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!
Sunday at 10 O'clock 