I’ve decided to intersperse my Sandton snapshots with Melville snapshots. I haven’t written about Melville – my home suburb – in a while. The newest 2Summers readers might not even realize that I live here, and I feel a moral responsibility to periodically remind the world that Melville is awesome. Also, a bunch of cool new restaurants and shops have opened in Melville lately. I’m going to try to feature one per week for the next few weeks.
My first Melville snapshot comes from the Great Eastern Food Bar, which just opened last month in the Bamboo Shopping Centre.
The “GE” stands for Great Eastern, not General Electric.
I ate at Great Eastern for the first time today. I’m excited about it for three reasons:
Nice view.
I met my Instagram friends for lunch at Great Eastern today. (They’re silly boys.) I walked there from my house in two minutes.
Pad (Phat) Thai with grilled shrimp, tofu, and lemongrass. Reasonably priced at R70 (about $6.50).
The Great Eastern menu includes a limited number of dishes and changes regularly, which I love. They also serve beer but no wine yet. I think customers are welcome to bring their own though.
I have a feeling that Great Eastern will soon become a prominent stop on the Jozi hipster dining circuit, and there are a limited number of tables. So I would recommend booking ahead, especially if you want a table with a view.
Great Eastern has plants on the walls.
Contact Great Eastern on Facebook, or at 011 482 2910.
How have I never blogged about 44 Stanley Avenue, the coolest shopping and dining complex in Joburg, which is only five minutes from my house?
I guess it’s wrong to say I’ve never blogged about 44 Stanley; I’ve mentioned it countless times over the years (see here and here) when writing about specific restaurants or shops that are there. But I’ve never written a dedicated post about 44 Stanley as a destination and it’s about time I did – especially now, with the holidays upon us.
I’ve been dreadfully uninspired lately, struggling to think of anything I want to blog about despite having a long list of great ideas (many of which you, my readers, provided in September). I’m finding it hard to feel positive about life at the moment. But on Saturday Thorsten and I got the chance to visit Indwe Park, an indigenous garden and sculpture park in Braamfontein, and I knew I had my topic for today.
Given this week’s political nuclear bomb blast, it feels like a weird time to publish a light-hearted post about my recent (pre-election) jaunt through the United States. But I’m hoping you’ve have had enough of the U.S. election horror show – I know I have – and are ready (at least temporarily) for some wholesome American travel adventures. If so, please read on about my four-day visit to Maine, the northeastern-most state in the lower 48, with my sister, Susanna.
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It makes me smile, when I see it.