The Glenwood Bakery

The Glenwood Bakery is an artisan bakery and popular breakfast stop in the Berea suburb of Glenwood. It was set up around small-scale, local bread production, and sourdough remains the heart of the business: the loaves are formed by hand, fermented slowly and baked in a hearth oven, and some are made with flour from a small stone mill. A gluten-free sourdough is baked daily too, made without the usual additives found in many gluten-free breads, a useful option for visitors who avoid gluten.

The cafe and deli build on the bread. Pastries and viennoiserie are made on site in Glenwood, so mornings bring fresh pastries alongside coffee sourced from roasters in the greater Durban area. Lunch changes daily, with sandwiches, handmade pastas, flatbreads, filled bagels and salads, and the bakery's hamburger is a house signature. The deli products are made without stabilisers, preservatives or colourants, and you can buy loaves and deli items to take away for a picnic or self-catering.

The original Glenwood bakery is on Esther Roberts Road, and there is a second branch at 50 Florida Road in Morningside. The Morningside cafe stays open into the evening on weekdays, serving pastas, pizzas and slow-cooked dishes five nights a week, so it works for dinner as well as breakfast. At weekends the Morningside branch keeps the same morning hours as Glenwood, closing at 14:00.

The Glenwood cafe is open from 06:00 to 15:00 on weekdays and from 06:00 to 14:00 at weekends and on public holidays, so it suits an early start. Weekend mornings are busiest, so go early if you want a table. Bread orders need 24 hours' notice and are taken by WhatsApp, and table reservations cannot be made by email; phone the cafe instead.

It suits early risers, families, remote workers looking for a breakfast meeting place and anyone who cares about good bread. Glenwood is a short drive from the city centre and the beachfront, and the Phansi Museum is on the same road, which makes a morning at the bakery an easy pairing with a museum visit. The Durban Botanic Gardens are also close by for a walk after breakfast.