{"id":87410,"date":"2011-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelstartblg.wpenginepowered.com\/craft-trattoria-durban\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T13:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T13:50:10","slug":"craft-trattoria-durban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/craft-trattoria-durban\/","title":{"rendered":"Craft Trattoria: Durban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-20055\" href=\"https:\/\/travelstartstg.wpenginepowered.com\/craft-trattoria-durban\/craft\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20055\" src=\"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/craft.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"321\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.crafttrattoria.co.za\/\" target=\"_blank\">Image credit<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Everyone in Durban is talking about Craft Trattoria: Neil Roake\u2019s latest place (his first was the boutique hotel Concierge and the attached Freedom Caf\u00e9).<\/p>\n<p>Craft is in Glenashley, just past Durban North, and specialises in Italian fare \u2013 pastas, pizzas and porchetta: Italian rolled roasted pig stuffed with garlic and fennel seeds, one of a list of traditional Italian foods that have cultural relevance. Craft is big on culture \u2013 with monthly feast days celebrated with specific foods. Feast days (or weekends or weeks) are marked at Craft with special menus or single dishes that celebrate \u2018the feast of living Italian style\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Sounds amazing, no? And when we went for a lazy Saturday lunch the food was superb \u2013 top quality pizzas with interesting toppings, and a small but delicious menu of pastas and meat dishes to choose from. Since then, though, I\u2019ve heard very mixed reviews from people. Craft Trattoria seems to be one of those places that you either love or you hate. I\u2019ve heard people rave about how great the food is, how fabulous the d\u00e9cor is (this is not a fact in dispute: everyone loves it) and how they love the relaxed vibe. Other people have complained that the menu is too small and too heavy (it is largely carb-based meals, but isn\u2019t all of Italy?) and that the service is extremely slow.<\/p>\n<p>So what do you call it \u2013 relaxed ambience or bad service? I\u2019m not too sure, but I would say that the service is not swift and efficient, so it\u2019s the kind of place you want to devote a couple of hours to, and make sure you don\u2019t arrive hungry. It\u2019s a great vibe, with big tables made for sharing food, an open kitchen so you can see the chefs at work, and that d\u00e9cor, everywhere you look (the large lips that make up the take-away counter are mentioned by almost every person who visits Craft). Glenashley is right by the beach, so you can look out at the sea a short stretch away, and if you have time to kill slow service can be forgiven, as long as there\u2019s a sea view.<\/p>\n<p>Check out their breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend menus <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crafttrattoria.co.za\/\" target=\"_blank\">on their website<\/a>, as well as how to find and book it, and some pretty funny video clips to promote that they only serve handcrafted pizza and pasta. Next time you\u2019re in Durban, visit Craft Trattoria \u2013 then let me know what you think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image credit Everyone in Durban is talking about Craft Trattoria: Neil Roake\u2019s latest place (his first was the boutique hotel Concierge and the attached Freedom Caf\u00e9). Craft is in Glenashley, just past Durban North, and specialises in Italian fare \u2013 pastas, pizzas and porchetta: Italian rolled roasted pig stuffed with garlic and fennel seeds, one of a list of traditional Italian foods that have cultural &#8230; <a title=\"Craft Trattoria: Durban\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/craft-trattoria-durban\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Craft Trattoria: Durban\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":87411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[463,13],"tags":[53],"class_list":["post-87410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-drink-lifestyle","category-lifestyle","tag-durban","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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content=\"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/craft-trattoria-durban\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Travelstart Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Travelstart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-26T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-04T13:50:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/craft.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"893\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"459\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brandon Mlilo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Travelstart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Travelstart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written 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