Col’tempo
Where:
2, 8th Avenue, Morningside
Open:
Monday to Friday 7am to 4pm
Call:
031 303 1848
Col’tempo has developed a reputation, through markets and delis, for their excellent home-made charcuterie. Made the traditional way - with, as their name suggests, time - their meats are authentic and full of flavour. The coppa ham, and sopressa (a very garlicky Sicilian style salami) are two of my favourites.
They have since opened a simple Morningside eatery, attached to their deli and “factory’, and I’ve been meaning to slip out of the office to try it out for quite a while now.
The deli stocks all the meats, along with most of the cheeses, pastas, and key ingredients - fresh bottled and dried - one needs for good Italian cooking. Over Christmas we popped in for a slice of panettone, the Italian “Christmas cake” that’s always been my favourite.
The menu is extremely simple, but everything just looks so delicious.
We started by sharing a simple artichoke salad, with olives and mozzarella, with a lovely selection of fresh leaves, cherry tomatoes and pumpkin seeds (R65). It was served with a couple of slices of their excellent home-baked sourdough bread.
What a light, healthy and thoroughly delicious start to any meal. The salad was all the better for being made with proper mozzarella. We dressed it with olive oil and balsamic, from a selection of bottles on the table.
The other salad offering was paper thin bresaola, grated aged Parmesan and rocket with a squeeze of fresh lemon and olive oil. That sounds like it might be more carpaccio than salad, but I’ll certainly try it next.
One could go for a tasting plate, which takes in most of Col’tempo’s excellent charcuterie along with olives and more of the delicious sourdough (R75).
The coppa ham, prosciutto, sopresso, bresaola, pepperoni and a spicy abruzzo (an Italian sausage similar to chorizo) all feature. It’s a great way to taste their offerings.
You can also add cheeses (R40) like Gorgonzola, Parmesan and Emmental to the board. We had debated sharing this as a starter.
Other options include a selection of bruschetta, again on sourdough, which may take in salami Milano, tomato, fresh basil and mozzarella, or Parma ham, pecorino, tomato, walnuts and fig jam. It all sounded too good.
Daily pasta specials are available and I opted for the spaghetti Napoli with olives, capers and anchovies. This was such a deceptively simple dish, but made properly, it was a feast (R65).
It was served with a bowl of home-made chilli, which just added a little bite, and some freshly grated Parmesan (and no, this is not that horrible powdery tasteless stuff you buy in the supermarket).
My friend had the meatballs and was raving. These were served on a wide hand-cut tagliatelle, with a simple Napoli sauce. Great cooking.
Col’tempo isn’t licensed, but we enjoyed an orange and lemon soda, and relished the deeply delicious, double chocolate Venetian cookies we bought from the deli to eat with our coffees.
It’s certainly worth spending more than a little time here.
Food:
4
Service:
3 ½
Ambience:
4