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Atrium

Lower Hutt

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!

OVERALL SCORE: 5 Stars

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Cafe on Guthrie Street

Waiwhetu, Lower Hutt

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.

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.

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Buzz Cafe

Lower Hutt

“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!

OVERALL SCORE: 4 stars

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Sierra Cafe

Queensgate Mall Lower Hutt

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!

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Sweet Vanilla Kitchen

Pretoria Street, Lower Hutt

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.