Walking into the Boardwalk Café is like stepping back in time.

The walls of the vintage-themed eatery in St George’s are adorned with old-style advertisements from decades gone by and an iconic photograph of Marilyn Monroe.

The café, located on Water Street, was launched by newlyweds Allen and Kelly Pretorius in June, and offers authentic home-made cooking.

The retro theme creates a distinctive environment for customers.

“The idea came to me when deciding to open the café,” Mrs Pretorius said. “Barritts was nice enough to even donate a retro-style Coca-Cola fridge to us. I even wear an authentic 1950s apron as I am cooking.”

The couple live in the St George’s area and had toyed with the idea of opening their own café for a while. “We just felt that we wanted to contribute to St George’s and the community,” Ms Pretorius said.

Mr Pretorius used his experience to fix equipment and help set up. “Although I come from an engineering background, I have owned a restaurant and been around the industry for a long time,” he said.

The pair pride themselves on the unique menu and comfort foods they serve. “We wanted to offer completely different foods from the other cafés and restaurants in the area,” Mr Pretorius said.

“For instance, we do not serve hamburgers and French fries because people can get that from anywhere around here.”

Among the offerings on the menu are The Big Al, which is a meat loaf special, and The Dean, a Thanksgiving special, a turkey sandwich made with stuffing and cranberry sauce.

“We named them after our friends when we first opened the café,” Mr Pretorius said. “We asked our friends Al and Dean what they would like to see on the menu and they chose their favourites so we gave it their names.”

Among other dishes offered are vegetarian chilli, fishcakes, root beer floats and more. “We make a syrup that goes into our iced-coffee and people say it’s the best iced-coffee they have ever tasted,” Mrs Pretorius said.

All the foods are made by Mrs Pretorius. “I cook everything as I would at home. After every meal I prepare, Allen always says, ‘you made this from the heart’ and he told me I need to continue this kind of cooking for the café.”

The vegetables are picked fresh from Ben Estrella’s farm.

Mrs Pretorius will be baking cookies for Halloween. “We plan to keep the theme of the holidays and as of November 1 we will serve a full Thanksgiving meal for the entire month,” Mrs Pretorius said.

Dinners can be ordered and prepared for evening collection.

• The café opening hours are Monday to Saturday, from 9:30am to 5pm