It’s not often we struggle to write the opening sentence of our review each week, but today we are feeling the pinch.
This sentence has been written and deleted a dozen times and it still doesn’t feel right. Last weekend we laughed in jest at the rapid pace the CoronaVirus seemed to be changing the World, with little concern for how that might impact on us personally. In the seven days since, everything has ground to a halt, and we are suddenly very aware of the challenging times ahead. Sadly, given the gravity of the situation at the moment, we have decided it is time for our blog to come to an end.
We set out with no real plans at the beginning of this journey, other than to get to know our local area a little better and suss out the odd decent coffee. It’s not well known, that Rachael’s anxiety around eating at unfamiliar places is often debilitating, and has on more than one occasion changed our preset plans. This blog was an opportunity to work on that too.
It turns out our little adventure has had a huge impact on our lives and has taught us a few more life lessons than just where to pick up a decent flat white. While not many of us enjoy reading other peoples ‘life advice’ lists, we are going to share ours anyway. Here’s what we have learnt:
Some of the best coffee is right here in our own backyard.
Friendly service and happy staff can improve pretty average food A LOT!
Most people can’t tell who has written our blog. We have taken week about to write up our reviews, and even we are surprised at how similar our styles are.
Writing a blog is almost as much effort as looking after a baby! We thought we would just pop out for coffee and cake each Sunday then ‘whip up’ our thoughts. It turns out those thoughts often take 2 or more hours to put into something semi publishable! Let’s not even mention the proofreading and editing required.
We started off taking notes each week (if you know Rachael well you will know there was a checklist involved). After 48 reviews that was no longer needed and we could judge a good cafe within three minutes of entering.
After 48 weeks consecutively (other than one week we were rained in), Rachael can no longer eat scrambled eggs and bacon.
Our kids don’t read our blog – but 3,686 other people from around the World did.
It’s not all bad news though. We have loved every minute of our reviews. We have had some hilarious experiences along the way, and had many fabulous brunches with friends and family, and one time even with strangers when Dunshea’s Cafe ‘encouraged’ us to share a table. We have seen a whole lot more of the Wellington region and will continue to support our local business once the lockdown has been lifted.
We do have another big adventure in the works and hope to blog about it when plans are up and running. Thanks for sharing our journey with us. We appreciate every single one of you who have stopped in once, twice or every week for a read. We have loved every minute of it.
With the current climate becoming more serious by the hour, we gave significant thought to whether we should continue with our review or not this week. Ultimately when it comes to food we are a lazy pair, so decided as long as we didn’t share a table with a large group of Grey Power delegates we should be ok. It was agreed that we would stick close to home, more to help support our local businesses than out of concern for community contamination further afield. We also decided to complete this review on Saturday morning.
This decision saw us pulling up outside our local Brendan Foot Car Dealership. When I say ‘car dealership’, I literally mean car – singular. It has ONE car inside the cafe with a price tag of $43,000. How would you even order that? “Ummmm, hi there. I’ll take the Mitsubishi Outlander and a flat white to go thanks”. “Certainly Sir, that will be $43,005.50”.
The cafe itself is called Equinox, and it shares a space with Brendon Foot Supersite. To be fair, the only thing super about this site is that there is coffee! The cafe tables subtly merge into the dealership office area. We originally chose a large table at the far end of the room, however, the odd looks and quiet whispers soon alerted us to the fact something was wrong. Whoops – it turns out we may have been sitting at Brendan Foot’s office desk. Nothing unusual about sitting at a table with a portable phone and swivel chairs – we don’t think so anyway.
Unfortunately lady luck was not smiling on Equinox this weekend, and they had fallen victim to the underbelly of Upper Hutt. The lovely lady serving us apologised for the gaping hole in the wall where two masked intruders had smashed their way onto the cafe during the early hours of the night and taken their cash register. We couldn’t help but admire the fact they continued to provide a full service, with a smile, despite being there at 3am to clean up the mess.
We were a trio of three this week, and ordered the following:
1 x Wild Benedict:Grilled potato slabs, caramelised red onions, roasted bell peppers, black beans, sautéed mushrooms topped with poached egg & avocado-lime hollandaise.
1 x Classic B.L.T: Toasted ciabatta smeared with lemon-laced mayonnaise, crispy smoked bacon, baby lettuce & thick juicy tomatoes
1 x Chicken, cranberry and brie panini
1 x chocolate caramel slice
2 x hot chocolate and a humble flat white.
We all waited in anticipation for the meals to be delivered as the grilled potato slabs really piqued our curiosity. It turns out that’s just a fancy name for hash browns! We did, however, all agree that Andre looked as though he was eating his way to good health with the medley of peppers, beans and fungai piled on his plate.
Our food arrived quickly and was delicious. We were impressed with the playhouse outside for the kids, the dog watering station and the cabinet offered a reasonable selection of treats.
Slightly less endearing was the local radio station, slightly out of range, blasting through the speakers. Nothing like the crackle of static feedback to jiggle that early morning nerve down to the wire.
All in all we enjoyed a pleasant meal and would recommend Equinox as a casual drop in spot on a lazy Sunday rather than a destination place.
For those of you wondering… we did not purchase the car with our meal. Maybe next time.
You’ll assume by the photo caption above that this review is going to end well and, if you do then read on…
Firstly, let’s meet the crew on this expedition.
The crew. One of these things is not like the others.
This week we find ourselves in the Corona capital of New Zealand…Auckland. Our crew of 6 have made an effort to travel there for the weekend to catch the show Book of Mormon (outstanding!) and of course it would be rude not to conduct a cafe review given they’re so prolific in the beautiful city of sails.
I have to point out the the gentlemen in blue positively beaming in the centre of the photo, goes by the name Bright. The reason he’s so happy is he’s just watched the show for free courtesy of our friends Graeme and Wendy who sadly at the last moment were unable to join our merry band. Bright, who was giving away Uber Eats vouchers outside the theatre literally happened to be in the right place at the right time and found himself the recipient of a free show ticket. I have never seen anyone more appreciative. It made our weekend as well as his. Anyway…on to the cafe!
It was a short walk from the Auckland Town Hall, close to our accommodation, up to “K Road” where the cafe is situated in the first block of shops traveling North. We can’t comment on parking as our transport was still on the tarmac at Auckland Airport but it could be tricky given the amount of road cones everywhere.
First impressions are promising. It looks clean and relatively new, with a funky “industrial office” interior. The cabinet food is somewhat limited to sweet treats so don’t expect a large range of sandwiches and cold quiche to choose from. The real gems are on the menu itself as we quickly discover.
Every dish is fresh and delicious and greatly enjoyed by each person who ordered them. A minor disappointment is one of the plates having a large crack running through the middle of it and while it held together during our visit it’s clearly a concern on several levels. We did point out the condition of the plate at the end of our visit and the staff were suitably apologetic. We’ve decided not to let this impact on our overall score as it’s easy for this kind of thing to occur and we’re confident that plate is now at the bottom of a recycling bin or where ever cracked plates end their days.
A highlight of the experience was the way the tea was served. The cup, pot and strainer all looked as if they had been made on a potter’s wheel somewhere out back. It certainly looked unusual and provided a point of difference we’ll remember for some time.
I’ve left the photo large so you can get a good look at this.
So a quick poll of the team upon consummation of our vittles revealed all were satisfied and, cracked plate aside, we’re giving Between a solid 5 stars! Here’s a few other random pics…
Every now and then Andre needs to put credit on his “man card” and he looks for a project that will allow him such an opportunity. As luck would have it, our newly appointed “herb garden” needs pavers and after a quick visit to Bunnings in Petone we spy a cafe next door appropriately called the Workshop cafe. Andre can’t resist and drags a somewhat hesitant Rachael in past the sign that proclaims goat curd as one of the daily specials.
We walk over to the cabinet although after noticing considerable condensation inside the glass we decide to pass and see what the menu has to offer. Everything looks standard. Eggs, smashed avocado, bacon, mushrooms and combinations thereof to suit most tastes.
Andre orders up pancakes with bacon and uncooked banana, while Rachael looks forward to wedges with bacon, melted cheese and topped with sour cream. Our drinks, EBT and a regular flat white arrive in good time although the wait for our food seems somewhat long given the place isn’t exactly packed. Our preference and rule of thumb has always been that the food should arrive before we have finished our drinks. In this case the cups were well cold by the time our orders made it to our table.
The pancakes according to Andre were filling although quite thick and needed all of the available sauce to help them slide down. The bacon portion was somewhat on the miserly side although was cooked to his liking. Rachael’s wedges were a good portion size and there were no complaints around presentation or taste. Although less than memorable, both of us pretty much got what we expected.
Another party several tables over from us ordered sliders which looked like mini burgers with a skewer through the top (presumably to keep the layers together) and they did look visually appealing. Andre’s made a mental note of these should we end up there again when the next man card top up is due.
Today we are delighted to award the Workshop Cafe a solid 3 stars. It’s the kind of cafe you’d happily drop into when visiting Bunnings around lunchtime but it’s not really a “destination” that you then might use as a springboard to visit Bunnings while you’re there. The service was friendly and apart from the unsightly condensation in the cabinet the place was clean and looked well maintained.
For a workshop cafe the cups could do with larger finger holes!
There are some days where everything just seems to come together and culminates into one glorious ball of perfection. Today was one of those days and it was largely due to the discovery of Atrium in Lower Hutt.
Our original mission was to purchase a small freezer to house our CoronaVirus panic buying food supplies (just kidding – we already have a freezer for that). We were pleased to find one that met our requirements – good size, cheap delivery and great price (possibly something to do with having a brand name we can’t pronounce).
Feeling jubilant, we decided to thumb our noses at the sign on the carpark wall threatening us with wheel clamping if we left the premises, and wandered down the main street of Lower Hutt to find a cafe for lunch. We happened upon Atrium, tucked a little off the beaten path. Drawn in by the bright colours (Rachael) and the smell of coffee (Andre), we decided to pop in for lunch and a sparkling water in celebration of making a purchase that actually qualifies as an ‘adult decision’.
If you don’t mind a slight side note here, I’d just like to take a moment to clarify the Kneepkens’ are not really known for purchasing items most would consider ‘responsible’. Here are a few examples: Andre – full sized rubber StormTrooper mask (see pic below), several unflyable drones, a multi patterned mustard coloured 5XL shirt from Wish and 2000 MINIATURE plastic bags (thinks dolls house sized here). Rachael – naming a horse race after Andre for his birthday, a mini coke fridge, knee high pink boots and a rundown silver convertible. So as you can see – an ‘adult decision celebration’ was in order!
The brightly patterned skateboard seats outside the door piqued our interest, and we were instantly charmed by the bright pops of color and the quirky odds ‘n’ sods inside the cafe. Seriously – two words sum up this cafe: Lolly Bags! Say no more right?
We were greeted by some of the friendliest cafe staff we have ever met and they dealt with our post purchase delirium with professionalism and humour with comments such as ‘Yes Mam, our fridge is always difficult to open, we have found pulling the door the other side makes a big difference’ and ‘No problem sir, people often return their table number to the counter so we can’t find where to deliver their food’. Our only excuse for these levels of stupidity were that we were so hungry our bellies were overtaking our brains.
We had a quick scan of the counter selection and decided on french toast for Andre and a bacon buttie for Rachael. No cake today, but there was plenty to choose from.
We took some time to appreciate the little nooks and crannies around the cafe. Intimate spaces for one or two, larger tables for groups and a play area for your little ones. There is a mezzanine floor which also provides seating.
The food arrived quickly and was delicious. Great service despite not having a table number! Overall we found Atrium to be a friendly, clean, spacious cafe with a reasonable selection of food. We both struggled to find fault with this cafe and agree it earns a well deserved five stars.
While we were out and about we decided to take our chances and pop in for a surprise visit to meet the owners of a house Andre once owned in Petone. Well the surprise was more for them than us, as we have actually been there several times over the last few weeks but never managed to catch them while they were home. Before you reach for your Facebook app and report us to the ‘Petone Community Noticeboard’ as possible Aurora Street stalkers we had better explain…
Back in the early 80’s Andre owned a fabulous little house in Petone, and after toiling away at layer after layer of wallpaper came across a swatch of original, hand painted paper which had been the first of many to adorn the walls.
He carefully salvaged a small piece, framed it in a wooden frame made from a piece of kauri found in his backyard and then lugged this little gem from house to house over the next 35 years. It sat in a box in the depths of a cupboard until about a month ago. During a thorough clean up where Rachael declared ‘if you don’t love it – lose it’, Andre decided to return his little slice of history back to its rightful spot. I’d like to say this artifact has come full circle, however, we are still struggling to close the gap, and instead seem to be stuck with a gaping arc. The current owners either have extremely active social lives or prefer not to open the door to strangers. So our mission to return the wallpaper is ongoing, as are our weekly reviews. Six Reviews to go and let’s hope the wallpaper is returned soon, otherwise all six may end up being in Petone!
We live in uncertain times. What with Corona Virus, climate change, the imminent demise of the internal combustion engine, it’s just one bad news story after another. We were hoping this week our cafe review would be a beacon of light on an otherwise gloomy horizon but sadly, it was not to be. However, thanks to our friend Rebecca, we at least go armed with an entertainment book voucher so it’s a little on the cheap which is a bonus!
Despite this cafe being about as central Wellington as you can imagine, we weave our way through streets and road cones to find a parking building less than 100m from our destination. As it’s Sunday there are plenty of available parks and we soon find our way down the stairwell to street level. From the outside the cafe has a small frontage and when we pop in it’s immediately clear there are no spare tables…it’s packed! A waitress takes our name and informs us there’s a 10 minute wait for a table. We’re cool with that so stand around the entrance acting nonchalant. As we wait our eyes are drawn to the cabinet which has a selection of carrot and velvet cakes. They look good enough to eat so decide to add one to our order. For the coffee connoisseur a large board offers a tempting selection of bean blends with cool sounding names like Doi Saket, Chelba and La Aurora. (Andre, no expert, eventually settles on a regular flat white)
Despite being threatened with a 10 minute wait, we’re called over after 5 and end up sandwiched between two tables with just enough elbow room to use a knife and fork. Our drinks order is taken by an efficient waitress who clearly doesn’t have time to chat, and they touchdown on our table in an acceptable time frame given how busy the barista manning the coffee machine seems to be.
Rachael orders scrambled eggs and Andre poached eggs on toast with a side order of an extra egg and black pudding. The food eventually arrives but it’s a long wait. Our drinks are a distant memory and the cups are well cold, but we’ve been entertained by the conversations from the tables either side of us while not giving away too much of our own family secrets in the process naturally.
At this stage I’d like to point out it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Rachael had to get her wet wipes out(rubbish bin not flush is our family mantra) as the chair had coffee spilt on it by the waitress who came back to wipe the table but neglected the chair and the milk for the tea had a bug firmly stuck to the inside of the cute bottle it came in.
Yes folks…that’s on the INSIDE….shudder!
Once the food is eaten, including the very tasty carrot cake, we call a staff meeting then and there to discuss today’s experience and award the appropriate number of stars. The votes are in and the results are not good. Two and a half stars. While the cafe environment is uber trendy, the food was lacklustre, the staff were stretched and the wait times for food disappointing. (take the dandelion off Andre’s plate and it’s nothing you couldn’t whip up in any kitchen) Another cafe that’s possibly a victim of its own success…we’ve seen them before.
We all know in this day and age there is a fine line between cool (jandals) and uncool (jandals and socks), glamorous (diamonds) and tacky (rhinestones), shy (Kate Middleton) and over confident (Megan Markle). So it is a rare occasion we would describe a cafe as cool and glamorous, yet over confident.
Betsy, in Island Bay, was listed as one of the top 15 cafes in Wellington (cool), so we decided we should try it before our 12 month cafe review time frame was up. We were surprised after reading the many complementary reviews on Facebook, to pull up outside a tiny unassuming little shop in the middle of the main street (glamorous maybe). What struck us the most, was that once inside there was only one small table for those who wish to dine inside (how’s that for confidence?).
We were greeted by around 6 staff (all wearing matching black and white striped t.shirts – there’s the cool factor again). It was a genuine and friendly welcome, which impressed us, as we have quickly become accustomed to being part of the cafe production line of greet, serve, feed, repeat which while efficient from a business point view, doesn’t really make you feel more than a table number and an open wallet.
The cabinet food looked fresh and tasty and there was a good selection. Ever the optimists we hoped there was also a menu to choose from and low and behold – there was! Well, what we mean is there were two menus, like literally two… two pieces of paper… attached to two mini clipboards. We guess this was probably sufficient given there was only one table available for the ‘dine in experience’.
Andre opted for two house-made toasted crumpets topped with passionfruit curd, raspberry and rose syrup, vanilla bean cream cheese, toasted almonds. While we could almost feel the good health dripping off the menu just reading the description, the presentation of the meal was seriously next level. Check out the photo below.
By comparison Rachael’s humble cream cheese bagel with bacon and avocado did not quite look as Instagram ready, however, it was tasty and did not require a chainsaw to cut through the bagel. Always a good sign!
What this cafe lacked in menu choice it definitely made up in flavour.
Luckily we had arrived very early, as near the end of our breakfast the little shop began to fill with locals after a fresh baked specialty bread, quick cuppa to go or a tasty morsel from the cabinet.
There is lots to love in this quirky little cafe. The longer you sit and take in your surroundings, the more you see the little special touches – from magazines on wall mounted clipboards, to mini shelves of Besty relish, bags and t shirts.
While not strictly part of the Betsy cafe, we do think it’s fair to mention the seriously impressive Pohutukawa tree across the road. It’s absolutely stunning, and does add to the old school beachy vibe of Island Bay.
Putting all factors together we would describe little Besty as the jandal wearing, diamond dripping, Megan Markle of the Wellington cafe world.
Well, this is post number 41 if my numeracy skills are correct which means we are closer to the end than the beginning of our blogging journey. We have mixed feelings as we discuss the impending anniversary and we wonder if we should go large on our final post. Perhaps we can be like Game of Thrones and make the final episode one our readers won’t forget! Or then again…maybe we could just remind ourselves these are amateurish cafe reviews with a handful of followers, most of whom will not even realise when they just stop after number 52. *sigh*
Anyway…on to this weeks review. Thanks to Lucy, we’re off to Prefab cafe in Jessie Street central Wellington. Oddly, when we drive by there’s no large sign outside indicating we have arrived and if it wasn’t for Siri announcing “Your destination is on the right.” we may have driven right past. The street is narrow and we’re fortunate to find a park about 100m away. We can’t imagine everyone would be so lucky so be prepared to drive round the block a few times or locate a parking building during peak times.
Jessie Street
Once inside we quickly realise this is THE place to come if you enjoy inner city living with all the trappings. The place is PACKED! However, a lovely waitress who reminds me somewhat of Polly Gillespie soon has us seated at one end of a table for four while Sue Heck’s twin and a friend are at the other end. (Google images Sue Heck) We arrange our table accoutrements to delineate our half and we sneak up to the cabinet to see what’s on offer. It looks promising.
We’re not left on our own for very long before orders are taken and whisked off to the kitchen where Andre espies a chef who bears a striking resemblance to David Beckham. We muse over whether it might actually be DB but quickly put that aside as our food and drinks all arrive in a timely fashion.
Rachael takes one for the team and tucks into a scrambled eggs on toast (eye roll from Andre), while his lordship orders up the mushroom with poached egg.
At the same time, our cabinet selections make their way to our table. Rachael a highly recommended custard donut and Andre an almond croissant. Both of these turned out to be the highlight of the meal.
As we eat, we glance at the door and notice the queue is right back to the footpath. Some of these people are in for quite a wait…it’s probably worth it.
All up, we enjoyed our visit to Prefab. We recommend it’s highly efficient and friendly staff, good food and clean plus modern interior. There’s free wifi and orders were quickly delivered. There’s a lot of positive things to say about this cafe and yet…we can’t help but feel it’s too efficient, too dynamic almost to be enjoyable. The food was great quality and yet not memorable. Given how busy it was, it felt almost impolite to linger when others were waiting to come in. This cafe in some ways is almost a victim of its own success. If you’re looking for relaxed and quirky…this isn’t the cafe for you. A well deserved 4 stars.
Being the highly knowledgeable readers that you all are, you will all be familiar with all the greatest ‘Astons’ of our time… Aston Martin, Aston University, Aston Hotel, Aston Kutcher (ok – he’s an Ashton – that’s a minor detail). But have you heard of Aston Norwood Cafe and Garden Centre? If not – you need to! This little gem hidden in the middle of nowhere (Upper Hutt) is a delightful mixture of French cafe chic, good ole New Zealand hospitality and the international equivalent of liquid energy – good coffee!
We did a little internet research about this place before embarking on the 15 minute drive from home and it seems there are many reasons to visit. Why not book in for a round of clay shooting, high tea, a Middle Earth platter, feed the eels or just take some time to wander around the stunning gardens. You could even join the Upper Hutt Naturalist Society, and accompany them for a round of naked archery. It may sound like we made up this cheeky little claim, however, it is listed as a genuine activity on the Aston Norwood website!
We had a slight ulterior motive for our visit this week. We are on the hunt for a venue to host a surprise combined 21st party for Summer and 18th shin dig for Harry later in the year. You might think it a little odd that we are announcing our intentions of a ‘surprise’ party in a public blog, but the chances of either of them reading about it here are slimmer than getting them to empty the dishwasher without being asked. According to Summer this blog has ‘too many words’, and according to Harry ‘it’s just lame’.
However…
We were genuinely enchanted with Aston Norwood as soon as we stepped out of our car and into the car park. It was well sign posted and cute little decorations around the door made for a warm welcome.
Inside the cafe we were impressed with the shabby chic, french interior design. The counter food looked tempting (Rachael is easily tempted though, so a slice of cake is a given). We settled on eggs montreal for Andre and scrambled eggs for Rachael. A flat white and an English breakfast tea, with a chocolate cake to share completed our order. The young lass at the counter asked if we would like our cake before or after our breakfast, while Rachael laughed hysterically. Seriously – who eats cake AFTER breakfast?
Our food all arrives as expected and we are halfway through our meal. All is going well and we are both impressed. A five star score is on the tip of our tongue, when Rachael happens to glance over at Andre’s meal and notice it looks a bit bland and could use something a little saucy to jazz it up. Actually now we look a little closer it seems the meal has been sent out without the hollandaise sauce! Hmmmm….. While not too big a deal the ingrained educators in us liken it to a school newsletter being sent home without being proofread. Not an actual disaster but a little sloppy in practice! It’s not a big deal, however, and the delicious parmesan hash brown on the side more than makes up for the oversight.
One thing we liked about Aston Norwood are the many different rooms and activities on offer. Just off the room we were sitting in was a stunning ballroom with a sweeping staircase, large chandeliers and bar. Apologies for the poor quality photo below. This required a belly slide past the front counter and a cheeky sneak through a closed door – sheesh the paparazzi have it hard!
The real gem of this cafe is definitely the gardens. They are absolutely stunning, and would be the perfect setting for a wedding (or combined 21st / 18th birthday).
Nothing we write will be able to describe the gardens better than the pics below, so we will let the photos themselves do the hard work for us:
We are excitedly awaiting a visit from Andre’s family from Holland later in the year and everytime we visit a cafe we asking ‘would we bring overseas visitors here?’. This cafe currently sits near the top of our ‘yes’ list and we both agree it is a must visit venue if you’re a local.
Days Bay – a regular party town of old (not old as in when we were young, but old as in REALLY old) started it’s early life as a destination spot and aquatic playground for the rich in about 1841. Wellington shipowner, J H Williams (is that where William’s Park got it’s name? Asking for a friend) brought the land and built the original ornate wooden late-Victorian Pavilion, providing teas on its deep verandas, a restaurant, evening dances and outdoor concerts.
Fast forward to 2020 and you’ll find this idyllic little hot spot 28.1km as the crow flies (not actually, but always wanted to drop that line in somewhere) – about 30 minutes from home in the car. Sadly the original building is no longer standing but we now have a smaller Pavilion, sitting to one side of William’s Park. This building also houses a cute little ice cream shop.
As it’s more lunch than brunch today we decide to give the cabinet more than a cursory glance, and turn our heads to the second page of the menu. Andre settles for a mushroom, spinach and feta filo with a flat white, and Rachael orders a 10 inch margarita pizza with Antipodes fizzy water. A bowl of curly fries and aioli for the table completes our order.
We were pleasantly surprised by how quickly our food arrived. The coffee, filo and fries all arrive within about five minutes and the pizza not long after. I’m not going to lie – we did check out the Pavilion reviews online before coming here, and frankly, they were not good.
There were reports of poor service, long waits for food and a menu lacking in both flavour and variety. A couple of the reviewers made claims such as: “Beyond disappointing – desperately need a chef – dismal food” and “Let down…yet again”. We were a little surprised by these seemingly disgruntled tales of woe, as we found the staff to be exceptionally friendly and the menu reasonably extensive and our orders were tasty.
There were several little touches that we loved about the Pavilion too. Such as the help yourself drinks station outside the cafe, the book sharing cupboard and the bean bag corner (this looked so comfortable but with a range of dodgy hips, knees and shoulders between the pair of us, getting out of them would be less than graceful). We also loved the true kiwi vibe of this place. Think family games of cricket on the lawn, pop up tents, free electric bbq’s, and boxes of books for the kids to read, while responsible caregivers sip on a glass of house red.
There are several bush tracks in the surrounding hills for those keen walkers among us (not us of course – unless there is a retail outlet store somewhere along the way). The beach is just across the road, where dive bombs off the wharf are compulsory for anyone under 20 and the East by West Ferry can whisk you off to Wellington City at a moments notice. Side note – the ferry actually goes every two hours on a Sunday, but the timing doesn’t really add to the whimsical feel we are going for.
The Pavilion really does have everything you need for a relaxing, entertaining, family day out. Tennis court – tick. Free parking – tick Pétanque piste – tick White sand beach – tick Water slide – no – and let’s face it – all of us are pretty happy about that!
Listed #41 out of Trip Advisers 219 things to do in Wellington, the Pavilion seemed like the logical next place on our bloggers list of possibilities. With Te Papa Museum, Zealandia and the Cable Car taking out first, second and third spots respectively, this cafe had some stiff competition, but 41 is not too bad, and we think this is a fair placing.
As the sign of the wall says “Eat, drink, relax, be happy’. We can’t argue with good advice like that!
There’s no back story this week behind our pick of Cafe on Guthrie Street. Rachael asks Andre, “Where to this week *GOAT?” and the GOAT replies “How bout the cafe next to Waiwhetu marae?” We lock it in and head off!
First impressions are promising. The building itself clearly had a former life as a neighbourhood house, but it’s been a cafe for as long as we can remember. There’s a pleasant outside seating area at the front and we’re tempted to sit there as it’s a nice day but we want to experience the ambience and the only way to do that is to sit inside, plus there’s more to take photos of.
The reception is friendly and we glance in the cabinet but decide to pass as nothing looks overly tempting. We take a menu to a central table in an adjoining room to the counter and begin to peruse. Rachael points out that there’s dutch chips on offer at which Andre becomes extremely animated! (for those of you who have never met Andre, “animated” means he raised an eyebrow and said “Really? That’s cool.”)
Once the excitement passes and everything returns to normal, it’s a Belgian waffle for Andre and a Smashed Avocado Bagel for Rach. We decide to share a plate of dutch fries. While we wait, Andre regales (read bores) Rach with his stories of eating dutch fries (called friet) while in Holland. He makes bold claims that she’s “in for a treat with the friet!” Only he laughs.
Friet…rhymes with treat
Our food arrives in good time accompanied by a flat white and an EBT. The fries certainly look the part! Golden brown with lashings of mayonnaise and interestingly, a mild curry gravy, with finely chopped red onion pebbled over the top. We tuck in.
We both agree the dutch fries are certainly delicious although to Andre’s seasoned taste buds, the mayonnaise juuuust misses the mark. It’s a kiwi brand and although not unpleasant Andre swears the “real dutch stuff” is unmistakable and next level. Don’t be put off ordering them though folks as you won’t be disappointed.
Rach gives her bagel the thumbs up and Andre enjoys his waffle although it’s not quite the standard of some as the waffle itself is pretty stoggy. The accompanying cream and liquid chocolate is on point however and helps everything to glide down as it should.
After a quick conflab, we decide to award 4 stars to Cafe on Guthrie. Rach was tempted to go 5 but as we were ordering at the counter she noticed the chef lick his fingers while preparing a dish and while this must happen in most kitchens, we prefer it if we were kept blissfully ignorant of what happens at the grill.
*There’s some debate about the accuracy of this conversation as memories have become somewhat hazy. For those of you unfamiliar with the GOAT acronym it means Greatest Of All Time.
This week sees us heading back to one of our favorite areas in the Wellington region – Petone. There is something about this little seaside town that keeps drawing us back. Whether it’s the ever changing cafe scene, eclectic collection of junk shops or the fact that it has its own Dutch specialty store, who would know!
We start at one end of Jackson Street and decide to call in to the first cafe we see that has a park reasonably close. First mistake! Cafes in Jackson Street never have car parks close by. There are however, plenty of side streets off Jackson, as long as you’re prepared to walk. This may actually work out well as you can burn off a few calories before and after your meal.
We spot Caffiend not too far along Jackson Street and pull into a side street where parking was abundant (just kidding – we had to walk for ages). The cafe has a typical brick exterior, much like many of the old buildings in this area and also boasts a cute sidewalk seating area.
European settlers first arrived in Petone in 1840, making it one of Wellington’s oldest settlements. Many of the streets surrounding Jackson Street are named after early settlers and of course Aurora Street is named after the ship arriving in January 1840 with 101 passengers onboard.
While we are not sure if this particular building is an original, the interior would suggest it was built well in the region of ‘a long time ago’. With it’s small red bricks, lead light windows and small wooden doors, it certainly has plenty of character.
We take a quick scan of the cabinet (not much going on here) and then take a longer look at the large menu written on the wall. The menu is handwritten on a large roll of brown paper (very trendy) and more impressive than the large selection of food, is the fact whoever wrote up the menu managed to write completely straight across the page. More than 20 years in the classroom tells us this is no mean feat! (Rachael secretly checks for sneaky pencil guidelines, but there are none).
Andre spies a particularly lush looking berry pastry on the counter, and after giving it the glad eye for several minutes decides to claim it as his own. It is in his own words ‘very good’. High praise indeed from this bakers son!
We settle on the french toast and a cuppa tea each. Let us just say, the french toast did not disappoint! Layers of golden, lightly toasted bread with bacon, bananas, maple syrup and a berry coulis. We are often loathe to make bold claims on this blog, but we are going to call it, and say this is the best french toast we have ever eaten.
The food was delivered quickly, by a friendly waitress. The vibe was relaxed and beachy, with no loud music twanging our last early morning nerve.
It is hard to find fault with Caffiend, other than Rachael’s pet peeve that the sugar comes in a communal container on the table. E-Coli with that coffee anyone?
We highly recommend you check out both this cafe and the surrounding streets of Petone.
Jackson Street is also home to Te Puna Wai Ora (Spring of Life) – this pure artesian water originates from the Hutt River, and since 2003 has provided locals and visitors from afar with sparkling spring waters. Attracting hundreds of visitors each week this sculptural visual feast is the perfect perfect spot to have a gaze down the street towards Wellington Harbour. Once you have filled your drink bottle with pure spring water, why not meander along the street and follow the ‘Walk of Champions’ a row of bronze plaques dedicated to Petone’s sporting elite. If this is not your thing, the Lighthouse Cinema or the collection of boutique shops will engage even the most bored shoppers among us!
History lesson and decent coffee. It’s a win win we reckon!
Whenever Andre asks his work colleagues to recommend a cafe for our weekly visit, invariably The Botanist in Lyall Bay comes up, so this week…you guessed it…we’re off to Olive in upper Cuba street! There’s some trepidation on Andre’s part around parking as we’re talking about as central as you can get to the CBD. We all know what parking can do to even the most well planned expedition if some thought hasn’t gone into it! With Siri as backup, would you believe, we find a park directly across the road from our destination! This is a great start.
The building looks circa 1920 and inside it’s much the same decor apart from an eclectic collection of light shades from olde worlde through to funky futuristic. There’s not really a cabinet to speak of but there are some treats under cloches along the counter. We don’t have time to investigate though as a bubbly Irish lass whisks us to a table by the window and merrily informs us that she’s just had her second christmas in New Zealand and she loves how everyone here goes to the beach and you don’t have to give presents. Don’t have to give presents…really? She’s a sweetie so we decide not to say anything and we’re left with our thoughts plus two menus.
Two english breakfast teas soon appear and not long after our two waffles of the day. We quickly tuck in and agree they are best described in three words…Sen.Sation.Al. Light and fluffy and dripping in a smooth chocolate sauce over the freshly whipped cream and banana. If you’re a waffles fan then add this one to your bucket list as it’s to die for! (which is probably what you’ll do if you eat too many of these bad boys but what the heck…YOLO eh?) (That “YOLO” is Andre’s attempt to convince us that he’s still young and hip…although by the look of him a replacement hip is more likely in his future!)
Anyway…it doesn’t take us long to dispatch both waffle meals and wash it down with a tea. Andre explores the courtyard out the back, declaring it’s a peaceful inner city sanctuary that’s just right for a first tinder date, while Rachael watches the tattooed man in a fluro orange shirt smoking out on the footpath while his skateboarding buddy whizzes up and down the street wearing a tshirt with the word “plagueround” emblazoned on the back. This cafe is certainly smack in the middle of a cultural melting pot and it’s given us plenty to talk about on the ride home!
We take our leave and enjoy a quick stroll down Cuba street, Rachael squeals with delight as the wind catches the bucket fountain and splashes her with cold water…it’s an endearing kiwi tradition. We call a staff meeting in the car during the drive home and both agree we’re glad we went to this cafe as we didn’t have to waste olive our time with a bad review. A well deserved 5 stars from both of us!
Nothing to do with Olive cafe but on a large poster outside a neighbouring store someone had gotten all Etsy with googly eyes! Kinda funny.
With Christmas a dim and distant memory and the last of the trifle finally eaten for breakfast, our discussion soon turned to the next cafe to be reviewed. We were aware this is to be the final review for 2019, and wanted to make it a fitting experience for the occasion.
Deciding that this review should be something spectacular, we decided to treat ourselves to high tea at the Bolton Hotel. This is a special place to the pair of us, as we held our wedding knees up there almost 13 years ago. We have fond memories of this day, and minus the hundred guests thought we might like to head back and reminisce!
The day arrives and fancy gladrags, high heels and lippy are carefully selected for this exciting event. (Rachael pulled out a few fancy threads too). We decided to leave early to beat the Wellington crowds – an hour and a half early in fact (excitement levels may have gotten the better of us – nothing like the promise of a cucumber sandwich with the crusts cut off to get us moving out the door).
We arrive at our venue, accidently drive up a down ramp in the parking building and make our way into the reception area. After sitting in the atrium for about 15 minutes, one of the hotel staff brave their way over to us and politely ask if they could be of assistance. Actually, why yes you can! We have a booking for high tea we proclaim. “A booking for Astoria” asked the hostess? “No” replies Andre – “a booking for Kneepkens”. The hostess looks rightly confused, as Rachael quickly explains the hotel cafe is called Astoria and yes – we have a booking for Kneepkens.
All is going well until the hostess announces we are not actually booked for high tea and that the ‘link on their website must be playing up’. Ah – ok. A bit like telling your kids Mr Whippy has run out of ice cream when the music plays. All three of us smell a bit of BS here but being the upmarket establishment it is we all play along.
Deciding not to waste the lippy and the squirt of Andre’s good aftershave he had diligently applied earlier, we decided to take our leave and look for a Plan B.
Plan B… this took us a little further North (or is it South? If you’re driving in a straight line you will end up in Auckland, so make of that what you will) to the funky little beach town of Raumati.
We end up at Cafe 6, a cute little cafe with an outdoor seating area and an indoor garden. We are impressed with the friendly waitress that greets us at the door, and love the happy vibe this cafe offers.
There is a small selection in the cabinet, including the most divine looking slice of chocolate cake we ever did see! Neither of us are big fans of the humble choccy cake, but this one looked too delicious to overlook.
We found a seat by the window and had a good view of the locals wandering past with their kids, dogs and pimped up mobility scooters (it is a retirement town after all).
The menus were printed on little booklets and even came with little samples of food stuck to the inside cover, if you’d like to try before you buy. Rachael does not!
Coffees and teas were ordered along with bacon and eggs (yet again) and black pudding and eggs. The food arrived quickly and was well presented. While there was nothing wrong with our brunch, it was best described as adequate. The chocolate cake however, tasted amazing, and it was pure genius that Rachael ate half the slice before her eggs arrived, as this counteracted the offensive alfalfa sprouts adorning the main meal!
We both agree while the food was lacking in excitement or imagination, the little town of Raumati is certainly a desirable little spot to pop into for a coffee and a cake. There is a cute boutique shop called The Frock Shop just around the corner from Cafe 6. Ladies – why not set your husbands up with a takeaway coffee on a wooden seat overlooking the ocean, while you look after their credit card. If you ever needed a reason to stock up on the latest Augustine couture, visiting Raumati could be it!
OVERALL SCORE: 3 stars (feeling generous this week).
Heading north this week to the semi tropical Pauatahanui inlet, we stop in at the Ground Up Cafe right next door to the Transmission Gully road works. What was once a sleepy backwater is currently a hive of construction with every second vehicle seemingly involved with the roading project.
The on street parking is limited but if you’re not lucky enough to grab one right outside don’t be deterred…there’s plenty of parking round the back, just pull into the driveway on the southern side of the building.
First impressions as we step through the door are good. There’s a nice vibe going on and we quickly notice the staff are young and mainly male. In fact one lad barely seems more that 12 but he’s doing a good job clearing tables and delivering coffee.
There’s enticing food in the cabinet and the menu on the board looks standard with a lunch menu and an all day breakfast available. If the BLAT is “nacho jam” then maybe the English breakfast might be more your cup of tea. (sorry about that folks…a literary power surge. Hopefully won’t happen again!)
As we’re not sufficiently ravenous to both order a full meal, we settle for tea, coffee, a couple of slices and Andre slips in a chicken filo. Rach opts for her ever favourite caramel slice and big Dre is into something called a Monkey Chew. Everything arrives quickly and turns out to be amazing! Andre raves on about how the top of his slice has a layer of whole cashews and he’s a BIG fan of cashews!
Filo sans salad
After 30 minutes or so of enjoying the cafe ambience we decide to check out the wildlife reserve directly behind the cafe. The entrance is a couple of hundred meters south and it turns out to be a hidden gem! It’s a nice way to walk of the extra kilojoules we’ve taken on board.
All said and done, the cafe’s pleasant and functional. There’s no free wifi but it’s not a deal breaker. We can thoroughly recommend the selection of home baked treats for sale at the counter as Andre purchased and approved the shortbread…another weakness of his.
The staff are friendly and in a rare move, swung by our table twice to clear plates as we finished with them. Well done! As we both didn’t partake in a full meal it’s difficult for one of us to judge how tasty it would have been, so in all fairness we can only present up to 3 stars today and that’s what we’re giving it. It’s a cafe that does what you’d expect, but without the frills.
Andre’s Highlight: The monkey chew slice.
Rachael’s Highlight: Teapot poured well.
As it’s a few days before christmas Rachael and Andre would like to take a moment to wish all our loyal readers a safe and happy festive season. We both hope you’ve enjoyed following our journey throughout much of 2019 and that you’re looking forward to more reviews in 2020.
“What’s the buzz tell me what’s a-happening, what’s the buzz tell me what’s a-happening, what’s the buzz tell me what’s a-happe….”, Ok, so some of you may remember the 1973 Jesus Christ Superstar hit musical (for the record Rachael wasn’t born), but that’s not the ‘buzz’ we are blogging about this week. Neither are we referring to the delicious buzz of an alcohol fueled champagne breakfast.
This weeks ‘buzz’ is all about the aptly named Buzz Cafe in central Lower Hutt. A hive of industry and noise when we arrived this morning, there were Christmas carols blasting from hidden speakers (thank you December), a table of board games and a welcome from the owner at the front door.
Buzz cafe has been around for decades, and has frequented various locations around the central Hutt area. This current venue has a distinct industrial feel, and a bustling, upbeat atmosphere.
We are quickly seated, and drinks orders are taken. English breakfast tea for two and a banana milkshake for Harry.
There is plenty to choose from on the menu – and it seems even the most fussy of eaters (Rachael) can find something to silence the hunger.
We were impressed with the speed our drinks and food arrive, considering the time of day and that the cafe was almost packed.
Bacon and eggs (that ole chestnut again), eggs with spicy sausage and waffles with fried chicken (only a 17 year old boy could manage that on a Sunday morning).
As a side note:
Our good friend Di had recommended Zany Zeus in Moera as a cafe destination, and we had planned to go there last week. If you are a regular reader, you will be aware we were rained in and people more sensible than us had made the call that the general public should not travel unless urgent. (How can cake NOT be urgent?) We tried again this week, and we were delighted to find a park right outside the door.
Once inside we discovered there was no actual menu, and only cabinet cakes and cheese on offer. I know – most of you will be asking the same question as Rachael – what’s the problem here? We decided to purchase a cake each, then move onto a cafe with a breakfast menu. We would highly recommend Zany Zeus for cake and coffee, but not a meal as such.
According to the New Zealand Herald (so it must be true), Scarlett Johnasson described the Zany Zeus chocolate cake as ‘the best in the World’. Scarlett’s daughter (Rose Dorothy) has almost the same name as Rachael’s Nana (Dorothy), so we are going to count that as six degrees of separation and believe every word she says!
Here are a few pics to tempt the taste buds.
For the record we googled the lyrics to the song “What’s the buzz” to find out what the next line was. It pretty much said “What’s the buzz tell me what’s a-happening” (repeat many times). Pretty much sums up our work day really- repeat many times! Thank goodness for weekend cafe reviews we reckon!
“Heavy downpours have caused flooding in parts of Wellington, impacting on some public transport services, forcing some road closures and the cancellation of some public events.“
This is the opening paragraph on our local news website this morning as we wake up to pouring rain, thunder and lightning. The advisory warning is to avoid travel if at all possible. Our rain gauge shows 40mm overnight and social media is awash with pictures of flooding. While Andre reaches for his galoshes because inside every grown man is a boy who wants to wade knee deep in flood waters, Rachael offers a more sober approach and it’s decided we would “go local”. In fact, we’re so local we don’t even have to leave the house. Yes folks…this week mother nature is calling in at Cafe Kneepkens!
You’ll find Cafe Kneepkens not far off State Highway 2 in the leafy suburb of Wallaceville in Upper Hutt. Set in park like grounds, it’s a modern brick building with a hint of neo classical architecture offset to a degree by post roman colonnades at it’s entrance. (I made all of that up so don’t hold me to it if you actually know anything about architecture!)
Parking is plentiful either out on the street or if you’re an early bird customer there’s room for 4 cars up the gravel drive. We’ll assume those are reserved for disabled and or staff parking although it’s not sign posted.
Once inside, we quickly notice the table seating is exclusive (one table with four chairs) so it might pay to book ahead for future visits. On this occasion we’ve struck it lucky and we’re the only customers! The tough economic times are reflected by staff numbers and there seems to only be one wait staff who has to attend to all duties associated with running a cafe. This is not a good sign. There is however free wifi which connects automatically to our phones!
The exclusive seating area.
Eventually we’re seated, we take a quick glance at the menu…it’s either pancakes or your choice of…pancakes?
The Menu
We both decide on the pancakes and it’s up out of our seats to the PPS(Pancake Preparation Station) we go. To be fair…there are an impressive selection of toppings to choose from. Andre relives his childhood and adds raisins in the mixture(an old dutch family tradition), while Rachael goes traditional (no not scrambled eggs this time!)
Andre and Rachael both order a flat white but a quick once over of the coffee machine (see photo below) suggests they needn’t hold out much hope that it’s going to win any awards. One positive is that the coffee did arrive “instantly“.
The coffee machine was quiet and quick! Cappuccinos anyone?
It’s a flurry of activity as we take our turn at the PPS. There’s raspberries, bacon, banana, strawbs, spray cream in various flavours and of course…maple syrup.
Each meal becomes a work of delicious art as toppings are stacked one on top of the other. Andre is heard to mention “You won’t find better pancakes at any other cafe!” He also mutters something like “There’s one thing I don’t like about halloween, which is…” but the rest is lost in the scrape of cutlery on plate as everyone tucks in.
After about 15 minutes the plates are empty but the wait staff are slow to clear the table so as a sign of appreciation we decide to take our dishes to the kitchen. Andre asks if there are more customers booked for today but it seems not as the cafe closes when we leave. Boy were we ever lucky as it seemed to open when we arrived!
In conclusion…we decide to rate this cafe on several factors and award stars accordingly.
Atmosphere: Has a homely feel…5 stars
Dress code: So relaxed you can wear pyjamas!.. 5 stars
Coffee: Instantly arrived but…1 star.
Food: Fresh and delicious but limited menu…5 stars
Service: The one wait staff was exceptional but this cafe is seriously under resourced!.. 5 stars
As we slide into this Sunday with both the 1 December, and the beginning of the silly season colliding at the same time, we decided to outsmart the helpful folk who decided it would be a good idea to kick off the first of the month with the annual Upper Hutt Christmas Parade. Having seen the road closure signs earlier in the week, we agreed to avoid the Upper Hutt area for this review, and head in the opposite direction. Had we known how the day was about to unfold, watching grown men prance the main street wearing tights, with giant sacks (of lollies!!) may have been a better option!
As usual, Saturday night had rolled around and conversation turned to where to brunch the following day. We agreed up until this weekend we have carefully avoided the Wellington CBD, but maybe now we were up for the challenge. It was decided that we would get up early, catch the train into town and walk along Lambton Quay, stopping at a suitable place to eat.
In typical Kneepkens fashion, nothing ever goes to plan, and the first hurdle was the pounding rain lashing our windows when we woke up. Rachael, who had already planned her ‘Wellington outfit’, which included silver glitter sandals was not keen to continue the previous nights arrangements. Andre, however, making a quick wardrobe adjustment to his outfit (removed his socks and just wore the jandals) deciding to press on and give it a go anyway.
There was a slight flurry as we realised we would need cash to catch the train ($15 per adult return – Silverstream to Wellington Station), we were also not too clued up about where the nearest money machine is located (some might say we are just not clued up). We hoped our local petrol station might have a machine, and as luck would have it…it didn’t! Forced to make a purchase in order to withdraw some cash it was a toss up between caramel bliss balls or a steak and cheese pie. Rachael was tasked with this small job, so cherry flavoured lip gloss it was!
Ok… you’re probably thinking four paragraphs in and we still haven’t hit the cafe of choice. That would be because as we waited on the platform at Silverstream Station we were informed by a local in the know, that there was actually a train replacement bus, and we would need to go across the road and wait. As we watched a bus hurtling around the corner, heading towards us, our jaws slackened in shock. There is nothing quite like a neon sign claiming ‘Choo choo, I’m a train’ to really make you question the intelligence of the human race! Despite our reservations of stepping on a train dressed in as bus, we did, against better judgement. If you know us well, you will know Andre was happy with this arrangement, as it meant free parking, and Rachael was not, as it meant a 45 minute ride in a sealed container of germs.
The first cafe we came across on Lambton Quay (about a five minute walk from the station), was Astoria. We have been there a couple of times before and Andre is pretty partial to their black pudding dish. As we were starving, and Andre was claiming his stomach was eating itself to survive, we decided to stop here and refuel.
We were greeted at the door by a friendly waitress (please wait to be seated), and guided to a table for two (the guiding was needed as the lighting is so low it is almost a health and safety risk). We were handed a menu on a clipboard, so old and dirty it might as well have been a public library book. The tired silk flower and wobbly table leg were clearly early indicators that this previously well respected establishment has seriously gone downhill.
We were a little curious about the giant coffee machine plonked in the middle of the room, and wondered if it was possibly a strategic move to replace the lack of paying patrons?
The menu was limited and the cabinet food even more limited-er (not a real word but couldn’t think of a better one). The best way to describe the cabinet food is to show you the pic (below).
We decided the food would most definitely be better than the decor, but interestingly it turned out to be equally as bland. To be fair, Andre’s garlic mushrooms with poached egg on ciabatta was adequate (we know he’s a soft marker) but Rachael’s bacon and eggs were less desirable (perhaps she should have egg-nored them and chosen something else).
Another couple of interesting points – our pot of tea took almost 15 minutes to arrive, and was delivered well after the food had arrived. Rachael’s meal arrived several minutes before Andre’s, so if you’re old school and waiting for the other person to start eating, you’re going to have to weigh up whether cold eggs is worse that bad manners – we’re not eggs-aggerating!
If you’re planning to come to Astoria to eat your feelings, or indulge in a decent sweet treat…don’t!
About the only thing going for this cafe at the moment is that they serve alcoholic drinks for breakfast, and that it is right next door to David Jones, where you swap your Astoria sized disappointment for a decent slice of carrot cake.
After a restless nights sleep our combined brain power failed to engage as to where we should review this week so a cunning plan was hatched to let technology help us out, as if it hasn’t already on many an occasion, and we both agreed that we would ask Siri to recommend the “best cafe in Petone”. We shook hands and swore an oath that we’d go with it no matter what! Imagine our surprise, and a little to Rachael’s displeasure, when the cafe BJ in Pattani came up as first choice. Andre did think his day was about to get off to a great start until Rachael pointed out that “Pattani” wasn’t actually in New Zealand and the budget wouldn’t stretch that far.
Once we refined our request, Siri politely informed us that the highest rating cafe in “Lower Hutt” was Sierra on Knights Road, although she had “no information about the rating” which did raise more questions than answers. The name seemed vaguely familiar to Andre although he couldn’t quite place it’s location. Rachael did a quick online search of the menu and the food pictures that came up more than whetted our appetite. Shaking off the covers and the cobwebs we were soon on our way south following the directions laid out by Siri. (side note…have you ever wondered if Siri gives the same directions on two different phones? To Andre’s boy brain this was a science experiment too good to pass up so after some badgering from Andre and some reluctance from Rach she asks Siri for directions to the same destination. Results at the end of the blog)
Those of you who are familiar with Lower Hutt will not be surprised to learn the route to Knights Road has taken us dangerously close to Queensgate Mall, in fact it’s so close we end up “arriving at our destination” in the Countdown Supermarket parking area. It’s painfully obvious the “best cafe in Lower Hutt” is inside the Mall! We quickly examine the fine print of the contract we entered into regarding “come what may, whatever cafe Siri recommends we gotta go there!” The clauses are watertight and with reluctance we venture inside.
Sierra is one of those “in the middle of the concourse” style cafes. There’s no industrial size kitchen belching out orders faster than Santa can climb down a chimney, so what you see in the cabinet is pretty much what you get. While the selection wasn’t large, the food did look well presented, reasonably fresh and there was an option to add a salad to most items.
Rachael ordered a cheese and onion toasted sandwich on 5 grain bread while Andre settled on a pumpkin and filo tart with salad. This was complimented by a slice of carrot cake and a almond and apricot slice, all washed down with EBT and a regular flat white.
We found a table in a corner, although in a shop without walls I use that description figuratively. In fact we are more at the prow of an island where the human flotsam and jetsam drift past on either side on their way to wherever. It’s not long in and we see a familiar face. Linda coincidentally walks past and is soon seated at our table with a drink and cheese rolls. We enjoy a catchup and time slips by pleasantly.
Eventually we take our leave and promise to all have a meal together again soon. As we walk through the shops to spot any early Christmas bargains we agree the cafe gets a 3 star rating. The selection isn’t large but there’s enough to recharge energy levels for most flagging shoppers plus the service was perfunctory and reasonably speedy. The food quality was as expected although nothing memorable. We did think we saw some mall employees dressed as characters from the Nutcracker ballet but upon closer inspection they turned out to actually be just nuts. You never know what you’ll see in a mall in New Zealand!
Oh and yes..Siri gives exactly the same directions at exactly the same time on two different phones. It’s like Siri in stereo!
There is a popular game on the internet that many of us have played (but never really understood). Essentially it starts off with the sentence ‘Never Have I Ever…’ then lists a whole range of activities. You give yourself a point for every item on the list that you have done (or maybe you give a point for every item you haven’t done – I’ve never quite figured that part out).
Anyway…. If I was going to write my own list it would start something like this: Never Have I Ever….
Eaten whitebait fritters
Ridden a ride on lawn mower
Won more than $15 on a scratchie card
Sharted on a first date
Ordered coco pops off a menu at a cafe
Watched an episode of Downton Abbey
Rubbed a jaffa on my lips to look like lipstick….
Wait what? Coco pops on a cafe menu? Is that even a thing? Apparently yes! The Chocolate Fish Cafe in Shelly Bay, Miramar, has a bowl of coco pops listed in black and white at the top of it’s menu. Not only can you order and eat this delicious bowl of milky chocolate pleasure in your mouth, it will only set you back a cool $3.50 for the experience.
We picked pretty much the windiest Wellington day ever to make the 30 minute trek into town. Lets just say coherent conversation was limited, and Andre’s fancy coiffed hairdo was all but whittled down to a few hairs on his noggin, as we battled the elements from the car park to the cafe.
Once inside this cosy corner of the bay we were most impressed with the friendly service, extensive menu, free wifi and retro decor.
The Chocolate Fish Cafe is located about 15 minutes from the center of town, in one of the old defense buildings. You may have recently heard about the happenings in this area – there is currently a proposal in place for 300 houses to be built on this site. We are not planning to dwell too much on this though, as the Chocolate Fish Cafe really deserves to be the star of this review.
To the food: Andre ordered the paua fritter sandwich with aioli and greens with a cheeky side order of a flat white. Rachael, a bacon and aioli sandwich and English breakfast tea.
We were highly tempted by the carrot cake, and just let me say – Never Have We Ever eaten a more delicious morsel in all our cafe review days. We were both impressed this moist triangle of goodness and the generous portion of yogurt that made its way to our taste buds.
One thing that we loved about the Chocolate Fish Cafe was the eco friendly efforts they are going to, to ensure they are contributing positively to the environment, and minimising their impact on the planet. There are options to bring your own coffee cup, and all the takeaway smoothie cups, straws, coffee cups and lids are fully compostable.
More and more we are needing to look hard for points of difference when we head out for our weekly review. However, today we were spoilt for choice. From the eclectic artwork for sale on the walls, the individually hand painted chairs, the kitchen attached to the outside of the building in a makeshift awning style arrangement, to the dog parking and extensive playground, this cafe really does have it all. If you’re not easily impressed with artwork, playgrounds and dog parking, you will not be able to walk past the magnificent view from the cafe deck, without marveling at the power of mother nature pounding upon the shores of Shelly Bay.
There are also several art galleries around this area, so if you’re feeling the need to purchase an old vinyl covered in oil paint or a mosaic dragonfly mirror, this is the place to come.
Oh and back to that list at the beginning… STILL never have I ever ordered a bowl of coco pops at a cafe!
Another trip north this weekend, back to where the acreage of vineyards is matched only by the size of the traffic roundabouts…yes we’re back in Hawkes Bay. I’m not sure if we may have mentioned in a previous post but our elite athlete Rachael has been training hard for a triathlon over the past 12 months and the weekend of the great event is finally upon us. (Ok just to be clear, Rach is one of a team of three doing the cycle leg of a quarter triathlon. Still…we’re all so proud of her efforts!)
While we’re here we call in at two cafe’s, both situated in the picturesque town of Havelock North, known for art, honey and Te Mata peak.
The first of our visits is post race at the Village Green. With the outside temperature hitting 29 degrees no one is keen on coffees so it’s Kombuchas and coke all round.
We’re a large party, eight in total, but seating isn’t a problem as we pull up a few chairs from surrounding tables. Despite, or possibly because of 45 cycling kilometers behind her, Rach hasn’t found her appetite and orders pancakes off the kids menu while Andre tucks into a Halloumi sandwich. The rest of our party order a variety of dishes but we won’t concern ourselves with those as there are too many to mention. Suffice to say after everyone downs their meals a quick survey shows an average score of 4 out of 5 stars and that’s what we’ll be giving the Village Green. The place was clean, welcoming and the service was speedy given the size of our group. Our waiter even put his life on the line by climbing onto a chair to take a group photo…can’t ask for more than that!
Andre wants to point out that his Halloumi sandwich was excellent and takes the award for “Meal of the Weekend”. High praise indeed!
Award winning meal!
The following morning, and with a smaller crew of three, we wend our way wearily back to Havey (what the locals call Havelock North I believe). We pass a striking looking stone building with a flag outside declaring it as a cafe so pull in to the ample carpark. Once Summer (Rach’s daughter) and Andre help a very stiff and broken Rachael from the car and gingerly direct her toward the entrance, we find this cafe is called Coffee@XX, or coffee at the crosses. Undoubtedly there is some entertaining tale as to what this name means but we have no time to discover it as we order pancakes times 3 with EBT.
The lady who brings us our food is friendly, helpful and apologetic as Andre sends his cutlery back. It turns out he’s no fan of dried egg between the fork tines but all is quickly forgotten as the meals are sumptuous and tasty. Of interest is a small side dish of something that appears to be a blend of cream cheese, butter and yoghurt. None of us can decide if we’ve ever encountered it before but we all agree it’s outstanding!
Note the small dish with what looks like cheesy yoghurt! Delish!
There’s a small corner for the kids with toys and books which is a nice touch, plus free wifi which is easy to connect to as details are on the menu. Although not burning during our visit a generous gas fire would no doubt make this a cosy little place to visit on a cold winters day. All up we decide this is a 4 star experience. So with a four hour trip ahead, we gently lift Rachael back into the front seat and off we go. The conversation turns to how much we should sell her bicycle for on trademe, as Havey shrinks in the rear view mirror.
I guess this weeks review could be considered a prequel to our ongoing novella of cafe reviews.
Revive Cafe in Petone was one of three, that we rotated through on an almost weekly basis, and the catalyst for deciding to make a change.
We knew we needed to slowly ease out of our relationship with Revive Cafe, simply because it was so good, it ruined us for any other cafe experience.
Revive is the kind of place we are prepared to drive 25 minutes, just for their gooey, chocolate caramel slice. Not only is it a generous portion (think enough for two, and then some left over), it is also thick, creamy, and packed with more calories than 6 months of Jenny Craig’s prepackaged meals.
Some of you may be wondering where the pic is of this mouthwatering morsel. Unfortunately this treat is so popular, it sells out quicker than a half price toaster sale at Briscoes. Get in quick or you’ll miss out, as was the case for us today.
While there is free wifi, again, we needed to ask for the password. This seems to be an up and coming trend among cafes at the moment. While we understand the amount of people free loading on free wifi is a cost to the cafe, we don’t really want to be seen as one of these free loaders by asking for the password. We did ask, and it was quickly given by an almost friendly waitress.
We were a little surprised by the unusually low lighting at Revive today, but agree it is the perfect spot for those of you nursing a post Saturday night hangover, or those of you on a first time Tinder date.
Revive is a popular spot, despite the awkward and limited parking. We were there reasonably early today, and noted the cafe was almost half filled, 15 minutes after opening.
We like the spacious eating area and there is a handy bar type table for those waiting for a takeaway coffee. There is also a water station for your dog, and a sheltered outside eating area.
There is a varied and interesting menu selection, ranging from eggs to mushrooms to smoked fish kedgeree.
Rachael chose the smoked bacon bagel, with pesto, tomato, rocket and aioli.
Andre’s selection of the day included poached free range eggs, on sourdough, with basil pesto. One word – yum!
We were impressed with the quick service and busy, happy vibe. Our table was a little wobbly, but the early arrival of our EB tea soon distracted us from this minor annoyance.
Rachael’s Highlight: The water station – still or sparkling water with a freshly squeezed slice of lemon. Perfect!
Andre’s Highlight: The delicious combo of egg, pesto and sour dough.
We always considered Revive Espresso Cafe to be top notch, with an easy five star rating. However, the last couple of months has really opened our eyes to new and exciting experiences. We agree this week a solid three stars should be awarded, however, we want to award this cafe an extra star, as a bonus point for getting us started on this journey. Possibly this is an unorthodox decision, but there are no real rules here anyway!
As the country celebrates another Labour Weekend holiday, spare a thought for those essential services that continue to toil day in and day out so that you, dear reader can continue to enjoy the lifestyles we have become accustomed to. I refer, of course, to emergency services and cafe reviewers everywhere. No holiday for us as we again head north of Wellington to a small seaside pinprick on a map called Te Horo beach in search of an eatery called Bus stop cafe, where we have been invited by our good friends the Edmonds family, Wendy, Simon, their daughters Kate, Ellen and their two grandchildren, Henry and Scarlett.
Neither of us are familiar with this area 3km west of state highway one and we require some gentle guidance from Siri to locate what would otherwise be a very obscure farmgate leading into the cafe carpark. Once parked we’re still not too sure of our final destination as everywhere we look there’s farmland and country gardens. Eventually we spot a path and it quickly takes us to a beautifully tucked away setting where the first thing you’ll notice is a rather large blue bus circa early 1960’s. Dotted around are buildings and shelters of varying sizes with chairs and tables able to cater for intimate couples to larger groups of 12 or more depending on the size of your party.
If you’re looking for something a little different then this place is for you! I immediately felt at home and memories of Nambasa and Sweetwaters began to stir in the recesses of my mind. (Google those two names and you’ll see why the bus and it’s setting are comparable) There’s something here for everyone, the oldies can sit and chat and the younger set can explore to their heart’s content.
The menu although rather limited, changes often and for our group it’s mainly donuts, cheese scones and toasted sandwiches all round, although there are other options to appease the more discerning palate.
Looks like asparagus and goats cheese tart is sold out!
The food arrives quickly despite Andre giving a “fake” name when ordering at the counter in the bus and it’s all a bit awkward as it seems there’s already another customer who’s also used the name “Andrew”. (Next time Andre why don’t you give a fake name that’s a little less common…try Raoul!)
The food is incredibly delicious and it’s a great 90 minutes or so of chatter and chewing while the kids explore and the world continues on unnoticed outside this small enclave of peace.
You’ll notice…everything arrives on paper plates! While that’s a little unusual for a cafe it’s because an industrial dishwasher can’t be accommodated on a bus so it’s a tidy solution. The paper plates are composted onsite so nothing ends up at the landfill. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here’s sixty thousand!
And finally…we all agreed this place is 5 star! Particularly Henry who felt right at home!
Oh…almost forgot. My little gift to you…altogether now and it seems only appropriate.
“The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round…”
This week we are back on track with visiting our local cafe hotspots, and after a week of gastro and long hours of work at our place, decided to pick somewhere close to home. Our thoughts turned to Cafe Rome, a previously much loved coffee stop for the two of us.
When we first moved to Upper Hutt, Cafe Rome was the first cafe we tried, and we loved it so much we went there almost every weekend for about 12 months. Unfortunately, one evening we decided to pop in for a quick bite to eat (back in the day, when they had a dinner menu), and unwittingly gate crashed an expensive, black tie, private event. Let’s just say the background saxophone, quiet murmur of stock exchange convo and chink of champagne glasses abruptly came to a halt. The owner took one look at our jandals, shorts and singlets and politely asked us to either pay the $200 admission fee or leave. It was 50/50 which way we would go, but in the end we decided the wine list didn’t match the menu too well, and we were best to hit up Fishtown around the corner.
Anyway… back to today… We decided the humiliation of previous experiences was well behind us, and it was time to venture back. Full of bravado and suitably attired, we pushed open the door of the cafe, loudly announcing our arrival with a round of cheerful hellos and beaming smiles, to be greeted with … silence. Two disenchanted cafe staff stood behind the counter, while a third raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, projecting silent pity towards our lame entrance. If we thought our days of looking like a pair of awkward third former’s were over, we were mistaken. Suddenly, we felt like one of those kids that turn up to a pajama party, and didn’t get the memo everyone else would be wearing black jeans and a hoodie.
The awkward silence stretched on while we made a bit of a show of looking at the cabinet food, hoping like heck someone would take pity and rescue us from our painfully awkward entrance. Finally our knight in shining facial piercings came out from behind the counter and offered us a seat. Phew!
Now for the menu. Bacon and eggs have been a bit of a theme for the last 20 weeks or so. You may be getting sick of hearing about them, but not as sick as Rachael is of eating them. So, in a break from tradition, it’s pancakes with berries and cream for Rachael, and French toast and bacon for Andre.
Our EB tea and flatwhite beverages arrived within seconds (there was a wine list we could choose from too, however, we decided we were messy enough without adding 10am alcohol to the mix).
Our food arrived in reasonable time, and seemed to accurately match the description on the menu board. Andre was happy with his fodder (what can we say – he is pretty much a happy kind of guy). Rachael (of course) was a little more dubious. Let’s just say, the tinned strawberries and cream from a can were probably less imaginative than an impromptu date night, and the rubbery pancakes were even less desirable.
We would describe Cafe Rome’s decor as ‘eclectic’. The art work ranges from hand painted canvases, to tin flowers, from wooden bull sculptures to Disney cushions on a leather couch. There is little room to get around the tables and the cafe is incredibly dark, with lighting so low, it’s the perfect place to come if you’re worried your foundation doesn’t quite match your skin tone – no one will ever notice!
It may seem as though this reviewer is a little disgruntled, and you may be thinking we are holding onto past embarrassments from our unceremonious eviction from a swanky dinner party. Please be reassured we went with high hopes and no hard feelings, however, Cafe Rome failed to impress this time round.
We are nothing if not fair, and feel it is only right to mention the service from the sophisticated young chap who served us, which was faultless. Let’s face it – anyone these days who still refers to an older gentleman as ‘Sir’ gets a big tick in our eyes. This guy added an extra star to our rating for sure!
This week we round off our journey North to the Bay of Plenty with a special visit to Pacifica Café located on Tara Road, on the outskirts of Papamoa. A bustling beach resort known for having as many retirees per square metre, as grains of sand along its sparkling coastline. Andre takes particular joy in this review as it was his mother Wilma’s café of choice for many years, and he’s looking forward to the trip down memory lane.
Pacifica is a well-deserved 5 star establishment. (Our regular readers will notice this early disclosure of stars awarded as a break from tradition where usually we conclude with a rating.)
From the moment we enter the spacious car park we find ourselves in a semi-rural setting with the café, a gift shop and a boutique garden centre all located on a sheltered site surrounded by what appear to be orchards. We quickly make our way inside and find it is busy but there are plenty of tables inside and out and we’re the only ones at the counter. The cabinet food looks inviting and there’s a wide selection of sweets to tempt the most discerning taste buds.
The lady behind the counter is friendly and efficient and even suggests a particular table in the outdoor area which she says is sheltered and comfortable. Our orders are placed, Andre a raspberry shortcake followed by a Moroccan lamb filo and salad, Rachael a chocolate caramel cake and for something a little less ordinary…scrambled eggs on ciabatta, all washed down with English Breakfast tea and a regular flat white.
The kind lady also points out the help yourself style arrangement of cutlery by the door, and reminds us not to forget to collect some as we make our way towards the egress. There’s a moment of stupidity as we both cannot seem to figure out how the serviettes are dispensed from a no doubt fiendishly clever Scandinavian style dispenser. After a moment or two Andre decides it’s time to make his ignorance a matter of public record, and takes the dispenser to the counter to ask for help. Having set his expression to sheepish, Andre is informed that the reason he can’t dispense any serviettes is because the dispenser has literally done the job and dispensed its entire load. In other words…it’s empty.
We find the table outside and the setting is marvellous. We’re right next to a magnificent display of lavender and we see what looks like an entire hive of bees busy visiting one flower after another. Our drinks and sweets arrive moments after we’re seated and the mains arrive as we eat our last mouthful of cake.
Rachael’s eggs are described as adequate although, given her impossibly high standards, we decide it’s more a case of “It’s not you…it’s me.” Andre declares his Moroccan lamb filo and salad an absolute winner, with which he can find no fault.
Once food and drink are consumed, Rachael takes a leisurely stroll through the gift shop while Andre plays with his new friends the bees and catches up on his social media commitments using the free wifi, provided courtesy of Pacifica.
We eventually take our leave and both agree it’s a great place to enjoy a leisurely afternoon. (a word of caution though…last time Andre was there with his dear old mum the road outside could best be described as “single lane country”. There’s now a four-lane highway so approach with care as traffic moves reasonably fast even in the slow lane!)
In terms of this blog highlighting Wellington cafes we seem to be doing a poor job. We are in fact on another short jaunt, courtesy of the school holidays, and find ourselves in the stunning Bay of Plenty region – Lake Rotoiti to be exact.
You may be wondering why we have settled in this particular area, when the world is our oyster, but we have heard many a legend, from our good friend Mark, of the hidden gem ‘Rotomas Café’ and decide to check it out for ourselves. We are also lucky enough to be staying at ‘Lemoncello’, Toby and Rosemary’s exquisite lake house.
Rotomas café is a quick 5-minute ride from Lake Rotoiti. I’m not entirely sure of the directions (don’t bother with google maps – your network provider will struggle to work in this little part of the world). Lucky we have our local tour guides to show us the way (Thank you Toby and Rose).
We are fortunate with parking – there are about three car parks outside the café and all are free. So far so good!
There is a small selection of cabinet food – think old school New Zealand – lollie cake, bacon and egg pie, ham, cheese and tomato sammie on tip top white bread, and a good ole peach and passionfruit shortcake. In fact, this café is so rural NZ we are pretty sure you could whip out your checkbook and it would still be accepted.
There is a
small but predictable menu on the board.
Our happy group of five order the following:
1 x Healthy
Start Breakfast – toast with smashed avocado, two poached eggs and a tomato –
whoops scrap that… the avocados are too hard to mash at the moment!
1 x BLT –
wilted lettuce, tastless bacon, tomato and
a cheeky side order of soggy chips. Overall verdict – disappointment!
1 x The
Stack – creamy mushrooms, bacon, 3 hash browns, and sliced tomatoes on a stick. This meal was a winner and the overall verdict
was – pretty good.
2 x French
toast – bacon, banana, ciabatta and a sweet swirl of maple syrup. This must be the Rotoma café’s signature dish
as both patrons declared it to be delicious.
And a berry
muffin.
Coffees and
an English breakfast tea rounded off the drinks selection. Hot tip – like sugar in your tea? Head to the counter and help yourself from
beside the coffee machine – unless you’re a local and this will be added for
you – no request required.
We generally
agree that the food is good quality and generous portion sizes. There was a slight murmur of disquiet when we
realised that each meal was being prepared and cook one at a time. Luckily, conversation flowed and the company
was top notch, so we were able to overlook the rumbling of our starving bellies
while we waited.
Rotomas café is set in an idyllic spot overlooking the stunning Lake Rotoma. I would recommend bringing your swanndri and redbands if visiting in cooler temps – both the front and back doors leading to the deck were wide open when we arrived, ensuring we enjoyed the full benefits of the balmy 8 degrees, even while dining inside.
Rotomas is wheelchair / pushchair friendly, including a ramp to the outside dunny. This may or may not be a long drop – neither of us townines were brave enough to ablute in the wild. There is a rumour there could be free wifi, but at the end of our visit it is still a rumour. We cannot confirm if it is available or not. We are impressed by the mural painted by local artist Marc Spijkerbosch, and can’t resist taking a sneaky pic so you can enjoy this masterpiece too.
While we
agree Rotomas Café is indeed a hidden gem, we think it is possibly a cubic zirconia
rather than a diamond.
OVERALL: 3
stars.
*Please
note Mark gave this café a score of 5, and the rest of our group gave it a 2 so
we have kindly met in the middle.
We have spent the last few days discussing where we might head this week for our review, and decided we wanted somewhere hip and cool, that reflected our desire to look younger and trendier than we actually are. (To be fair, the closest we get to ‘hip’ at our age is needing a hip operation). At the suggestion of someone in the know (Summer), we headed into the depths of Wellington City for this weeks review.
We manage to find a park right next door to Mama Brown’s. We are a little wary of whether we will actually get a table, as from the outside the venue looks packed and there are several people milling around the door.
The decor was certainly eclectic. Kids artwork, LP art display, A4 sized google images printed on the manager’s ink jet printer in the back office plastered on the wall, redundant airplane seats (including seat belts) and a ceiling full of fairy lights. It may seem like this mismatched collection of objects would not work together in the interior decorating world, but strangely they do.
To our surprise, we are seated quickly – a table of four as Harry had decided to join us this week too, and our drinks order was taken. Root beer, soda water, ginger beer and a vanilla shake. Andre has decided when in an American diner he should drink like an American, so the root beer is ordered and the wait for this new and unknown beverage highly anticipated. For those who have not yet sampled this fizzy potion – save your taste buds. It smells like Gee’s Linctus and tastes like it too. In Andre’s words – the American’s can keep it!
Let’s talk about the food. Think huge, greasy and smothered in sauce. I’ll give you a complete breakdown of each meal (because I’m pretty sure our intestines are going to struggle to breakdown the fatty globs of food we ingested at this place).
We will start with the pork ribs and chips. Slow cooked pork coated in sweet and smoky bbq sauce. Please take note of the word ‘coated’. We think ‘smothered’ may be a better term. This smoky bbq treat was laying it on thicker than Donald Trump judging a Miss Universe beauty pageant. Summer is something of a pork ribs aficionado, and rated her meal 4 stars. High praise indeed!
Moving on to the Kentucky Hot Brown Boy – southern fried chicken topped with cheese, streaky bacon and salsa on french toast. You may think you have ordered yourself a clogged artery here, but I’m sure the coleslaw on the side cancels that out. While Harry is currently working through the grunting stage of life attached to 17 year old boys, he did manage to clear his plate and give a slight eyebrow flick when questioned about his meal. We are interpreting that as a positive sign, and assume that if the meal was not satisfactory there would have been an eye roll instead.
The next two meals are where this review becomes a little murky. Andre ordered the Call Me Chief burger – triple homemade premium ground beef, double cheese, sliced pickles, American mustard and ketchup. Rachael went for the cheeseburger – ground beef patty, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and aioli This all would have been fine, however, one burger came out well before the other, and was placed in front of Rachael. Being the fine dining rookies that we are, nothing was thought of this, and the feasting began.
About 10 minutes later the second burger arrived and it became immediately obvious that they had accidentally been given the wrong burger to the wrong patron (a lot like the basket of fries that was placed in the centre of our table, then suddenly whipped away as we were dipping our first chip – eeek awkward – apparently we didn’t order fries)!!
We have added a pic below of the fries that were delivered to us but did not belong to us. If you look up ‘disappointment’ in the dictionary you will see this photo. Nothing like a hot bowl of chips being removed from your table a minute after they arrive.
Getting back to the burgers… looking back we can see why there was a mix up. Clearly the ‘Chief’ burger was given to the chief of the family – Rachael. An easy mistake to have made, so we will overlook it this time.
I guess our overall judgement of Mama Brown’s would be – come here if you want to be young and hip, enjoy loud music and would like a lifetime of health issues linked to American diner style food.
Some of our readers have asked “How do you decide which cafe to review?” Well, I’m about to let you into a trade secret and the answer is…there is no secret! This weeks review is a good example. The conversation in our house goes somewhat like this…
Andre: “Where shall we go tomorrow?”
Rachael: “I drove past a cafe in Kandallah called Dunshea’s last week when I went to visit a school. Shall we go there?”
Andre: “Ok.”
And so we find ourselves looking for a park within comfortable walking distance smack bang in the middle of Khandallah, a relatively affluent suburb high on the hills above Wellington City.
For those of you who have never been to Khandallah, the roads are winding and often narrow so parking is a problem, but with our usual luck we snaffle one right outside which is just as well as Andre is in the middle of a gout attack and walking any distance is difficult.
Dunshea’s is an unassuming little building with little street appeal and while there is some outdoor seating, it’s limited and not particularly inviting on this bleak and cold morning. Of course we are not here for the alfresco experience so we head indoors. The seating situation doesn’t improve much once we’re in and we find ourselves have to *horror of horrors* SHARE with another larger group at a large central table. They all seem nice and we rub along well enough while we wait for our food.
I’m sure if you’ve been following our blog you can guess what Rachael has ordered while Andre looks forward to his black pudding with potatoes and poached egg. We each take a caramel slice and friand from the cabinet to keep us sustained during our wait for drinks and meals.
Having enjoyed our tea and coffee the “mains” arrive. Things are a little tight as we’re sandwiched in between our new best buddies at the table and the counter where customers stand waiting to order. It’s like eating a meal while an audience stands about and looks on…a little unnerving.
Andre’s black pudding is delicious but the real star on his plate are the fried potatoes. Cooked to perfection! Rachael is less enthusiastic about her scrambled eggs. The whole meal is rather bland and forgettable. So much so in fact that Rachael nominates her caramel slice for “highlight of the visit”. Andre also highly recommends his friand. It’s tasty and ever so slightly chewy on the outside yet fluffy and creamy in the middle…perfect!
Once we’ve made our way through our meals we hit the road and each of us presents our rating and supporting arguments to the other. Unfortunately for Dunshea’s, the results come in and it’s not good news. Rachael awards 2 stars and Andre settles on 3 so we decide to split the difference and it’s 2.5 this week. The lack of seating, Rachael’s sub par meal and cramped conditions count against this cafe. There was no music playing to add atmosphere and no wifi as far as we could tell, so don’t bother bringing a teenager along unless you like to hear the sound of complaining. If you were to go there during warmer months when more customers are out and about there must be a real chance that you wouldn’t get a table at all.
This week’s review takes on quite a different flavour to our usual foodie musings. Almost every guideline we’ve set ourselves for this blog has been thrown out the window on this occasion. If you’re hoping for a typical Rach and Dre commentary from the throbbing megalopolis of downtown Upper Hutt, this week may throw you into a tailspin!
Firstly, there are no less than FIVE venues rolled into one this week. Five times the thrill!
Secondly, these reviews are slightly beyond the borders of the Wellington region, and come to you from the hip and trendy streets of Melbourne. (Hopefully not too many readers make a habit of dining at the cafes we review the week after we publish – you may need a passport and a few days annual leave if you’re planning to recreate this culinary experience).
Thirdly (is thirdly an actual word? – it sounds quite funny after my fourthly jam donut – might be all that sugar) this is not a racey account of a romantic long weekend with the odd coffee thrown in. These eateries have been reviewed by Rachael on a girls weekend to Melbs for a very serious and important research project (shopping).
Please don’t expect any directions, addresses or general areas for any of these reviews. We have already previously established that I am completely unable to identify my left hand from my right, so all I can tell you us that each of the venues below are in Melbourne. (Australia. Not Melbourne in the USA or the UK in case there might be confusion)
TOP PADDOCK CAFE
I can tell you we caught two trams to this destination. One was a short ride and the other a little longer. That is the best I can get to where this cafe is.
This cafe was absolutely buzzing by 10.30, Friday morning. In fact this cafe was so popular we not only needed to wait to be seated, we needed to share a table with a group of strangers. Usually this would be on our no go list, however, we’re here to eat and shop so a collecting a few new friends along the way won’t hurt too much.
The menu was varied, catering to all tastes, and we were impressed to see gluten free options also available. We ordered a selection of delights ranging from blueberry and ricotta hotcakes to steak sandwiches and fries (apparently that counts as breakfast food when on holiday).
The cafe was fast paced, loud, busy, clean and full of Australians. The food was exceptional. The portions were a little on the large side but as we were planning to shop through as much of the day as possible we made short work of our delicious meals.
I really do need to mention the service at Top Paddock. Our waitress was probably the happiest person we have ever met. Even happier than Andre the day he married Rachael, so that’s saying something! (from Andre…NOBODY was happier than me that day Rach!)
OVERALL: 4 stars.
CAFE VICOLINO
After a couple of hours of wandering around the laneways and checking out the stunning graffiti art it was time to stop for a cuppa and a cake.
We found the cute Cafe Vicolino in one of the laneways and decided the cabinet food and smell of strong coffee was a good enough reason to stop here (funny that the coffee smell drew us in, as we all drink tea!) Small, dark, crowded. This cafe reminded us of the streets of Italy where you would pop in off the cobbled stones to a little tight space that seated only a few.
I have to admit we only ordered a cup of tea here. We had intended to order a cake but a cheeky side step into Hager’s Chocolate Shop for a free sample sated our desire for a sweet treat.
I can vouch for the service, however, and the tea was delicious. Relaxed atmosphere and great location for a cuppa and a natter.
OVERALL: 4 stars (hard to completely judge as we didn’t eat here)
THE LANGHAM
This is where our foodie review starts to level up. The main course so to speak.
High tea at the Langham Hotel.
Chandelier’s dripping with crystal’s, sweeping staircase, waiter’s in their formal black and white, matching china on the table, linen serviettes, subtle violin in the background, the chink of champagne classes and the chin chin of Melbourne’s elite.
Women dressed in their best, pearls, diamonds and jewels flashing, teetering on high-heeled Louboutins, and waves of heavy perfume competing with even heavier false eyelashes. (That was not us by the way – we were literally off the street looking for a sandwich and a dainty savoury to fill the gap).
While service at the Langham was a little sketchy, the food was delicious. Everything you would expect at an up market establishment, and more. I could spend hours describing each morsel but this review is getting a little long and I think the photos speak for themselves.
OVERALL: Four stars
THE LUI BAR
While this is not technically a cafe, I’m throwing the Lui bar into the mix. Mostly so you readers think we are a young and hip bunch of mums (I know we have mostly drunk pot loads of tea on this trip).
So we waited 40 minutes in the lobby before being called to the elevator. This exclusive bar is on the 54th floor. Like the Langham, the Lui Bar is filled with beautiful people (also teetering on high heels but probably mostly from the alcohol).
Ok. The details.
A cocktail costs $26. Yes – you read that. It’s not a typo. $26!! The seats are small and trendy (when I say small think sitting at your five years old parent/teacher interview, on their school chair!)
This place was pretty slick so I did level up my order and drank my sparkling water ‘on the rocks’. Yup, us mums can still cut loose when we want to!
OVERALL SCORE: 2 stars.
HOPETOUN TEA ROOMS
Our next destination brings us to Hopetoun Tea Rooms in the Block Arcade.
Think old English tea rooms with a Melbourne touch of class. The room is closely packed with elbow room only between each table which is no problem for us ladies who lunch, however, wheelchairs and pushchairs will be an issue.
We select our tea from a large list and settle in with lamingtons and vanilla slice (custard slice for our kiwi readers). If we could describe our treats in only three words we would say light, creamy and delicious.
There is no menu for the cakes as they change daily. Simply pick from the window (if you can!) then wait for the taste sensation to melt in your mouth. Hot tea, decadent cakes and superb service. What more could a gal need?
OVER ALL: five stars
Melbourne completely exceeded my foodie expectations. The presentation of meals, service and selection of eateries are absolutely world class. From street vendors to market stalls, from high street restaurants to arcade cafes, this has been my best food weekend ever! The only thing missing from Melbourne was my best mate, but I’m pretty sure this review will get him over the ditch soon enough.
Well, it seems like Andre’s wish for a “guest review” has finally been granted as this week your much anticipated fix of thoughts and experiences from the cafe culture come courtesy of one of Andre’s colleagues. (And no…this post is not sponsored by AA or Alliteration Anonymous!) It is with much delight, and some trepidation, that we coaxed a review from Shannon, who when not writing reviews is an outstanding Performing Arts specialist teacher. So here are Shannon’s thoughts…I’m sure you’ll agree she’s done a fine job!
One of these two people is named Shannon.
Tussock Cafe Massey University, Entrance E, Tasman Street Central Wellington
Kia ora, I am the very privileged person who gets to write on the Kneepkens blog WOOP WOOP. I feel particularly honoured and hope I don’t let you wonderful people or them down. Well this is my blogging debut and I have to say I am a tad nervous.
It was a sunny Tuesday morning and us Techies (Tech and Arts department) were off to our final day of a conference. Our hungry early morning tums called out for coffee and kai. We thought we’d give Tussock, a cafe at Massey University a try. It’s situated behind a big grass area and lovely garden out front that you can see would be lovely in the summer time basking under the Wellington glorious sun, hopefully minus the wind. Walking inside you are pleasantly surprised with quite a large space with some funky and industrial looking decor. Concrete walls, copper piping, brown leather booths, metal pendant lights, spray painted mural and a range of tables and couches provides a nice relaxed and modern feel.
The menu had a variety of options and there was a large choice of cabinet food. The staff were friendly and we had extremely quick service. Andre and our colleague went for a coffee, I got some bacon and scrambled eggs and a mocha. Now the prices were greatly affordable with my meal costing $7 and the coffee being $4. For a quick bite to eat at an affordable price this is definitely a good place to go. The eggs weren’t the best and needed a lot of salt and pepper to be edible, the bacon was nice but the bread was flimsy, dry and not enough butter. I realise that $7 is such a good price for a meal and it’s catering to the mass amounts of uni students but I still would have expected the toast to be buttered at least further than a 50 cent coin and the eggs to be nicer than that. That being said, we enjoyed our coffee and were happy with the service and the speed. I would be tempted to try something else off the menu or from the cabinet as it looked yummy. Maybe this was just a dud meal to grab.
A fun thing they had was a spotify DJ station where you could add your own songs to the cafe playlist. That was something fun we hadn’t seen before and was quite a cool idea especially appealing to the uni students I would have thought.
A nice place to visit for a quick speedy drink and potentially alright food but I’d stay clear of the bacon and eggs.
FOOTNOTE: If you would like to submit a review for a cafe you’ve been to just send it to us (Facebook or email kneepka@gmail.com) And in case you’re wondering…no you don’t have to visit the cafe with either of us as company to do it!
After last week’s epic road trip, we decided (our bank balance forced us) to look a little closer to home for our blog fodder. That and the fact we threw it out to our readers a few weeks ago, that we were holding a get together to celebrate reaching 1500 views on our blog.
At first we were worried that the ‘view count’ was in fact the two of us hitting the refresh button every four minutes, however, judging by the stats below, there seems to be a few readers from around the world too. For those of you concerned about privacy, there is absolutely no record of who views, just the country you are from. Rest assured, you can sneaky peek without us ever knowing.
We have posted a snapshot below of where our current readers are from. Not because we think this is relevant to this post, but because a bit like Seven Sharp, we sometimes need to fill a gap with useless information.
If you’re a regular reader, you may remember we kicked off our first blog post with an offer of a free coffee at Mitre 10 Mega in Petone. We were pretty stoked with the turn out on that occasion, when one reader (Rachael’s lovely mum) showed up in support of the launch. Imagine how happy we were today, when we not only doubled, but TRIPLED our numbers . Thank you Rachael’s mum, and this time Rachael’s kids Summer and Harry too!
So, our great meet and greet celebration was held at Limelight Cafe in Upper Hutt. You may be somewhat confused by this, as we had previously announced that it was being held at Expressions Cafe. As you are aware, directions such as left and right, North and South are meaningless to Rachael, and so it turns out, place names are too. If you googled Expressions Cafe and it came up with nothing, that would be because the cafe is connected to Expressions Art Gallery and is not actually the cafe (possibly why no one turned up).
Anyway, on to the actual food. Our orders this week were: 2 x Works breakfast which included: mushroom, tomato, kransky sausage, fried eggs (Harry) poached eggs (Andre) hash browns and toast. 2 x pancakes with cream, bacon, banana and maple syrup (Rachael and Summer) Lemon slice (Nettie) Chocolate milkshake Flat white EB tea Bottle of sprite
We were all impressed with the friendly service, happy vibe and cosy atmosphere. The Limelight Cafe is attached to Expressions Art Gallery, which is currently showing a ‘Bugs’ exhibition (the garden variety, not the virus variety), so if you’re a bit of an adrenaline junkie and like to live life in the fast lane, this exhibition is probably not for you.
We did notice this is quite a popular cafe, and parking can be a little on the sparse side. It is right next to the public library and quite near to H2O Extreme swimming pool. If you’re anything like us, and would much prefer to wallow in a cup of coffee than several thousand litres of shared skin flakes and chlorine, then this cafe is in the perfect location to look like you’re heading to the pool but actually side step into cake and coffee bliss.
There was a general consensus among the five of us that this is a perfectly adequate cafe for a quick bite and a coffee. Andre felt his tomato was a little undercooked. We tried to argue that a fruit you generally eat raw couldn’t really be undercooked, however, Andre was feeling stubborn today and could not be budged. His exact words were “I prefer my tomato fully warmed through, not just lightly seared on top”. We considered sending it back, but in Heinz sight it wasn’t worth the effort.
HIGHLIGHTS
Summer: The chocolate milkshake was delicious Harrison: Hash brown Nettie: Spending time with my family Andre: The kransky was delicious Rachael: The English Breakfast tea was perfect!
Today is also a special day for all those Dads out there. Happy Father’s Day to all you wonderful men reading today. Given that it’s Father’s Day, we can’t think of a better way to finish today’s post, than with a Dad joke. So here it is:
Q: What did the pirate say on his 80th birthday?
A: Aye matey!
McCauley’s Store Cafe (Otane) and Ahuriri Village Kitchen (Napier)
This week folks you’re in for a real treat…a double banger where two cafe’s go head to head to see who will take the title of…aaah… ok you got me! There’s no competition as such but there almost could have been as Rachael and Andre have driven nearly 800 km in search of the perfect cafe experience. Honestly, the lengths we’ll go to! For our overseas readers I’ve included a Google earth image to give you some idea of where Napier, our destination is.
Our first cafe, McCauley’s store is at a small place called Otane about 60 km south of Napier itself. There’s a slight detour off State highway 2 and with fuss so minimal you’ll hardly have noticed, you’ve driven through a time portal and entered a decade before even Andre was born. To give you some idea…here’s a picture of their “main street”…
Wow! I bet that place goes off on a Saturday night! But of course this isn’t a blog about townships so on to the cafe itself. When I say we pretty much had the place to ourselves I’m not exaggerating…we were the only customers! The lady behind the counter looked pleased to see us and we promptly ordered tea and toasted sandwiches. Andre had “the works” while Rachael was slightly more specific with cheese and onion. The cabinet food was sparse which isn’t surprising given the likely turnover of customers at this time of year.
What the cafe lacked in customers it more than made up for in atmosphere. For the more senior reader McCauleys is a cafe with its roots firmly planted in the “tearooms” of yesteryear. It’s almost like dining in a museum and we highly recommend it as a refreshment stop before the final push into Napier about 40 minutes drive further North. Do be careful though as driving due East from Otane will most likely take you over the edge of the world!
Final score 3 stars.
So in case you think we’re completely bonkers, I have to point out that we didn’t really drive all that way just to visit a cafe. Our mission was one far more grand! Rachael the athlete, is part of a team competing in the Maori Ironman challenge in November, in Napier. We thought it prudent to clap eyes on the the cycle course before the event, so she’s aware of what’s ahead, and can tweak her training regime accordingly, so as to peak on the day and blitz the field. (That reminds me…we need to get her bike serviced as the gears don’t work, but as she keeps asking “How important are gears?”)
After our arrival we settled into a hotel in Ahuriri which is the old port area of Napier. I won’t bore you with details of our wild night watching TV doco’s about Air Crash Investigations and Fatberg Autopsy (did you know they are made up of 90 percent cooking oil?) At one point Andre really let his hair down and had a perk coffee and a bag of popcorn!
After a wicked night as I’ve just described, we find ourselves at dawn(9:00am) entering the Ahuriri Village Kitchen. Andre stands by the cabinet staring in and shouting “Broccoli! Cauliflower! Broccoli! Cauliflower!” finally attracting the attention of the lady behind the counter. Rachael apologises on their behalf and whispers to her…”Sorry about that…he suffers from florets.”
Eventually we’re settled at a table by the window and the most delicious scrambled and poached eggs make their way to us. The accompanying milk jugette (I may have invented a word there) looks cute but it’s pouring qualities leave a lot to be desired and Rachael rescues the situation mopping up with her serviette.
We really enjoy our breakfast dining experience and notice the cafe, as well as a fabulous setting across from the beach, offers a few extras like being dog friendly and having a supply of hats and blankets available for those who wish to sit outside in all weathers. The staff are courteous and attentive and there’s lots of laughter which makes for a great way to start the day on a positive note.
We decide to award this cafe a well deserved 5 stars.
Logs flickering on the fire, vegetable soup bubbling in the crock pot, the smell of baking bread wafting through the house, soothing tones of The Eagles playing on Youtube, on repeat, cat snuggled up on this fluffy $11 bed from Wish, gentle rain splattering the outside of our windows… so many reasons to stay at home today, with a cup of instant coffee and a tim tam. However, as none of the above remotely describes anything that was happening at our house, we decided to brave the wild winter weather bomb, and head out into the unknown for this weeks review.
We just happened to need to visit Levin today (a long story that involves two men, heavy lifting and a four wheel drive, but we won’t bore you with the details), so we decided to tie this in with a cafe lunch. We had no specific venue in mind, so decided to take a risk and find somewhere along the way.
We were completely unprepared for the extreme weather while heading ‘up the line’. Thunder, lightning, sheets of torrential rain and waves breaking over the side of the Pukerua Bay coast added an air of drama to our trip and highlighted the dedication we have to writing these blog posts each week. Ok… we may have slightly over dramatised the weather here, but it was raining, and there was one streak of lightning. We needed to amp this up a little so you can visualise the beacon of welcome and light that glowed from the side of the road, calling us into its haven of warmth and shelter.
This beacon of warmth and light came in the form of Levin’s Quarter Acre Cafe, which rose out of the gloomy depths of the Levin Highway, and enticed us inside for a quick meal and a flat white.
While there was ample parking outside, it quickly became apparent that this is a popular little noshery, and parking was at a premium. We did manage to nab a cheeky spot by the door, but this may or may not have required us to block the entrance to the outdoor seating area.
The inside of the Quarter Acre Cafe was beautifully decorated, the staff were welcoming and although the venue was filled almost to capacity, there was a peaceful ambiance in the air.
We were shown a table, given a slick menu which screamed ‘boutique’ (little choice and even littler portion sizes), and offered a bottle of still water. While there were only about six items to choose from, they did all sound delicious and we had a hard time deciding what to order. We both went for the sirloin steak, with mashed potatoes, mushroom sauce and winter vegetables (a nice descriptor, but there is little you can do to disguise carrots, beans and broccoli once it actually arrives).
Our flat white and EB tea arrived quickly and Rachael’s triple layer carrot cake, politely described as an entree by the waitress followed not too far behind. So far so good.
While we waited for our mains, we noted the following: no free wifi, there was a selection of cabinet food which looked delicious, the cafe was in fact an old homestead, with the covered verandah cleverly hosting around 20 tables, the venue was quite tightly packed so not wheelchair / pushchair friendly, the outside grounds were stunning and would be a huge draw card on a beautiful spring day.
We were impressed by the presentation of our meals and both were keen to taste these morsels of perfection plated in front of us. We did feel a little rude starting while the table next to us recited Grace, so in the interest of good manners, refrained for several minutes before digging in.
You may be starting to think at this stage, that all is going as planned and this is just a standard food review. The first mouthful, however, would prove otherwise. It would appear the Quarter Acre Cafe owners may have had ancestors tracing back to spice traders, as the amount of cracked pepper in the steak would have been enough to barter for a small farmlet on the outskirts of Manakau .
Our second surprise was the absolutely inedible steak – more than half was gristley and tough (that would be the half not covered in pepper). While the ‘winter vegetables’ were perfectly cooked, we could not manage to overlook the poor cut of meat.
We both completely disagree with our overall score this week. Andre can not move on from his meaty disappointment so is firmly sticking to 3/5, and feels like this score has been generously upgraded because of the delicious flat white. Rachael on the other hand, is sticking to a solid 5/5. Reasons for this include being offered dessert as an entree, the wine rack turned into a magazine stand and the symmetrical placement of the accoutrements on the table.
It’s not often we disagree, but this week we are at a stalemate. We could meet in the middle and award four stars, but neither of us is prepared to budge!
A couple of side notes: If you’re free on Sunday 1 September, at 10.30am, we would love you to join us for a coffee at Expressions Cafe in Upper Hutt.
Many of you have asked the outcome of Andre versus Wilson Parking. Lets just say we have happily spent the $65 fine on today’s meal, and leave it at that.
Andre’s highlight: The coffee was hot, and the food arrived quickly.
Rachael’s highlight: Kitchen staff picking fresh lemons off the tree outside.
Those of you who have grown up or spent any time in Lower Hutt will recognise “The Crescent”, a single storey brick house/cafe situated conspicuously on the corner of Pretoria street and Kings Crescent. Upon recommendation from two of Andre’s colleagues, thanks Jodi and Dane, we find ourselves squeezing into a car park directly outside the Sweet Vanilla Kitchen on a wet and gloomy day. Andre, ever the amateur archaeologist, decides to uncover some of the buildings history. A quick search on The Historic Places Trust website reveals the following:
” The Crescent is an L-plan single storey brick building on a prominent corner site, designed as a combination of shop and residence, built in 1906. The building has always had a retail function, and was first used as a bakery. The baking was carried out in a small separate building which still exists on the site. The architectural style can best be described as a New Zealand interpretation of Australian Victorian Georgian and Federation Bungalow styles. The architect was RP de Ridder. The building was modified in 1970 with the removal of the verandah on the southern end and filling in with an unsympathetic laundry. A feature of the building is the coloured glass in the shop windows and house fanlights, which is claimed to be “signal glass” once used on railway semaphore signals.”
One can only imagine what an “unsympathetic laundry” might refer to and unfortunately we are none the wiser as we don’t penetrate that deeply into the building during our visit.
The cafe is busy but there are a few spare tables and we’re lucky enough to secure one next to a large window by the entrance. The cabinet food looks spectacular and the staff are friendly and welcoming. Rachael decides to order her standard scrambled eggs and bacon while Andre caters to his sweet tooth with a pancake, bacon and fruit option.
Despite the steady turnover of customers, our drinks and sweets, more about them later, arrive in good time, followed after about 10 minutes by our “mains”. Rachael thinks her meal is delicious and Andre makes short work of his pancake stack. His only complaint being his bacon which needed another 3 minutes on the heat but we can’t hold that against the cafe as it’s impossible to tell whether a customer likes crispy bacon just by looking at them.
And finally to the sweets. The piece de resistance of our dining experience. Dear reader, take a good long hard look at the photos below as they show what could quite possibly be the finest examples of a banana/chocolate/caramel and cheesecake to be found anywhere this side of the black stump!
I have deliberately left these images large as that’s the respect these delectable dishes deserve. If you like a great cake then this is the cafe for you…unsympathetic laundry or no.
This week our happy trio made up of Andre, Rachael and Summer headed to Porirua, an easy 30 minute car ride from home. Several factors came into play for our visit in that particular direction. Firstly, it’s always a pleasant drive around the Pauatahanui Inlet (Rachael’s reason) and one of our group was interested in the progress of Transmission Gully (well that’s the “official” line but really we think Andre just wanted to see a few diggers and large trucks in action).
We find ourselves drawn towards the Peppermill Cafe and Bar. We were greeted by a buzzing hive of industry and a sign requesting we wait to be seated. We were more than happy with this arrangement, however, it became apparent after a reasonable wait, that in fact no one was coming to seat us. (Cue crickets chirping here, as it slowly dawns on us that we have been left lonely and table-less at the front door for several minutes).
After our false start, we head to the counter, picking up menus on the way and have a look at the tempting delights in the cabinet. We were not disappointed.
We make our way to a self selected table (I need to let this go, it’s the parking ticket from last week all over again). It’s dirty and filled with used plates, coffee cups and several serviettes with a slashes of red lippy crumpled into a ball on the table top. To be fair, the cafe was very busy, and the table was being cleaned as we sat down. It was quickly cleared and wiped, however, the seats needed to be given a quick flick with the laminated menu before sitting down (we all do that right)?
Once ensconced at our table, we opt to order off the board. Coke, flat white and an English Breakfast tea are quickly ordered (should English Breakfast have capital letters?? Rachael says yes, Andre, no – any grammar aficionados out there that can settle the score)?
On to the food. Andre selected the Belgian waffle with cinnamon sugar, raspberry coulis, chargrilled peach & vanilla whipped cream, Summer the smoked chicken linguine with garlic, parsley, sweet chilli, parmesan & white wine cream sauce and a side of fries and Rachael…. A cheeky Peekon ja munad (if you’re wondering, that’s bacon and eggs in Estonian – thank you google translate)!
A couple of things to note: We were advised before we ordered that there was at least a 25 minute wait for the food to be cooked. We were not in a hurry, so this was not a problem. It did take around three Trump scandals (40 minutes in real world time), but we all agree the meals were worth the wait. They were delicious, well presented and served with a smile.
The cafe is wheel chair / push chair friendly with plenty of room to maneuver around. There is free wifi – no password needed, table service and plenty of catchy tunes being pumped through the speakers. An added bonus would have to be the free colouring sheets and pencils available at the entrance.
The cabinet food was too tempting to pass up, so we selected a few treats to take home for an afternoon cuppa. Can we just take a look at HOW CUTE this little carrot cake is? Small note – it didn’t make it home.
While our Mum’s always told us not to play with our food, we thought this time round was an exception to the rule. Wanting to get a message to the chef, there was only one option…. Let’s hope the dish hand shared the message before washing the last of a good meal down the sink.
Rachael’s Highlight: Cosy booth looking out to the skate park. Andre’s Highlight: Cinnamon mix in the cream was nice Summers Highlight: The chicken linguine was delicious.
Side note: Each week we love seeing how many views our blog generates. We’re excited to see it is almost at 1,500 views! We are planning to share our small milestone with a celebration morning tea. We would love you to come along and share a flat white or a hot chocolate with us. Sunday 1 September, 10.30am, Expressions Cafe, Upper Hutt. See you there!
Today’s review has left a bitter taste in our mouths! Before everyone gets too alarmed however I should point out it has nothing to do with the Pickle and Pie cafe itself and everything to do with the Wilson car parking building right next door! Yes dear reader, your dynamic duo are currently in negotiations with Wilsons about the cost of parking and whether $65 tickets really needed to be issued at all! Having said that…we will not let it detract from a fair and professional review such as all our previous efforts. On to the cafe…
The Pickle and Pie is a well known and popular cafe tucked into a pleasant lane behind the West Plaza Hotel and arguably about as central as one can get in downtown Wellington. Full disclosure…it wasn’t the cafe we were heading to when we left home but events of the day overtook us somewhat and the P&P was conveniently located. Plus we thought the Wilsons building next door offered convenient parking but let’s not labour that unfortunate situation any longer. I will just say, if you do go there DO NOT TAKE THE STAIRS as it turns out the paystation is outside the lifts.
The P&P is a modern glass and steel cafe with a warm and friendly atmosphere. Our visit was mid afternoon on a Sunday and the place was full. The friendly waitress who greeted us offered either a table we could share with complete strangers (interesting but no thanks) or a table outside. Although a little cool it was a beautiful summers day and we were well prepared with survival jackets and wooly hats so opted for an alfresco experience. Once seated we were treated to table service which was speedy and friendly. The coffee and sparkling water arrived within minutes after our order was taken.
Rachael wasn’t feeling her usual hunger pangs so ordered a plate of hand cut fries while Andre, ever the culinary adventurer, gave a thumbs up to a plate of smoked blue warehou with lemon and fennel salad topped with a poached egg.
We both agreed Rachael’s chips were perfectly cooked although on the menu it says they come with pastrami ends and as we had asked them to hold the pastrami the kitchen took it upon themselves to add pickle which wasn’t mentioned anywhere other than in the name of the cafe. Rachael’s not a pickle fan but it’s no big deal as she managed to eat around them ok. Andre enjoyed his fish dish although they were a little heavy on the onion. His salad leaves were also at the mercy of the slight breeze that comes with outside dining and several ended up on the footpath.
As we were somewhat time constrained (had to get back and pay for parking! Sorry…I need to let it go I know.) we decided to forego anything sweet from the cabinet but we both agreed there were some interesting and tempting delights we’d like to come back and try another day. I mean who wouldn’t want to eat a buttermilk chilli cheese scone right?
Overall we enjoyed the Pickle and Pie cafe. We rated it a solid 4 stars. The highlight for both if us was the friendly service from all the wait staff. It was almost like they had been expecting us all day and were excited we had finally arrived! We’re beginning to think that great service can go quite some way to enhancing average food. Two suggestions we have though should anyone ask… don’t play R rated music as old fuddys like us and children shouldn’t have to listen to it and, in today’s world you need some wifi option, there was none. (maybe they are covered by the free Wellington wifi but we couldn’t see it during our visit.)
At the end of the visit Rachael and Andre went their separate ways. Rachael to enjoy some of the shopping just around the corner and Andre to pay for parking…and it seems this review has come full circle!
This week we head to the mighty Wairarapa, just outside of Carterton, for our culinary feast. According to Andre we were ’north of Carterton’ but those sorts of directions are meaningless to Rachael, so we won’t linger too long on the finer geographical points, of where our destination actually is. All you really need to know is we visited the Clareville Bakery, and we were very impressed to say the least.
You may remember last week, we mentioned sometimes the universe leads us to a cafe, and sometimes we have a plan. This week was a ‘have a plan’ sort of week, and the plan came in the form of Rachael’s colleagues setting up a meeting of ‘super athletes’ and Andre. The super athletes consisting of Rachael, Cathy and Meghan (shout out to Meghan’s support crew – Lewis too) are currently in training for a ¼ triathlon in November, and what better way to train than cycle, run and eat together!
The Clareville Bakery is a cosy, renovated church building, with plenty of parking, cute flowering window boxes and a solid outdoor playground for the kids.
We are surprised by the amount of people already packed into the cafe when we arrive. It’s reasonably early in the morning, and nearly all the tables are full, with a longish queue at the counter. One of the first things we notice (before quickly nabbing the last table by the door), is the length of wall where you line up to order, is almost completely a glass wall, looking into the kitchen area. This enables patrons to watch the loaves of fresh bread being baked on site, and have a little behind the scenes glimpse into the wonderful world of artisanal craftsmanship.
While you may think a 15 deep queue could be a little daunting, it appeared light work for the happy crew serving at the counter. We ordered surprisingly quickly, and all agreed the wooden spoon table numbers were the cutest thing we’d seen since Channing Tatum starred in Magic Mike XXL.
Our drinks order was made up of one trim mocca, one trim latte, one flat white and two cups of english breakfast tea. These all arrived quickly, and each of the recipients were suitably impressed with their selection.
There is a wide and varied range of both cabinet and menu food available, and all of it so tempting this week. Our crew ordered meals ranging from bacon and eggs (no surprises there), french toast and lamb cutlet pie to custard squares, raisin pastry and a curry chicken roll.
The bacon and eggs were pretty standard, however, the ciabatta was outstanding. If you’re a bread connoisseur, we would highly recommend stopping here just for a slice of this doughy perfection. Andre went with the lamb cutlet pie with homemade butter puff pastry and salad. The verdict was positive, but just a heads up for those with a weak constitution, the pie came with the cutlet bone attached! (See pic below). While we agree this is an interesting garnish, it’s a little unnerving for those of us not wanting to think about poor Laaaambert being part of today’s menu.
We do need to take a moment here to acknowledge the melt in your mouth custard square. This outstanding blob of perfection was one of the best we have sampled in a very long time. We don’t take our custard square ratings lightly, but this one is absolutely worth it’s own blog paragraph!
A couple of things to note: this cafe is closed on a Sunday (yay to old school trading days), there is a fantastic children’s playground outside (yay to old school fun for kids) and the outdoor play area and alfresco dining is fully fenced (yay to not old school safety standards).
There is a small shop selling bakery treats inside the cafe. You may wish to snap up some of the local deliciousness before heading next door to the flower shop.
Clareville Cafe proudly boasts a “Best Regional Rural Cafe of the Year – 2018” sign outside the main gate, and we would have to agree, it is a well deserved title. It may be a little out of your way, but nothing a good ole fashioned Sunday drive couldn’t handle.
If you’re driving past, or even if you’re not, add this cafe to your destination wishlist.
Rachael’s highlight: No loud music belting out at 10.30am.
Andre’s highlight: Kicking back with a good book while the athletes ran / cycled 10km.
As you can imagine…conversation in our household during the week inevitably drifts around to deciding which cafe to visit on Sunday. Sometimes we decide on a whim, other times the universe decides for us and through circumstance, we find ourselves outside a cafe over which we seemingly had little choice.
Today’s visit to the Fig Tree is a little of both. As Rachael has booked an appointment at her favourite salon, our female readers will be well aware… no visit to the hair stylist is complete without the obligatory public unveiling of the latest cut and colour, so where better than one of Upper Hutt’s more well known establishments…the Fig Tree.
You’ll find the Fig Tree on your right about 2.5 kilometres along Fergusson drive heading north from the Silverstream bridge as you leave state highway 2. It’s an old church and there’s a cute little caravan out the front aptly named the Fig Leaf if you’re looking for a quick caffeine hit on the run. Parking is mostly along Fergusson drive and can be a little hit and miss depending on how busy things are at the time. Be prepared to walk a couple of hundred metres if you’re unlucky. It’s a nice way to shed a few pesky calories anyway so no big deal.
There’s a pleasant seating area out the front if your thing is alfresco and don’t mind a little bit of traffic noise, but we prefer indoor dining so make our way into the “church”.
Apart from a stained glass window with an uplifting message and the odd pew there’s little left to suggest a denomination from it’s previous life as a place of worship. The altar has been replaced with a kitchen and we can quickly see it’s a hive of industry! We’ve clearly arrived at a busy time and while we wait to order we bump into some good friends…shoutout to Sonya and Tanya!…who have coincidentally also decided to lunch here today.
Time passes pleasantly at the counter as we catch up and eventually our order is taken, Rach again surprising everyone with the crepes and a tan slice option, while Andre tries out the mushroom and blue cheese filo with a side salad.
The food and drinks arrive surprisingly quickly given it’s very busy and it looks delicious, although Andre thinks they may have been a little heavy handed with the dressing on his salad. Rachael’s crepes seem to tick all the boxes and as both of us are hungry we make short work of both meals. We share the tan slice as a desert and both agree it’s sweet and delicious. We’re also impressed by how fresh all the fruit and salad ingredients are.
Rachael asks Andre how his filo was and he replies that while tasty it did remind him of the reception he was given when he initially met his first girlfriends parents…lukewarm. Another minute in the microwave would have worked wonders. Andre’s flat white also was adequate despite a corner of the waitresses frilly collar brushing through the froth as she delivered it to our table. To be fair she was laden down with cups and plates so we realise these things happen.
There is free wifi for those who appreciate that kind of thing and a small but functional children’s corner with enough toys to amuse most under 5’s for some time. Eventually it’s time to go and although we’re in no rush to get anywhere we find the busyness and noise a little overwhelming. The kitchen has no separating walls from the seating area and the crash of plates and pans from the workspace becomes a little tiresome. (I know…first world problems eh?)
On our way out we check in with Sonja and Tania who highly recommend the vegan muffin with coconut yoghurt.
Rachael’s highlight: The freshness of the food.
Andre’s highlight: The quick delivery of the food and drink given how busy it was.
This week we venture into the Big Smoke, braving the narrow roads of Tinakori, in pursuit of the perfect flat white. We head into the Wellington Botanical Gardens, with one destination in mind… Picnic Cafe.
Picnic Cafe holds fond memories for the pair of us, as this cafe is attached to the Lady Norwood Rose Garden. A spectacular vista of roses, exotic plants, large koi…and 12 years ago was the venue of the best wedding we attended in all of 2007 (ours). Some of our readers may remember this evening at the Lady Norwood Rose Garden for an entirely different reason. It was of course, the same night the Warriors beat the Gold Coast Titans 22-6, at Carrara Stadium.
While we do say this cafe holds fond memories, it is not one we regularly visit. In fact this was only our second visit in 12 years. Back in the day we were able to order a decent lunch of ham sandwiches, custard squares and the staple saveloy with watties tomato sauce, so it was with some trepidation we decided to try our luck here this week. Our taste buds have matured some what over the past decade, and the floppy pink sav is not one of our current go to morsels.
If road rage is not your thing, then you’re probably best to avoid the limited angle parking and judder bars on steroids outside the venue. If you DO decide to risk it, we would suggest a few minutes realigning your Zen at the Peace Flame before heading into the cafe. This is not actually a flame, but a gorgeous waterfall, right outside the seating area of Picnic.
We could not have been more surprised than our livers after a glass of water, by the welcoming atmosphere and updated decor when we first entered the cafe.
We were utterly charmed by the doorman / water bearer / daily specials announcer, who greeted us with “Now my darlings…” before realising we were a middle aged couple, and not a pair of well heeled ‘Ladies who Lunch’. He quickly redeemed himself by pointing out the ‘Naughty Drinks’ (his words, not ours) on the back of the menu, and continued to regale us with friendly and humorous banter.
There was a large selection of food in the cabinet, and a serious upgrade of the a la carte menu has definitely brought this cafe from 1950’s throwback to 2019 hot spot! Andre ordered the ‘Avo Extravaganza’ – smashed avocado on toast, with grain toast, tomato quinoa , beetroot hummus, feta and a poached egg. For those of you concerned that Rachael deviated from the traditional scrambled eggs and bacon last week, you will be relieved to know they were back on the menu. We both agreed that our meals were outstanding quality, sensible portion sizes and arrived quickly.
Several things stood out for us at this cafe. Some of these included the colouring activities and felts available for the young ‘uns, we were easily able to connect to the free ‘Welly Wifi’, soothing background music and that there is no surcharge on public holidays. Your furry friends are welcome, and there is a bowl of water available for them too.
A couple of other things to note: the toilets are outside the venue, so you may need to risk wet feet or bring a pair of gumboots if nature is calling you on a rainy day. There is both inside and outside seating available. Interestingly the outside seating was most popular today, even though it was overcast and chilly. If you have the time, take a few minutes to wander through Begonia House, attached to the cafe by a side door. The exotic plants and water features are well worth exploring.
Once you have walked off your lunch, we can highly recommend popping back into the cafe for a carrot cake and coffee!
We noticed several elderly people dining alone at this particular cafe. While this is not really unusual, what we did notice is one of the cafe staff sitting with some of these patrons, and having a quick conversation between clearing tables. This going above and beyond in our opinion, and one of the nicest things we have seen in a long time.
As a final note, we would like to shake the hand of the genius who left random cut offs of lino on the floor, in anticipation of the odd wobbly table leg. This is much appreciated by the person who generally tends to over fill their tea cup.
As surely as Winter follows Autumn so does one Sunday follow another, although admittedly with 6 days in between, and here we are again, with Rachael’s favourite daughter Summer in the back seat, on the road to our next cafe. We chose Red’s as we had business in the main trunk destination of Levin and on the way home we find ourselves in the provincial heartland town of Otaki on the stroke of midday. Upon instruction from our shrunken stomachs, we take a right just after the crossing lights in the centre of town and find Reds about 50 metres down on the the right hand side. Parking is extremely limited on the main road so you’re best to use one of the back streets.
It’s a cold and grey day and as we step through the door the temperature rises along with our appetites. The place is about half full and we are quickly at the counter after a few minutes of perusing the specials board. The counter service falls a little flat as part way through our order the waitress is interrupted by a colleague who mutters something to her about an issue with a previous customers order. She’s clearly flustered and unsure of what to do. Her colleague suggests she go and sort it and so we repeat our order to her replacement. We’re unsure if the staff are happy in their work as eye contact and smiles are few and far between, but that’s quickly forgotten as we look for a table. There are three distinct seating areas inside and we head next door to what looks like a bar area where you might hold a private function should you need to have one.
There are plenty of tables and we choose one by the window…it’s a lovely spot. Delicious looking pizza finds its way to the table next to us and Andre suggests we come back another day just to try a few of them.
Our drinks and sweets arrive in under 10 minutes and all looks appealing. Summer and Rachael both go on to highly recommend their cheese cake and custard square. In a shock move, Rachael has ordered the BLT for her main while Summer goes lite with fat chips and onion gravy. Andre, despite a choice of seafood dishes on the menu, is unable to go past the Asian pork belly on rice.
Everyone tries and “ooohs and aaaahs” over the onion gravy that came with the fat chips. It’s a winner alright! Rachael thinks her BLT is “quite good” although she’s not impressed by the marigold petals scattered liberally over everything. While we know they’re edible, there’s just too many of them and have to be carefully picked out. Andre’s pork comes in generous portions and he’s a happy camper from the first mouthful.
Andre’s flat white coffee is so hot and tasty he orders a second cup which gives the girls a great excuse to walk up town and duck into a few shops for some retail therapy. Andre thinks if shopping is as therapeutic as the girls make out those two must be amongst the most well adjusted women on the planet!
While we’re always looking for the perfect cafe experience and in this case Red’s is very good, there were a few minuses. Our table was dirty and hadn’t been wiped very well, plus it rocked alarmingly every time Andre cut into his pork. The condiments live on the table along with the cutlery and we’re not fans of this arrangement. The toilet, although in the same building, is actually next door and you need to ask for a key. (That’s the green ring photo.) If you’re a germaphobe you can see the issues around this arrangement!
All said though, we enjoyed our visit to Red’s and everyone agreed it’s a well deserved 4 Stars.
This week we were feline adventurous, so headed to Neko Ngeru in Petone. For the bilingual among us, you will know that ‘Neko’ means ‘cat’ in Japanese, and ‘Ngeru’ means ‘cat’ in Maori, so literally translated we went to the Cat Cat Cafe. While this blog is mostly about food (and this week cats), it also gives us the purrfect opportunity to appreciate how many cat puns we can fit into one review too!
Visiting a cat cafe was a new experience for us, so we felt we needed to do a little research first. We were pleased we did, as it seemed we needed to book in advance, as only 15 spots at a time were available in the cat room. While needing to book a cafe spot online may seem a little fur-midable at first, it was actually really easy, and ensured we were able to pay the $7 entry fee in advance, to secure our place. We went for the ½ hour option, but could also have paid $12pp for an hour, if a longer stay was required.
Parking was easy to find at this time of day – if you know Petone well, you will appreciate that parking is often a-paw-ling in this area, and could well be an issue at other times of the day. This is im-paw-tant to keep in mind, as the clock is ticking on your booked time if you are late!
The staff were fur-endly and welcoming. The rules were explained before entering and the double door entry and hand / shoe sanitising station was easy to operate. This may seem extreme to some, but it’s obvious this cafe is not kitten around when it comes to the welfare of their little friends. We were impressed with the setup of the cafe, the clean environment for the cats, the soothing background mew-sic, and the caring cat-titude of the staff. There are plenty of activities set up to keep the cats active, and a paw-some little area for the cats to climb, and sleep peacefully without being disturbed by over eager humans.
While the cafe was reasonably busy, we only needed to wait a meow-ment to be served. There does seem to be a paw-sibility that the food options could be extended a little. The food did look tasty, but if you’re starving and looking to eat your main meal at Neko Ngeru, you will be a little disappointed. Andre tried the flat white, and Summer a hot chocolate. Top marks for the coffee and ⅗ for the hot chocolate. We didn’t order a meal this week – basically because there were none on the menu. You can, however, order a cat shaped cookie, a pie or a sausage roll. The food prices were a little steep – $8 for a slice of cake, and $5 for a small muffin. We probably shouldn’t fur-get to mention, there is only one table in the cafe area, but you can take food into the cat room if you’re game.
All in all it was a very paw-sitive experience, and earned a grand five stars from us this week in terms of a fun filled half hour, but we feel unable to give a fair rating for the food. This cafe is a delight for cat lovers of all ages and stages. Purr-haps you could head there for your next caffeine, and share your tail with us too.
Today we head out to The Chocolate Frog Cafe, in Miramar. This cafe is set within a lovely garden centre and gift shop, just a short 35 minute car ride from downtown Upper Hutt.
Parking is abundant, signage is clear, and the aroma of bacon and coffee is evident from the minute we step out of the car.
This cafe is positioned inside the gift shop area – brilliant opportunity to give these treasures a little side eye, as the husband leads us towards the actual food.
We are both impressed that we can view the menu before entering and ordering. The menu looks inviting, and the tied back curtains either side of the doorway are both alluring and 1970’s Women’s’ Weekly decor all at the same time.
The selection in the cabinet has us keen to try everything this cafe has to offer. Slices, cakes, biscuits, sandwiches and pastry. The Chocolate Frog really is a novice food bloggers dream.
Service is exceptional. Right from the gentleman who greeted us at the door, to the waitress who cleared our plates when we had finished. Our EB tea was delivered about two minutes after we ordered, and our food within 10 minutes.
We both ordered eggs. These came out hot, well cooked and beautifully presented. We both felt the portion sizes were spot on, and the green (we’re sure this stuff has a name, but being novice bloggers have no idea what it is) decoration was a nice touch too.
At first we were a little unnerved by the ceiling, which seemed to be channeling a modern venus fly trap arrangement. The entire ceiling appears to be covered in varying sizes of framed blank canvases, which highlighted the 1000’s of bugs, water stains and dust particles that have accumulated over time. At best we could imagine this to be a to living tribute to Jackson Pollack, at worst – an OCD cleaners nightmare.
There were many redeeming features, however, such as: free wifi, cutlery delivered with the food, sugar sachets on the table, pour your own water station and a children’s playground. Just as a side note – the playground was not in easy sight of the actual cafe. We would suggest tracking down a spare teenager, and bribing them with food to take the little ones to the playground, while Mum and Dad chill with a flat white.
While we both agree this is a family friendly spot, you may need to plan in advance if you have a wheelchair or pushchair. There is plenty of space when sitting at the tables, but maneuvering through could be a bit tricky.
When you have finished your coffee, take the time to wander through the gift shop and garden centre. Lots of quirky little treats to be found – especially if you’re looking for a last minute gift!
Overall we would highly recommend The Chocolate Frog. We would even go as far to say pop in there for a decent meal before your next flight overseas. It’s just down the road and a much better option than airport food, that’s for sure.
Rachael’s Highlight: Every chair was hand painted with a different design or quote.
Andre’s Highlight: Display of cakes and baking when we first went in was outstanding.
This week we agreed we were keen to see how the other half live, and dine like royalty. Well, dine like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to be exact. There was only one place we could possibly go for this… Maranui Cafe in Lyall Bay. Those of you keen on following Megs and Harry, will be well aware they met a group of youth at this cafe during their tour of the Pacific in 2018.
As we climbed the staircase to the top of the old Surf Life Saving building, we discussed our luck at being able to get a park right outside the door. We could see parking would be difficult later in the day, or in the middle of Summer.
When we got to the top, we were pleasantly surprised by the stunning view, welcoming waitress and delicious array of counter food when we stepped in the door.
We knew this cafe was popular, but we were a little taken aback by the 5 minute wait for a table, and 40 minute wait for food to be served. While we were happy to wait (hard to write a review if we didn’t), this is not the place to come if you’re in a hurry. We were impressed that we were given the expected wait times before we were seated, and agreed that the stunning view of the Cook Strait made the wait bearable.
The tea arrived quickly, and the coffee around five minutes later. This gave us plenty of time to contemplate what Harry and Meghan may have eaten, and was it on the menu (Rachael), and the possible erosion of the Maranui Cafe due to the rising sea level (Andre).
This cafe has a fun and funky vibe. The decor is reminiscent of a 1950’s Surf Club, and there are a few quirky details that make the place a little treasure trove for the eye. There were plenty of staff, (I could discuss how our classrooms would benefit from the same adult / students ratio here, but I won’t), friendly table service, and a good selection on the menu. While there is generally the standard fare you would expect, this cafe does cater to the vegan palate, and has a decent selection of items to choose from.
There are a few things we personally like when visiting a cafe. One of these things is free wifi. Maranui Cafe did win points in this area, however, you do need a password to log in. This is not displayed anywhere, but the waitress was more than happy to give out the magic word when asked. It you’re wondering what it is – lyallbay – no capitals, no spaces. You’re welcome!
You may remember at the beginning of this review we mentioned we were keen to dine like royalty. Who knows what they actually eat, but Rachael went for scrambled eggs and bacon, while Andre tried the Magic Mushrooms. Unfortunately, the eggs came out minus the bacon, and the mushrooms came out minus the magic. We have to say the waitress was quick to rectify the bacon situation, but the mushrooms remained sadly limp and tasteless. You could say there was ‘mushroom’ for improvement (just trying to be a ‘fungi’ with the mushroom puns).
Water was available on some tables, we were unable to see exactly where it came from. The cafe is not really child friendly, but there is a lovely outdoor table area if your young prince or princess wants to run around outside.
We both agreed that while the cafe has a fun atmosphere and a half decent view, it really is a victim of it’s own success – a bit like the Kardashian’s really… famous for being famous!
Rachael’s Highlight: Possibly sitting at the same table as Prince Harry.
Andre’s Highlight: The stunning views across the Cook Strait.
Having barely slept a wink with excitement, Rachael and Andre are up early. Today’s a big day…our first review. Rachael spends forever on her hair…Andre’s got none but eventually we’re off!
It’s a 25 min drive from Upper to Lower Hutt and the discussion in the car revolves around guessing how many friends will turn up for their free coffee. Andre’s feeling optimistic.
We swing into the car parking and it’s plentiful. It’s a good start. Once inside it’s a brief stroll to the right and there it is. We’ve both been here before but immediately notice there’s been some modernisation of the cafe. No longer plastic sheets hanging down keeping the birds out, it’s actually got walls now and looks inviting.
We wait for 10 minutes in case any of our readers appear for their free coffee and a large crowd gathers. Unfortunately they’re not anyone we know. Eventually one dear old lady does show up…hello Rachael’s mum. Mums always have your back don’t they?
While the cabinet food looks spectacular(including salmon and dill hash cake) Rachael opts for a scrambled egg( you’re going to get a lot of that over the coming posts!) and Andre settles on the speciality Lambs Fry with a fried egg. Rachael gives in to her well documented weakness for a custard square as a sweet side.
Our drink orders are fairly standard, English Breakfast tea and a regular flat white. The service at the counter is perfunctory although efficient and we’re soon on our way to find a table of which there are plenty to choose from.
Drinks arrive first after 5 minutes with the custard square followed by our meals 5 minutes thereafter. The plates are well presented and it looks appetizing. We soon realise however that each plate is loaded with enough food to feed an african village for a week and despite our best efforts we don’t clean our plates. In fact, the food in the display cabinet was also “super sized”. The custard square could have been halved and it still would have seemed like a generous portion. I guess this is MEGA Mitre 10 but in all honesty we think this counts against them. If you like cafe’s and you’re greedy then this is definitely the place to come!
Other items of interest include…free wifi provided by Mitre 10, no music playing in the background and for the families with wee ones, there’s a playground right next door allowing you to enjoy your coffee and supervise like a good parent all from the comfort of a table and chair. (when you’ve got under 5’s it really doesn’t get any better than that!)
After a brief discussion, our team of 3 decided the dining experience was reasonably standard but without flair or anything surprising. The food was good and the atmosphere welcoming and comfortable. The cafe could claim to have a point of difference regarding portion sizes but we’re not convinced that’s necessarily a positive. Of course it’s hard to overlook you’re inside a mega hardware store and Andre was keen to get amongst the power tools as you’d expect once we drained the last of our cups.
The best laid plans of mice and men take a tumble this week. We were booked to visit a local “cat cafe” but at the last minute one of the cats became ill and we have been rescheduled for later in the month. With that to look forward to, we head down to Upper Hutt’s very own Cake and Kitchen on Fergusson Drive, just a short stroll from the train station. Legend has it, customers have boarded a train from Wellington station, disembarked at Upper Hutt and gone no further than the Cake and Kitchen just for their classic mashed pea dish…an absolute must eat. (ok, in all honesty I don’t know if that is a legend, it’s probably not, as I’ve just made it up…but it should become legend because the mashed pea dish is outstanding!)
We’re lucky to get a park right outside where you’ll notice a cute caravan “hole in the wall” selling takeaway coffee. As soon as we’re out of the car, delicious baking aromas assault our nostrils and draw us in. There’s a friendly hello from the wait staff and we peruse the menu before placing our order at the counter. The decor is definitely retro with a post World War II feel, in fact Andre recognises some of the furniture from his childhood. (is Andre really that old that his formative years are now a “theme”? We laugh.)
Having ordered our english breakfast teas and eggs with bacon on fancy bread (Rach scrambled, Andre poached) we take a seat. Less than two minutes later the tea arrives…wow that’s quick! Five minutes after that, two plates of deliciously presented food also makes its way to our table. Can’t complain about having to wait that’s for sure. Both meals are well prepared and Andre remarks that the “chef knows his poached eggs” High praise indeed!
Cutlery and serviettes are in a small container on the table. We’re not big fans of that as who knows how long they’ve been there and how many young hands may have played with them, but it’s a growing trend, and they look clean. The sugar container needs a refill although we decide to not bother the wait staff as they look busy enough.
There’s a pleasant vibe in the cafe…it’s probably about half full. The background music is turned down to an appropriate level, so we’re not having to shout at each other, and we’re far enough away from the hissing and spitting dragon that is the coffee machine so barely notice it’s there.
Twenty minutes later and like a couple of draught horses we’re fed and watered. Each of us decides on a highlight and like two cowboys…I mean cowpeople…we hit the trail in search of fortune and adventure! (when I say fortune and adventure please read “off to the supermarket to get our groceries and a lotto ticket”!)
Rachael’s Highlight: The “Cupcycling” option.
Andre’s Highlight: The Bacon was exactly how he likes it, slightly toward crispy but not nuked.
OVERALL RATING:
5 Stars
Footnote: If you’ve read this far down…firstly, well done and secondly, why not leave the name of a cafe you’d like us to review in the comments section? Can’t promise we’ll get there but we’re not above giving our readers what they want.
Last Sunday, we were wandering aimlessly around the leafy streets of Upper Hutt, discussing our life goals. It was a deep and meaningful discussion where Rachael shared goals of travel, charity work, further study and building a ‘She Shed’ in the corner of the garden.
Andre shared his short term goal of wanting a flat white coffee and an apple shortcake and his long term goal of hoping to have katsu for dinner.
Discussions turned to which cafe to visit, and that there only ever seemed to be one or two that we frequented on a regular basis. In fact, generally on a Sunday morning for brunch. Change was needed! But where?
Well the short answer is…. we still don’t know.
This blog is about trying new places, having new adventures and sharing our thoughts with anyone who is interested.
Here are our guidelines:
We visit one cafe per weekend.
Every cafe gets a review from us with a possible five star rating.
This is not a critical review – it is simply our unbiased thoughts on the day.
We aim to visit every cafe in the Wellington Region.
We have absolutely no experience with blogging or cafe reviewing. But we do like coffee and carrot cake, and we LOVE Wellington and all it has to offer.
Our first review starts on Sunday 19 May. We are so keen to kick this off, we’re offering a free coffee to anyone on our Facebook friends list who turns up to join us.
Our first review will be at Espresso Garden Cafe, Mitre 10 Petone, 10.00am, Sunday 19 May.
Sunday at 10 O'clock 