Cafe of the Week: Monocle & Mermaid

Wednesday, 4 February, 2015
Monocle & Mermaid
Shop no. 1 St George's Building, St George's Street
Simon's Town

Photo credit to Glen Loxton

Well now, at the end of the railway tracks on the tip of Africa, there is a charming little cafe just waiting for you to visit it. We chatted to Jan Harmse, one of the owners, and he told us what the delightful Monocle & Mermaid is all about.


"We specialise in coffee, ethical venison (which we hunt ourselves) and vegetarian dishes.

My Business Partner (Glen), knows a thing or two about hunting, he hunts all the venison for us.

I have a back ground in the Aussie coffee culture as I used to live in Fremantle, studying film, but got rather distracted once i discovered the wonders of espresso, while working at the famous Cafe 58. I also worked closely with Rubra Roasters (as a barista, as I haven't had a chance to dabble in the roasting side of things yet).

Our Chef (Triton) is a top rated vegan chef (who is vegetarian himself, but knows how to handle a venison burger), trained in Sweden and Bulgaria.

And we punt Origin, after having managed Ours Cafe in Kalk Bay for a while and working with Dave Coleman on a few occasions, I fell in love with the Origin Brand."

So together the trio are forging a tasty niche in the










Glen, Jan and Triton: The Three Stooges and the brains behind the operation. I'll let you guess who handles what in the business ;)

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