Sunday brunch at The Yard in the Silo District

The Yard in the Silo District is now serving a Sunday brunch and for us Capetonians this is exciting. There aren’t a lot of good brunching options in this fair city of ours and especially not on a Sunday. The City Bowl basically shuts down, and other than venturing into southern suburbia; there are few places where you can casually eat your way through the middle part of a Sunday like any sensible person should.

I put a tweet out asking people what the perfect time for brunch was as I am never 100% sure. The Yard serves their brunch menu between 10 am and 3 pm so that gives a big window of opportunity. Most people thought 10.30am – 12am was a good time, with the resounding – and my personal preference being an 11am kick off. If it starts at 12 it’s too late to be called brunch and then definitely becomes lunch, and 10 am is too close to breakfast. I feel that brunch needs to spread over midday and stretch into the afternoon with just enough time to take a nap to finish the day. Thus Sunday is the best day for it.

I was interested to try the Indian items, which form part of the very extensive brunch menu at the Yard. I mean you can go for all the usual options like eggs Benedict and omelets, but the Indian dishes sounded fab. I tried the chicken dosa, which was delicious. Perfectly tender and spicy buttered chicken wrapped in a freshly made dosa pancake with crispy edges. That along with Bhature Channa – a brunch staple of puffed rotis served with a chickpea curry made for a very tasty meal. My friend wanted to try the tea-smoked salmon on a bagel with cream cheese and capers. I found this less enticing as the bagel was a brioche roll with a hole in it rather than a proper boiled bagel. The salmon was nice but was more cured than smoked, so based on this I would highly recommend opting for the curry items rather.

Rosetta Roastery do the in-house coffee and it is really excellent. You can get this take away too if you happen to be in the Silo district or visiting the Zeitz MOCCA art gallery directly opposite. The Yard is also the perfect place to stop for afternoon drinks too and the lunch / dinner menu looks really eclectic. Once again dishes like Caesars salad and gnocchi sitting happily next to a range of delicious India options. I think you know what I would go for when I go back at night. A group of musicians started playing very chilled background music from 12 so you could gather a crowd and make an occasion out of it.

For more Cape Town restaurant recommendations, check out my guide to eating out in Cape Town.