Bagel Street, Sandton

Updated: 10-11-2020

Bagel Street has moved to the Morning Glen Mall in Sandton from September 2020.

1st Reviewed September 2019

Kramerville is increasingly well known as a décor and design hub. And as a result, it also has a growing restaurant scene.

Bagel Street, formerly known as Kahawa Caffe has been around for about a year. They have been revamping their space and tweaking their menu and we got to try some of the new items on offer. They are all about bagels and home to the original New York Bagel.

The space used to be a Vape lounge that has now been split with the Vape shop/lounge at the front that you pass through on your way to the restaurant. The restaurant with it’s cobalt blue walls, ash wood laminate floors, and neutral colours in the furniture and fittings give a fresh and bright feeling to the space. It’s not very large with maybe about 7 or 8 tables that can take about 20 to 30 people. The weekday crowd seems to be a bit thin. We were there at 10 on a Thursday morning and only one other table was occupied. But we were told that they get really busy on weekends and people tend to queue for a table. They also do quite a bit of delivery orders via UberEats and OrderIn.

The owner, Uncle Haroon, welcomed us and made some suggestions on what was popular. He is obviously passionate about this business and has invested huge time and energy into getting every aspect of the menu, and service just right. Bagel Street is different in that it serves everything on a bagel. They have Bagelizzas, yes that’s the pizza version of a bagel; all-day breakfast on a bagel; beef burgers and chicken burgers, but not on a bun, on a bagel. They even have dessert bagels.

We tried a simple Margerita Bagelizza first. The bagel was good, not too thick or too stodgy. They make their bagels the authentic way, by boiling and baking and you can taste the difference. As a bagel should be, it was more dense than a bun, but this one was not so dense that it felt overly heavy. We then chose the 5th Avenue (Philly Steak) and the East Side (Spicy chicken with Onion Rings). The Philly Steak was beautifully done and Uncle Haroon revealed that they use only a particular cut of beef from a specific section of the cow to make this with. No amount of prodding could get him to reveal it though. The sauce was slightly sweet with sauteed onion and jalapenos. They use the authentic recipe Provolone cheese melted all over this filling which has a subtle but distinctive flavour unlike the blandness of mozzarella.

The East Side was spicy with no sweetness which was great as a contrast to the Philly Steak. If you don’t like sweetness on your meat then this is a good option. Both were served with a portion of skinny cut fries on wooden boards.

We had both had a flat white before our meal and were now too full to even attempt a dessert bagel. They use the Bean There brand of beans which makes a pretty decent flat white, though I personally like my brew a tad stronger. Next time I’ll try a double shot.

Coming soon, which they were showing on 2 screens on the walls, are mocktails and hottails. I think I’ll be heading that way again. There’s a salmon and cream cheese bagel calling my name…