Joburg's Best Bagels

more than a year ago

The perfect bagel is soft and chewy with a crisp, glossy exterior, and filled with something creamy, something crunchy and something pickled. Perfection can be hard to find but, lucky for you, we’ve tried and tested just about every bagel in town. From Fairmount to Blairgowrie, these are our favourite hidden bagel gems in Joburg.

Bagel Zone, Fairmount and Benmore Gardens

Bagel Zone is the original bagel king serving authentic boiled and baked bagels in every flavour imaginable – from sesame and za’atar to cinnamon raisin and choc chip. Choose your bagel and your filling, and add as many toppings as you like.

Bird’s Bagels, Blairgowrie

This weekends-only bagel pop-up at Mr Pants wine bar is worth the wait. Hand-shaped, boiled and baked bagels come with all the classic fillings, plus a few sweet ones like almond butter and creamed honey. Get there early before they run out or hot tip – pre-order via whatsapp.

Get Bird, Birdhaven

Get Bird has replaced the Kleinsky’s pop-up near James and Ethel Gray Park. The freshly baked sourdough bagels come in plain, sesame, poppy, everything, onion and rye. Along with the classic fillings, there’s a few wild ones like peanut butter, bananas, crispy bacon and maple syrup.

Issy’s Coffee, Forest Town

Issy’s Coffee & Gift Shop, located within the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre, was opened by the granddaughter of Israel Gurwicz – a Holocaust survivor saved by his Polish governess. The coffee shop serves sustainably sourced Rwandan coffee, freshly baked treats, and great bagels of course.

Jack’s Bagels, Greenside

If it’s variety rather than tradition you’re after, this is your bagel joint. The menu includes breakfast bagels, chicken bagels, fillet steak bagels, Mexican bagels, biltong bagels, vegan bagels, and even sweet Bar-One bagels.

Meat @ Bagel Zone, Norwood

As a Kosher establishment, you can’t mix milk and meat, so Bagel Zone recently opened a branch to serve fillings like pastrami, hot beef, boerewors, chicken schnitzel and macon. You can still get a version of a "classic" smoked salmon bagel here too – with avo instead of cream cheese.

Beautiful boiled bagels at Ti Amo Italian Deli

Ti Amo, Sandhurst

Move over Pantry, this authentic Italian deli at the Shell petrol station has stolen our hearts. Country loaves, ciabatta, paninis and baguettes are all freshly baked on-site which you can watch through the glassed-off bakery. Now we know bagels are not Italian, but Ti Amo understands bread-baking and they make delicious sourdough boiled bagels. There’s also a fridge with ready-made bagels for a quick meal on-the-go.