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Mimi’s Deli, Observatory, Cape Town: Cafe Review

Mimi’s Deli
Lower Main Rd. (cnr. Trill Rd.)
Observatory, Cape Town | Map

Specialty: Breakfasts (all day), sandwiches and other light meals
Contact: Tel: +27 (0) 21 446 3316
SA Blog recommends a look inside? If you’re in the area.

Further Insight & Opinion
SA Blog has found a new hangout for a lazy Sunday morning: Mimi’s Deli in Obs, which serves breakfast all day and makes great, dripping sandwiches on huge, chewy ciabbattas that practically obstruct one’s view, through the cafe’s large windows, of the busy foot traffic outside. (The preceeding may be a slight exaggeration.)

In fact, during a recent visit there, my Lovely Assistant’s sandwich dripped a little too much. She had ordered a sundried-tomato, pesto and hummus combo (R28), stressing to our intimidated waitress that she didn’t want the sandwich to arrive, as it had during her first experience at Mimi’s, in a pool of oil. When the plates arrived - Voila! Swimming in a pool of oil, per your requirements, madam!

Despite the fact that it took the intervention of Mimi’s owner to sort out this extremely simple problem (immediate solution: make a new sandwich; long term solution (SA Blog’s advice): replace the waitress with someone possessed of a bit more worldliness and initiative), our sojourn at the deli was extremely pleasant. My salmon-and-avo omellette (R30) was perfect; the replacement sandwich was great; the dessert (chocolate cheesecake - R20) lasted about 90 seconds; and we were able to linger over a free weekend newspaper to our heart’s content.

The deli’s strong points, then, are its owner, breakfasts and ambience - it’s a very simple, light, airy cafe, providing just the right amount of distance from the outside world - while its drawbacks are its servers (no surprise there), its lack of a credit card machine, and its toilet (again, no surprise; it’s not dirty, but, like nearly all toilets in Cape Town restaurants, it has not been the beneficiary of much thinking.) If you’re looking for a haven in Obs - albeit one that closes at 5 p.m. sharp - Mimi’s has suddenly become your first choice.