Market Friday - Exploring to Find Bean & Bistro.

Today is #MarketFriday, a project initiated by @dswigle, and this post is my contribution to this project for this week.

To learn more about this project and participate, visit today's post by @dswigle.

Last weekend was a relatively busy weekend and when we got the opportunity to go out, I decided it's a good time to also take our dog with us to take her for a walk.

That meant that wherever we went, we had to stay outdoors and I knew we would be limited to the places we would be able to visit.

But it didn't mean that I couldn't go exploring for some future #MarketFriday posts...lol!

I have to admit, I didn't give it any thought ahead of time, due to the fact that we were quite busy. So, I didn't do any planning for our outing and I was totally unprepared.

As we left, we decided to head out to Virginia Beach behind Virginia Airport, as it is an excellent place to take our dog for a walk.

While at Virginia Beach, being close to Umhlanga, reminded me of our recent early morning visit to the Forest Cafe in Umhlanga.

I remembered that I saw on their website that the Forest Cafe is part of the Bike and Bean Group and that they have four outlets.

There is the Forest Cafe, Bean & Bistro, On Point, and Bike and Bean - "Beach".

So far, we have been to the Forest Cafe.

Our most recent visit was a little more than two weeks ago when we enjoyed a nice Cappuccino at Sunrise in the Forest.

Here is an image from that post.

When I learned about the other outlets in this group, the other three immediately went on my list of "places to visit".

And being reminded of the Forest Cafe, on the spur of the moment, I said to my wife "Let's go see if we can find Bean and Bistro".

I decided on Bean and Bistro because I could remember from what I saw on their website, that it was located on the main road, across the road from the passenger terminal of Durban Harbor.

I wanted to take some photos, so it would be easy to get some shots of Bean and Bistro at the harbor. The other two...I wasn't too sure if I would be able to go there, having the dog with us.

So, off we went, heading out toward Durban harbor.

It was easy to find. The area is known as The Point and as I expected, the Bean and Bistro is located across the road from the new passenger terminal of Durban Harbor.

It was easy to find parking, and while my wife stayed in the car with our dog, I got out and took some shots of the flagship restaurant of the Bike and Bean Group.

According to their website, the Bean & Bistro is "The New Kid on The Block".

As Bike & Bean expanded, they required a large kitchen for meal preparation to service their other shops that lacked sufficient space for this purpose. This property provided the ideal location. It is in a beautifully restored, historic shed, which is an A-Category listed building built around 1900, that has been used for various commercial purposes since then.

This flagship restaurant was opened on December 1, 2021.

Bike & Bean Getting a Name-Lift!

According to their website, "serving coffee, cake, and light meals, the local residents, visitors and surrounding businesses were looking for more. So...our signature Bike & Bean has had a ‘name-lift’ and will from 1 September be known as Bean & Bistro. The new space will now be serving dinner on weekends from Thursday-Saturday."

The inviting entrance to Bean & Bistro.

You can view their menu here.

Prices on the menu range from R43.00 to R260.00.

At the time of writing this post, the exchange rate is R17.54 for $1.00.

That means that in dollar value, the prices on their menu range from $2.45 to $14.82.

There is also a "sharing platter" available on the menu, serving 4/6 people, at R380.00 ($21.66).

But then they even go one step further...

Car Wash Facility...

To give their customers an even fuller service offering, a car wash facility was opened in June 2022, at the back of the building.

While you enjoy your coffee or a meal indoors, the Bean & Bistro staff will make sure that your vehicle is sparkling clean by the time you are done.

This service is available from Monday to Sunday; 07h00 to 16h00.

All this information is available on their website bikebeandurban.com if you want to see more detail and images.

Another Venue To Be Added To My List.

Right next door is another place of interest. I have noticed them in the past and I have mentioned to my wife that maybe we should pay them a visit too, but we have never come around to do so.

It's the Robsons Brewery, Real Beer & Food Factory.

From what I understand, besides offering delicious meals to enjoy at Robsons, they also offer guided tours, taking you through their process of brewing beer.

That might be an interesting outing to consider as well.

The entrance to Robsons, Real Beer & Food Factory.