ 143 Bulwer Road, 0842085517. ‘House of Fabrosanz always has a very striking window display. One can buy the most exquisitely crafted clothing there – very feminine and unusual.’ 153 Helen Joseph Road, 0312010870
Image by WTF
Check it out
Museum director Sharon Crampton
The museum houses one of the largest and most spectacular public collections of Southern African artefacts dating back to the 19th century – over 5000 items that bring to life the ethnic diversity of our region.
The main attraction is 30 life-sized puppets clothed in ceremonial attire, representing different districts and indicating where the wearer is from, their age and social status. They are based on the marionettes strung from a traditional Zulu maskanda musician’s guitar, to dance as he plays, and the traditional Zulu fertility doll.
Glenwood today has a vibrant art and culture scene – exhibitions, film screenings and music and art classes (at KZNSA and The Green Camp Gallery), historical collections of craft and literature (us and the Mazisi Kunene Museum) and mixed-media creations (Umcebo Designs). We all share similar aims and are constantly collaborating.’ 500 Esther Roberts Road, 0312062889
Image from Phansi Museum
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