Foodie Review: First Fully Halaal Fournos Opens its Doors in the Vaal
There's a new bakery in town and it's fully Halaal.
Fournos Bakery Vaal Lifestyle Centre
Photo Credits Ziyaad Plaatjes
Well not exactly new, but definitely revamped since The Grillhouse Group acquired the Fournos Bakery in 2025.
What started as a modest corner shop in Rosebank, Johannesburg in 1989 by award-winning chef Michael Kalogirou and his partners, turned into a household name across Johannesburg and Pretoria boasting 17 stores in the Gauteng region.
Fast-forward to mid 2025 when the announcement was made that Saul Mervis (Restaurant Expert and Owner of The Grillhouse), Marius de la Rey (Former Mugg & Bean MD and Corporate Finance Executive), and Peter Williams (Logistics and Operational Lead) acquired the brand from RMB (Rand Merchant Bank) who held a stake in the Fournos Bakery.
Fournos (four-nos) which is a Greek word meaning furnace or oven, offers fresh bread, artisanal delights, and gourmet deli cuisine. The chain now has approximately 12 to 14 locations across Gauteng with the latest addition opening its doors on 20 July 2026, after a year of preparation.
The all new look Fournos Bakery located in the Vaal, is under the leadership of Halima who joined the new group after the acquisition, a year ago. This is the first fully Halaal store in the group and we are hoping to see more in the future.
We visited them a week after opening (mid Monday morning), and there was still a buzz in the store, from customers sitting enjoying a meal, to others who were filling their yellow square boxes with pastries, bakes, and other sweet and savoury treats.
The Vaal store also has an addition of a sandwich station, where patrons can build their own fresh sandwiches - something which we hope to try out soon.
We were greeted by the friendly staff and warm smiles, and Happiness (our server) graciously took care of us as we tried three items from the menu, a breakfast item, a light lunch item, and a sweet item.
From the Signature Breakfast part of the menu we indulged in the Shakshuka - two poached eggs in a spiced tomato, chilli, harissa, onion and herb sauce, finished with crumb feta and served with ciabatta, priced at R85.
Fournos Bakery Shakshuka
Photo Credits Ziyaad Plaatjes
The eggs were soft, fluffy, and well poached, perched on top of the spiced sauce which complemented them. Traditionally the eggs are cooked within the sauce (usually 3 or more eggs) making this particular Shakshuka's two poached eggs look lost in the sauce.
Some of us prefer to clean the sauce off with a bit of bread - the accompanied three slices of ciabatta was perfectly toasted and was sufficient - but the store does stock a variety of breads to soak up the remnants. You also have an option (at an additional charge priced between R15 and R65 depending on the item chosen) of adding more eggs, tomato (fresh or grilled), spinach, grilled mushrooms, avo (seasonal), grilled halloumi, macon, beef sausage, cheese griller, smoked salmon, as well as mozzarella or cheddar cheese and a full portion of chips.
Next we tried the Pie of the Day which were quite a few options - Chicken and Mushroom, Chicken Tikka, Veg, Pepper Steak, but we chose the Steak.
The classic gourmet pot pie, baked fresh and served hot comes from the Café Lunch part of the menu and is served with either chips or a side salad, and priced at R55.
Fournos Bakery Steak Pie, Chips and Gravy
Photo Credits Ziyaad Plaatjes
We chose the portion of chips and to our surprise the meal also included a gravy which we drenched our pie in. The pie by itself holds it own as the pastry is the right amount of flaky (not too much), the ratio of filling to pastry was perfect and the steak filling was well cooked (no fat or gristle) with a well rounded flavour for a pot pie. The gravy definitely pushed the boundaries and the portion was of the gravy was spot on. There was a bit of a salty aftertaste in the gravy but we are not huge salt eaters. The chips were a bit dry, it wasn't as crispy as I would have hoped (being a chip lover) but nothing a bit of tomato sauce or the gravy couldn't help with.
Lastly, from the Healthy and Sweet portion of the menu we chose the French Toast: Golden French toast with cinnamon sugar, maple syrup, and berry compote priced at R70.
Fournos Bakery French Toast
Photo Credits Ziyaad Plaatjes
The toast was thickly sliced, which we like, but the brioche which was used was a bit too doughy, and it seemed it was not dipped enough, as there was not much egg that we could taste. It was well presented and plated like the other dishes with the strawberries and ideally portioned compote, but it didn't score as high for us like the other two meals did.
The store is in the process of introducing a separate private dining area from the "market" for those special occasions or events where the store hopes to serve mocktails and gelato in the near future.
A fully Halaal store would not be complete without a place to pray, and in the Vaal Lifestyle Centre, Security and Solar depot (the building next to the Vaal Fournos Bakery) has a Mens and Ladies Musallah (Muslim prayer facility).
Ladies and Mens Musallah Vaal Lifestyle Centre
Photo Credits Ziyaad Plaatjes
For a store that is one week old and was quite busy throughout our visit, the overall taste and experience has promise.
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Nabihah Plaatjes is the Co-Founder of iloveza.com, Radio Presenter for Level Up on Radio Islam International, and the CEO of the Independent Media Association of South Africa (IMASA) She is an Award-Winning Entrepreneur, Change Agent, Published Contributing Author, Journalist, Marketing and Social Media Specialist, a Bachelor of Arts graduate, and has been writing since the age of 9. Nabihah is passionate about Brand Awareness and Brand Loyalty and uses her knowledge in these fields together with her copywriting, editing and proof-reading skills to bring brands to life. iloveza.com is a primary example of how she can build your brand. Find her at: Instagram: @nabihah_dp / @ilovezacom X: @nabihahd / @ilovezacom Facebook: iloveza.com LinkedIn: Nabihah Plaatjes / iloveza.com YouTube: iloveza.com SoundCloud: iloveza.com E-mail: nabihah@iloveza.com |
