The meal you eat at Bernouli’s Restaurant could well be your last in South Africa.

The restaurant is located inside the Southern Sun O.R. Tambo Airport Hotel, 500 meters (1600 feet) and a short, free shuttle ride from the busiest airport in Africa.

The hotel restaurant overlooks a secluded and colorful pool area, its garden full of trees and shrubs in bloom the day I ate there. I was pleasantly surprised at how tranquil the scene was — not at all what I was expecting at the airport.

The hotel also had room service 24/7, which makes sense considering travelers are checking in all hours of the day and night.

The breakfast buffet at Bernouli’s was one of the most extensive I saw in South Africa — a great Johannesburg sendoff on my last day there. For 195 rand ($17.60 US), there were hot and cold buffets. The hot buffet had nine items including boerewors, beef and pork sausage, kippers, streaky bacon and back bacon.

There was a waffle station and a separate counter with cold meats and cheeses beautifully presented to make the food look scrumptious.

The pastries and breads were almost overwhelming — we’re talking custard and fruit Danish pastries in different shapes, banana, blueberry and chocolate chip muffins, and all kinds of seeded health loaves with sunflower, sesame and rye.

“Because we are an airport hotel, we try to cater to everyone,” Chef Kyle told me.

The buffet’s cereal and yogurt station included prepared and plain yogurts. Here’s just a sampling of foods you could stir into your muesli or granola: fresh granadilla, stewed guavas, whole stewed pears, kiwi sauce, almonds, cashews, and my favorite — stewed dried fruit, a very South African thing that I grew to love at breakfast buffets around the country.

If I’d wanted a straight English breakfast, I could have ordered eggs poached, fried or omelette from Chef Anna, who was cooking eggs to order.

Bernoulis has buffets for lunch and dinner as well, or you can order a la carte.

There’s no such thing as a bad cup of coffee in South African hotels — the quality is generally just amazing. I could have used another cup at Bernouli’s. I was offered coffee once, but not again. But the milk was hot, and the coffee stayed hot for a long time.