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Our Story
Karoo Café has been a welcoming space in the heart of Karoo Square since 2005. Our café operates as a restaurant and coffee shop, serving the community with delicious meals, coffee, and the much-loved Karoo roosterkoek. Open to the public from morning until 5 pm, our space is a haven for those seeking an escape from the everyday hustle.
Guided by our core values of kindness, beauty, and truth, the Karoo Café fosters an environment where stimulating dialogue, thoughtful solitude, and intellectual curiosity are celebrated.
Living consciously.
According to John du Raan, an ongoing objective of the Karoo Square community is to spread the knowledge and skills which flow from the creative processes of its different hubs. As education is regarded by the community as one of the most important long-term needs of our society regular workshops and classes are held where the useful results of experiments in sustainable architecture, pottery, art, horticulture, graphic and textile design, culinary art and other disciplines are taught.
Ecologically sensitive design and sustainable building are the guidelines for the development of the project. Juliana’s Golden Mole, a red data list species thrives on the property and is fiercely protected.
Nature.
The Karoo Café offers a kind of environment, a habitat similar to that we find in nature. A spot with bits and pieces of wood, wire and other odds and ends attracts crows. They are comfortable there and prefer it to a stretch of open water with lots of fish and big trees which is the habitat of fish eagles. Similarly, Karoo Café is a habitat of patrons who subscribe to the same values
Night Café
We would love to bring back the Night Café. It does not yet, but it should then become a different kind of environment to Karoo Café – a habitat and gathering place for people who subscribe to the same social contract and social values system.
Claude Monet created a series of café paintings that portray the café as a free-and-easy environment in which free thinkers, writers and artists, and ordinary citizens could come together to experience the diversity and prosperity of nineteenth-century France. For Monet, the café was a symbol of everything that was free from the restraints of traditional thought, and it epitomised modern Parisian life.
Monet claimed that the convivial atmosphere of the café was the ideal city centre for the formulation of new ideas. As he said of his daily meetings there with friends: “Nothing could have been more interesting than the discussions we had, with their perpetual clash of opinions. They kept our wits sharpened, encouraged us to press ahead with our own experiments, and provided us with enough enthusiasm to keep at it for weeks on end until our ideas became clear and coherent. From them we emerged more finely tempered our wills firmer, our thoughts clearer and less confused.”
The modern-day restaurant or coffee shop is not necessarily such an environment, and the public at large does not expect or demand it.
It is simply practical to limit the night patrons of the Karoo Café to those who are really interested and passionate about creating and maintaining such a convivial atmosphere and therefore access should be by invitation only.
The Karoo Night Café is loosely based on the following objectives:
01
To provide a gathering place, that is exclusive, but not elitist where:
patrons can go to enjoy an evening out reading, writing, working or chatting in a place with a warm and quiet but exciting atmosphere
either just still the hunger and thirst, or wine and dine
it is the norm rather than the exception to go on your own and have the choice to talk to nobody or everybody
you can be assured you will always find stimulating vibes and interaction
you only pay what you think the experience is worth
every patron is also the owner and is empowered to act in the interest of the café
regular special events like music evenings, poetry readings, astronomy meetings and philosophical and other discussions are also held
02
To ensure, through the invitation-only system that all patrons adhere to the Code of conduct:
refrain at all times from being loud or obnoxious
be mindful of the requirements, privacy and perceptions of fellow patrons
As Shakespeare said, “Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood.”
We agree with the philosopher Lau Kwong Fook when he says that such a café
should be:
• A place where all your ideas are taken seriously
• An adventure you should try at least once in your life.
• A time to wonder if unicorns are real
• A time to answer queries you never thought you had
• A chance to rediscover the child in you. A trek to explore the world of ideas.
• A time to reactivate a mind deadened by routine. A garden of reason in a jungle of pride and prejudices.
• A time when ignorance is an asset
• A chance to discover your own thoughts.
• A workout for your mind
• A chance to study life, death, between and beyond An opportunity to travel at the speed of thought
• An act that is better than sex (and you don’t have to be at least 16)
join the family
Karoo Café
As we continue to evolve, we invite you to share in this journey. Your thoughts, ideas, and feedback are always welcome, as we strive to shape Karoo Café into more than just a place to eat or drink, but a community where ideas are nurtured, and every patron feels at home.
