The Cow Moon Theory hubbly den

One of my favourite haunts over the past year has been Cow Moon Theory, a hubbly bar and alternative hangout that's somehow squeezed itself between the local jock dens and fast food joints.

Come here if you want oolong. Grease and alcohol poisoning are a little further up the street.

To this day, I have a good relationship with the owners and often hang out with them to do general hippy stuff like smoking hubbly (or hookah, as it's formally known) and drinking green tea. The vibe here is fantastic – in the afternoon, you can expect a quiet sit-down with a few of the regulars. When evening arrives, more locals start popping in and the place becomes flooded with chatter and all sorts of new faces.

The customers are a weird bunch. Just the way we like it.

Even on the busiest of nights, it's never impossible to lay back and just chill – this is what I've always loved about the establishment. For me, Cow Moon has served as a way to hit the town and socialise without having to get drunk and snog somebody on a dingy dancefloor. It's also quite exciting to see the changes that are made on a monthly basis – it's still a developing business, and the staff continue to surprise me with all the new ideas that they whip out for the customers. Especially when it comes to the food menu.

Om nom nom.

In its short history, Cow Moon has evolved its kitchen on several occasions to try new things and see what sticks with customers. In my time with them, I've sampled homemade pies, Middle-Eastern cuisine, extremely creative sandwiches, Moroccan kebabs and even classic mac-and-cheese meals.

What they now seem to have settled upon is a variety of food wraps. Get a meat or vegetable base, then add four ingredients of your choice. If you can't decide, a few suggestions are made for you.

I ate one of these little buggers last night. It was great. I also decided upon a slightly creative combo – apples, steak and feta sounded too interesting to pass up on. Catching these wraps on special meant that they only cost me R25.

As much as the menu has changed, however, one foodlike thing seems to have stuck over the ages – the legendary Cow Moon Brownies. They stand locked inside an iron fortress on the counter, tempting customers and passers-by with their dark, delicious, sugar-laden promises. Not only are they totally delectable on their lonesome, but the owners have now alighted upon the brilliant idea of “Brownie in a Mug”. By tossing some brownie mix into a coffee cup along with some icecream and possibly some kind of super-secret substance that's more addictive than meth, they've crafted one of the most awesome little desserts in Grahamstown (with perhaps the exception of the Bar One milkshakes at Red Cafe – but I'll write about those later). It's yumsome.

Then, of course, there's the awesome couches.

Colourful. Comfy. Cow-like.

These things are great when you want to sit down, chill out or even take a nap. And I have something of a reputation at the establishment for doing all three. Yes, dear reader, I've personally left a permanent indentation on more than half of the couches in that place – a testament to their comfort and lie-downability.

Being the sort of place it is, Cow Moon has an entire army of cushions at its disposal and a bunch of hubblies around to get you heavy-headed. These combine marvellously on, say, a lazy Tuesday afternoon to get you curling up and passing out for a few minutes while people carry on with whatever they're doing around you. Awesome? Awesome.

Except when somebody decides to be a dick and hits you on the head with a pillow. 8.5/10.