The food is good and wholesome, with decent portions and pricing that won't break the bank.
Nothing like really good coffee. Picture Supplied
Getting a good cup of coffee is often more promise than reality. At The Glow, one of the many new-ish bistros opening their doors in Benoni, it’s more than a nice brew; it’s seriously good coffee that’ll have you wanting a second and a third cup.
And that, according to coffee roaster, restaurant consultant and The Glow’s Taki Papaioannou, is exactly what a good coffee shop should be able to do. It’s also good business because selling someone a second cup, and perhaps a third, is worth substantially more than selling a customer a single mediocre brew.
Papaioannou has been in the coffee and restaurant business for 32 years. He roasts his own Espresso Roma coffee, supplies restaurants, hotels and corporates and consults to coffee shops on everything from menus and portion sizes to equipment and getting the grind right.
“You can have the best beans in the world,” he said, “but if your grinder is not set right, it can kill the aroma and the taste of anything. The preparation is as important as the quality of the raw product.”
Taki loves a good old chinwag with his customers at The Glow, and he’s a host par excellence. “There is definitely an uptick in coffee culture in South Africa. Absolutely, there’s no doubt about it,” he said.
He’s the kind of guy who fits the mould or, better yet, made the mould. That’s what a restaurateur should be doing, because when you feel the love as a client – both on your plate, in your cup and when you can feel the owner’s vested interest in a venue – you’ll go back.
All about the coffee
The Glow forms part of a larger complex that’s all about women, but guys are welcome too. There’s a salon, a hairdresser, a boutique and a permanent makeup studio along with other goodies for girls. It’s a mini-precinct that the landlord developed for his wife, who sadly passed away from cancer before it was completed. Taki was brought in to help decide what to do with some of the remaining empty space.
“The owner said to me, ‘Listen, what do you think?’ I said, ‘Perfect. I think we can do something here.'”
There’s free Wi-Fi, plug points, outside seating and a meeting room. Taki said groups of moms from nearby schools regularly meet there; during the day, people work remotely, and a lot of business gets done there, along with some leisure and pleasure.
The menu straddles the familiar and something a little different. There’s bacon and egg, chicken mayonnaise and cheese and tomato, but also roast beef with Dijon mustard and pickles, teriyaki chicken and its signature bruschettas. The food is good and wholesome, with decent portions and pricing that won’t break the bank.
Apart from the coffee, and especially if you enjoy the taste of freshly cut grass, there’s Matcha, and a lot of it. The Glow offers more than a dozen hot, cold and flavoured options if that’s your bag.
There’s a lot of matcha, too
Taki said coffee shops cannot survive on coffee and food alone. “I believe that I’m in the people business. People come to us, not coffee, not good food. People come to us,” he said. “The better we treat you, the better you feel comfortable in coming here.”
And then, there’s the brew, his passion. “You want to have a decent cup,” he said. “Otherwise, you’re going to spend bucks on what?”
Taki has a simple test to judge whether customers like his coffee. He watches the cups coming back to the kitchen. If there’s coffee left behind, something’s wrong. When they come back empty, he knows that someone liked its contents.
