FOND Linden | Boutique eatery — Restaurant in Gauteng

A curious outing landed us at @FOND Boutique Eatery Linden.

It's based inside a health/healthy food shop. They have an interesting menu and a good variety of items to pick from.

I gave the Nutella Cappuccino a try, to be honest i wasn't sure what to expect. Dissapointed that it was outside the glass as it made for very awkward drinking and when scraped with the teaspoon it's like a lump in your coffee.

My Scamone Cubano foldover was nice. Full of flavour, wish there was more of the chilli crisp to bring out the taste. Filled with goodness in a gluten free sourdough base, homemade neopolitan sauce, cuban styled cuban rump, hummus drizzle, feta, mozzarella cheese, cranberries, olives, chilli crisp and aged fond balsamic drizzle.

We also ordered half a portion Poke Bowl, smoked salmon, black rice, avocado, pickled carrots, cucumber sesame seeds, spring onion, edamame beans with a sweet/sour dressing and a Dirty Pumpkin Spice latte. Again the hot drinks lacked flavour.

We spoke to the owner Alistair, be on the lookout there might be more branches opening up as he has a winning menu. I think the drinks just need to be worked on.

Our waitress Annie was still new and getting the hang of things but very helpful.

Give it a try and also check out the things on offer in the shop around it. There are some curious items to say the...

I think FOND is on the way to being a gem!

The team at FOND are incredibly accommodating and very friendly despite things getting busy fast.

The inside seating area is small and there are a few seats outside. Due the close proximity to the espresso machine and kitchen, inside seating can be a bit loud and difficult to hold a conversation.

The coffee was the main reason we were there and it left me a bit disappointed, but with a bit of training I think this could be a great coffee spot. My espresso tasted under extracted and the milk treatment on the drinks we had and all that I saw go out, was sub-par. No microfoam to be found, too much air in the milk. Both of these issues can be rectified with a bit of training and with the attitude of the team at FOND I believe they'll thrive after some training.

Another misstep in our opinion was the poke bowl, which was actually a poke plate. The intention isn't to nitpick or split hairs, but when the ingredients are served in a bowl with the sauce(s) drizzled over, everything has the ability to absorb the sauce(s), whereas on a plate this doesn't happen, it's almost deconstructed and while all the ingredients are there, it just doesn't eat like a poke bowl.

The banana bread toast was fantastic and the portion size was absolutely perfect.

All in all, I'm very keen to see FOND move from strength...

I’ve always wanted to come here as I am a health fanatic. This place is very small yet very sweet. The staff are friendly, but service can be a bit tad slow but that’s okay! They have a wide selection on their menu, making it difficult to decide cause everything looks so delicious.

What I ordered: wake me up juice (pineapple and pear juice); this was very tasty and refreshing and would definitely have it again. Freshly squeezed juice can be a bit tad expensive but this was tasty.

-smashed avo on toast; when I say I’ve never had such a unique avo on toast before and proud to say it’s been one of the best. Their bread is to die for and so much care was taken into making this. The topping complimented each other beautifully and the whipped feta pumpkin mouse was so different and delicious (give me the recipe). The balsamic glaze underneath was so beautiful and not too sweet.

I really want to try their sourdough pancakes 🥞 as there was a table next to me and I could smell how yummy they were! Definitely would come back to try their lunch menu as well. Very cute and...