Cafe Max breakfast review

I recently reviewed Voila and Lazari on the Cape Quarter. These are pretty cool breakfast options if you’re happy to wait for a table and pay a fortune for your breakfast. Walking distance from the Cape Quarter (up the road and right along Waterkant street) is a little gem called Cafe Max, hidden on a quiet road you would not normally traverse.

Peaceful, no queue for tables, friendly and good value. This place really is a gem. I opted to sit in the al fresco area which is a similar size to inside (about 5 or 6 tables) and enjoyed the peaceful sound of the water fountain next to me. I ordered a glass of orange juice (R14) while I checked out the menu. There is the usual selection of breakfasts: Health (R35), eggs benedict (R42 with bacon, R50 with salmon), omlette (R49) and the option I went for, which was the sunshine breakfast (R29) which included coffee.

Now, let me tell you what’s in the sunshine breakfast: Two eggs, bacon, tomato, mushrooms, baked beans and toast. It was all a very generous portion and it was well prepared and served nice and hot. Let’s take a minute to compare value… Miss K down the road charges R50 for a similar breakfast plus another R19 or so for coffee, so R69 vs R29? Are you kidding? Even Cafe Sofia’s special for R25 including coffee is really half the offering of Cafe Max and about the same price.

Now here’s the kicker for those who are in the area in the morning during the week. The sunshine breakfast costs R20! It’s unbelievable value and the breakfast is actually so good and the place so nice I would eat there even if it was R50.

They are open for lunch too, with offerings such as salads, tartines and filled baguettes/croissants etc. All reasonably priced. They are only open for dinner on Thursday nights but they are available for functions. See their website for details on booking Cafe Max for functions.

The only negative I could think of was that there is no wifi, but apparently they are looking into providing that service.

Do I recommend you go to Cafe Max? No, definitely not, because if you go you’re going to find out what a little secret gem it is and you’re going to go back again and take friends and then they will go back again and take their friends and soon it will be so busy I will have to wait for a table. So I think you should stick to the Cape Quarter.

Cafe Max
Waterkant Street, Greenpoint
021 425 4102
www.cafemax.co.za