Monday happy. Yes. Eat.

No, I can’t really explain the Engrish headline to this post. It just made sense at the time when all I could do was think about eating this cupcake rather than writing about it. Go get one at Lazari now. Your Monday will be infinitely brighter for it.

www.lazari.co.za

The Cookshop Cupcake.

Thank you Cookshop. Just when the day was rushing by without anything truly good, there you come along, with your pink cupcake and its little colourful sprinkles. Aah, thank you Cookshop. I love you.

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Cookshop. 117 Hatfield St, Gardens.

Lazari.

Lazari have opened up a new shop in the Cape Quarter 2, but I think their original Vredehoek neighbourhood outpost is still far superior. It has the charm and quaint aspect the new one is lacking. I used to think the Cape Quarter 2 was going to be an awful  Joburg-in-Cape-Town piece of ‘outdoor mall’ architecture. That was until it opened, and I realised it was exactly that, and worse! Aside from the awesome Spar downstairs, there isn’t much reason to go there and many reasons not to. Anyways, there’s something about cruising into Vredehoek and getting a vanilla cupcake from the original Lazari that beats going anywhere near Cape Quarter 2. And those vanilla cupcakes are so good you might find yourself licking the pink icing off the box you took them home in. And then going back for another one. Or two. This has to be the best cupcake in Cape Town? Yes? No? I think so…

They also do a great breakfast – try the Greek, with two boiled eggs and salami – and their lunch menu is quite broad. Had a chicken, mushroom & leek pie here yesterday that was delicious. Mmm, pastry. Can’t avoid the stuff it’s so good. Yes, Sunday’s are rather mad for breakfast. And there’s a bit of a mommy-lunch scene here during the week (the X3 brigade parked outside during lunch is an early warning sign), but seated outside on a warm day it’s about as relaxed and serene a neighbourhood spot there is around town.

Lazari. 021 461 9865.