A really great location for a function.
We occupied a very cool outdoor under-cover area, with plenty of bench-seat / picnic-table type square seating arrangements, which was very conducive to easy chatting and socializing.

I think it was the first cold night of the year… so they hadn’t fired up the big fire yet and couldn’t get it going. But that would be my only recommendation. Everything else was great.

In particular, I want to say that the Bar Africa staff were fantastic – chatty and friendly bar guy, and then the staff were extremely helpful when I forgot to close my bar-tab after leaving a private function at Bar Africa. Several staff went beyond the call of duty to help me process my payment, and to drop off my card to me up the road. Thank you!

Monsoon Poon made a great spot for our business lunch – we could hear each other talk easily, and we’d picked an excellent comfy spot in a semi-circular booth.
The décor was great and mood-lighting nice, it’s a really interesting venue – plenty to look at.

Our waiter was excellent – just the right mix of helpful chat, and he was very attentive whilst in no way intrusive. Excellent. He also suggested a fabulous Spy Valley pinot gris.

As for the food – we all loved it. Stand-out dishes for me included the fat little rice-paper Vietnamese rolls on the combo platter, the moistly-done squid, and the ‘shaking beef’ which was truly outstanding. The dish ‘Shaking Beef’ was SO light and juicy and tender to the bite (made with eye-fillet steak, they said).
Plus I loved the roti… and the flavoursome leafy goodness of the duck salad.

Stuffed ourselves silly, and yet had left-overs to take-out.
Have been wanting to come here to dine for years, glad we picked it today, and turned ourselves into a bunch of Monsoon Poon converts.

What amazing food and incredible service! I turned up yesterday and asked what I could purchase for Christmas day lunch and dinner that would suit my vegan parents coming today.

Very helpful young man behind the counter went to the kitchen and the chef came out and spoke with me. She said “let’s make a plan” and we sat down and discussed number of people coming, dietary needs and what she could whip up for me to take away.

So while I indulged in a delicious flat white and a seed cookie (Yum), and my daughter had a very delicious vegan chocolate brownie, Pia cooked up two beautiful dishes for me to takeaway! She even lent me her baking dishes to bring back.

AMAZING service, and so friendly!!! I have already pinched a bit of the scrambled tofu for my own lunch yesterday, to try it out, and because I could not resist. It was so amazing! One of my dietary requirements, was that it would have no garlic or onion. That is an amazing cook that can create an entirely animal product free dish with no garlic and no onion that tastes that amazingly good!!! Thanks guys, you are AWESOME!!!

Totally loved my salt & pepper calamari (had delicious aioli and leafy mesculin to accompany it, which was delicious with fresh lemon I squeezed on). Spiced apple cake for dessert was SO good. The team invented a cheese toastie for my preschooler, which was made of delicious healthy wholegrain bread, and she loved it. Her dessert was a wholemeal date muffin, which again, she absolutely devoured. I love that they have such healthy AND delicious food here! Great job. Friendly staff too. Parking was really easy.

Scrumptious noodles. I always get the garlic prawns. The king prawns are always perfectly cooked, the vegetables tasty, and there’s SO much food in there that I can never finish it – so I always take the leftover noodles in the garlic sauce home to my partner (minus the prawns, haha, he’s none the wiser!)

The intensely delicious Thai flavours of the meal I had here today was fantastic.  The staff are very friendly and clearly passionate about what they are doing here. 

There are so many options on the menu that I had trouble choosing. All of the dishes are labelled chicken, pork, etc, but it is all substitute  bean curd or tofu in different textures and shapes and styles. Clearly these are heavily marinated for a good length of time, because the flavour is just juicy and delicious. 

I also enjoyed a freshly squeezed carrot apple lemon juice.

The setting is basic but clean. Maybe at some point sunflower vegetarian restaurant could be ready for a interior makeover… However I did not come here for the ambience, but to experience a wide range of vegetarian dishes, because the photos on here looked amazing!

The waitress highly recommended the dumplings for $7.50. So I will have to come back and try those ones too.

The “SEAFOOD KING AGLIO ET OLIO Udon Prawn, Clam & Scallops” was tremendous. The scallops were melt-in-your-mouth sweet and tender, and prawns were delicious. Lots of veges, flavoured beautifully. I was attracted by the idea of italian garlic & olive oil as a base for an asian stirfry. It really works well. Next time I would ask for them to go milder on the chilli component, as it had a spicier kick than I would normally choose, delicious none-the-less.

My daughter liked her teriyaki chicken noodles & vege – good to see her eating brocolli

THEN… the deep-fried caramel banana with icecream was also sooo yum.

Parking was easy after 5pm, just on the street outside. Friendly staff, and a nicely decorated, relaxed interior. I also liked the upstairs seating area, which is very tidy, calm & has a lovely view out across the street.

I had some absolutely beautiful Cauliflower & blue-cheese soup. The flavours were intense, delicious and moreish. Drizzled lightly across the top of the soup were two lines of intensely coloured oil – one a pepper-orange hue, and another a beautiful bright green. They made the soup look gorgeous. I also enjoyed the toasty parmesan-bread on the side. It was definitely lunch in style on a weekday! (And only about $13 for the soup).

It’s a gorgeous setting here at the Falls too. Kind of like an oasis away from the Henderson bustle.

I absolutely LOVE the classiness of the Maori-styling in Karaka Cafe. It embodies the culture in a clean-cut artistic space. Replete with Brooke Fraser playing from the sound-system, and a Wharenui-styled playhouse for the children including kete filled with Te Reo books, poi, and toys.

It’s immaculately clean and has ample seating, in a well-spaced out big but warm space.

Super-chipper staff, and I found it hard to choose from the yummy-looking range of cabinet food. I went for a gorgeous berry-danish which was BEAUTIFUL – loads of rich berries popping with flavour.

A perfect soy-flat-white. I LOVE Karaka Cafe.

Beautiful flavours coming out of this kitchen. Loved the beetroots juxtaposed with feta, caramelized(?)walnut, and other scrumptious natural seasonings in my entree.

Gorgeous views out across the marina (floor to ceiling windows), and to the Harbour Bridge, Bayswater and beyond.

I noticed the excellent acoustics of the sloping ceiling make it easy to converse even in the packed-out restaurant.

Impeccable service by very professional and unobtrusive wait-staff.

I loved the mushroom & blue-cheese frittata – the mushrooms were generous and succulent, and the flavour excellent. Accompanied by a green side-salad of rocket. I chose from the varied range of tasty-looking cabinet options.

I’ve not seen such a unique fit-out as this anywhere: resplendent with antiquey nick-knacks, the place is charming, and somehow remains uncluttered. The bird-cages and boats, the pictures and oddities and all sorts of interesting things to look at.

An excellent coffee, and a great vibe.

I came down on a beautiful sunny weekday, and found a seat on the veranda overlooking Mission Bay. For $10, my lunch included curry, rice, naan, coke. Good value. In fact as I was sitting there enjoying the views and the sunshine… I thought this place has four big V’s going for it: Value, Verandah, Views, Vitamin D (from the sunshine!).

One improvement I would suggest, would be to ensure a hot, hot temperature of the curry when it arrives at the table. It might have made an average-tasting curry tastier? I guess it’s easy to see why it had started to cool though, as the place was absolutely packed, and the waiters were run off their feet… and really, $10 for this much food – it’s hard to justify complaining.

Absolutely beautiful Eggs Benedict – only $9.90. I was really amazed at how delicious it was. Two perfectly cooked eggs, that burst and ran a beautiful orange yolk colour over the nicely cooked little bacon rashers.
The eggs came on top of two slices of round bread.
Excellent coffee.
Super friendly people here.

–
Last month when I ate here, I Had a perfect coffee made to my liking. The friendly man who served me at Cafe Eden (or is it Caffeden on the sign?) was helpful in offering to make me something – as they’d run out of vegetarian cabinet food.

He got the chef to whip together a beautiful fresh, simple sandwich with soft freya’s bread filled with mesculin, tomato, cheese & avocado, and just the right amount of salt & pepper. Thanks!!

The venue is cosy, and the coffee was PERFECT. I’m gonna come back for some eggs Benedict next time.

We enjoyed a gorgeous lunch here this week. My salmon fillet was so beautifully presented, and flavours really good. I loved the light & flavoursome soy-based sauce so much, that I wished there was more on the dish! Lovely presentation, with ‘needle mushroom & miso microsalad’, and served with potato gratin.

My partner was loving his Fish & Chips, which were fresh, and crisp (apparently… as he wouldn’t let me try any!).

Excellent service from the wait staff. Professional and friendly.

It’s a lovely view from the french windows, across the waters towards the Viaduct apartments, with the city buildings looming behind.

Also good was the parking, as we just zoomed up and parked right outside the door.

We’ll definitely be back

Delightfully Spanish in it’s leanings, I absolutely LOVED my Portobello mushroom salad which was delicious with flavour. The colours of this ‘Salata Catalina’ were an amazing array of reds, greens, yellow, pink, etc. It made my eyes pop when I saw it – ‘YUM!’. At $18, I thought it was a really reasonable price for the quality of the ingredients, and to have a nice meal in this funky location.

A suggestion for improvement would be to suggest the waiter could just pour the water without asking each time, so you don’t interrupt the conversation! Though the attentive top-ups were appreciated.

The setting is a unique & light-filled space during the day-time. The deck would be fantastic on a sunny day.
Will definitely go again. It worked really well for a business meeting.

Absolutely tremendous location! Really enjoyed a two hour lunch in the sun overlooking the harbour towards the harbour bridge.

My roast vegetable salad was delicious. Especially the sweet roast carrots had a beautiful flavour to them. One colleague ordered the roast pumpkin and feta salad and really enjoyed it. The other ordered the prawn linguine, which looked Yum.

Our handsome waiter was very friendly, and helpful. Only moment for improvement there was some confusion over pouring “still” vs sparkling water during top ups, but really not a big issue.

Good value, flavoursome meals and a truly splendid setting in the sun.

I enjoyed my sweet treats and coffee over the newspaper as my daughter was entertained by the playhouse in the covered courtyard, which was a treasure trove for my pre-schooler.

Very nice couches inside, plus plenty of tables for the grown-ups space indoors.

Super-friendly cafe operators were lovely.

I really like this Columbus Cafe. Aside from the delicious cakes & cookies… it’s a warm and comfortable space.

And, the parking’s easy in the weekends. Our extended family descended upon the Smales Farm precinct last weekend, and our tribe’s many preschoolers leapt into the fountains in the courtyard (oops!) but loads of fun.

For a gluten-free treat, this Columbus does an amazing choc-button & almond cookie (pricey at $4.80-ish but worth it). I love that the ‘ginger bread men’ have the ‘hundreds & thousands’ sprinkled over most of their bodies – way better than having pebbles for buttons. My daughter loves the ones from here more than anywhere else.

Staff are always chipper and helpful too.

It was a very rainy night, and I popped into the cosy C.A.C., For some dessert and a cup of tea with my friend. The staff were excellent. A very welcoming waitress and other staff were all fantastic. Upstairs the ambience was excellent.

I had the RICOTTA FRITTERS w. rhubarb & raspberry preserve for 11 dollars. The flavours were lovely.

I love Jesters Pies. Less fat & calories = Less guilt. Sure, they’re not your average Kiwi pie… but once you get used to their ‘jaffle-puff’ pastry, they’re great.

My 3 year old LOVES the Kiwi Classic (mince), and I love the “Mother Hubbard” – salmon.

Always helpful staff. A nice clean environment to sit & eat a pie.

We fancied a nice curry with a twist… so we came here. It was Saturday lunchtime, and the idea was we’d takeaway and eat in a park, as the weather was so beautiful… however, when we got there, the table out the front was in full sunshine, so we opted to eat in.

The people were friendly and very welcoming, and the food was fantastic! Our favourite dish was “Kay’s Chicken Curry”: the menu online said “… cooked with potatoes in rich and awesome Malaysian spices and curry leaves. Will touch all parts of your tastebuds.” which was true. It was FABULOUS!

We had 2 pieces of Roti, which we all fought over as it was so delicious.

Also fabulously good, was the Masala Thosai “flat rice flour pancake stuffed with potatoes and mixed vegetables served with dhal and fresh coconut chutney”.

The Coconut chutney with the Masala Thosai was really good. What a great flavour combo.

The Masala Thosai would have been a great choice for our preschooler, if I could have convinced her to eat anything other than the roti that she filled herself up on! The Thosai was not “hot” at all, and the flavours were delicious.

Interesting to note newspaper cuttings adorning the window, of Sri Puteri’s owner/chef with chef Peter Gordon too. Rather a good affirmation of the quality and authenticity of the Malaysian cuisine here.

In summary, we had fabulous meal that all three of us thoroughly enjoyed.

First thing I have to rave about is the Czech Potato Pancake. It’s SO amazing, that the description on the menu just does not do it justice. The actual pancake contains so much flavour on its own, that it’s a flavour that I’ve been reliving in my head over and over since I first went to Cosset last Sunday. The menu says it’s “filled with Spicy Bean, Rocket & Fresh Salsa”… but that just doesn’t convey the piquant sweet and balsamic and lemon and subtle spice and heavenly flavour that is this dish.

My daughter, a pastry fiend, loved her vegetable pastry square, chosen from the counter-food options. It was topped with mini-portobello mushrooms, courgettes, succulent tomato… She decided on the spot that she now loves tomato. Yay!

Before I discovered the Czech Potato Pancake, I had a Cigara Borek – “cigar shaped pastry filled with organic potato, onion, dill, mint & parsley.” It was ‘good’ … and value for its $4.50 price… but I really needed more… and it wasn’t my favourite combo of flavours – just my personal opinion. So I subsequently selected the amazing Czech Potato Pancake.

We came here because we’re Conscious Consumer members, and saw they’d won the bid for the “Carrotmob” to raise funds for a fairtrade business in Papua New Guinea. (So we wanted to spend some money they’d profit from themselves, before the carrotmob event!)

When we first walked in, every single seated space was busy, and I was worried that we wouldn’t find a place to sit. But the friendly lady at the counter said the tables turn over pretty quickly, and she was right. It has a very retro, quaint feel to the place, with lots of old cushions covered with old-fashioned roses that match the chair upholstery. Old prints hang along the walls, and it’s just generally cool and knick-knacky. It’s small. It’s cosy. It’s got a community feel somehow.

Good things come in small packages.

What a tremendous fish burger! So full of good old kiwi-style beetroot, tomato, lettuce, onion, cheese, egg and the freshly flavoured battered fish. Chips were just beautiful, and not over-salted, which was a big bonus, as I was taking them home for my daughter. Actually, it was fantastic that the burger was not over-salted either, but a packet of salt was included in with the chips – and I did add some salt to my burger coz I love a bit of extra seasoning.

I was just planning on taking away, but felt the atmosphere was so groovy and comfortable, that I sat at one of the high wooden tables to enjoy my burger right there instead.

Lovely warm mood-lighting, lots of polished wood in the decor, and complimentary tomato sauce on each of the three tables, in the form of the classic Kiwiana big round tomato sauce squeezy bottles. First time I’ve seen that this century! Each table had a wee “Footrot Flats” cartoon book on it. Walls adorned with Kiwiana paraphenalia – but not overdone. What a cool place.

There’s also a two-seater couch in front of a playstation, for customers to play while waiting – an appropriately modern update to the old “Spacies” we used to play as kids back in the eighties when waiting for our Friday night fish & chips!

I phoned in my order before hopping on the motorway from the city – so off at Market Rd, and straight thru the lights to the Parking behind the shop (pretty bright red signage on building) was real easy.

Staff were bubbly. This place is really truly great.

We loved the freshness of the veges, and the great flavours. We ordered the “10 Vege Delight & Cashews” for $13.50 … which was honestly SO delicious – I’ve never seen my preschooler eat so many different veges in 1 sitting! We also had the Pad Thai, which was absolutely gorgeous too.

The two of us perched on the bar-leaner style table, and watched the world go by as the sun set. We had the meals in takeaway bowls which we took home for ‘daddy’ to finish off, as we were so full we couldn’t finish the big portions.

The place was bright, fresh and clean. Staff were helpful and food was pretty quick. Parking was right infront of the shop, so really easy.
Thumbs up to this place.

The food was stunning. “Dill potatoes” were amazingly good: Poached free-range eggs with fried dill potatoes, garlic yoghurt, watercress and burnt sage butter. The coffee was top-notch too.

I sampled a piece of my partner’s parsnip & rosemary risotto hash… which was delectable. Who knew a hint of parsnip could be so delicious? described on the menu as: “Breaded risotto cake with parsnip, rosemary & Parmesan served with roast baby beetroot, field mushrooms, watercress, poached egg and hollandaise sauce”… it hadn’t appealed to me… but next time I go back, that’s what I’ll be having!

But… I had to knock off a star… Why? Well… there were two very helpful waitresses… but a third one – who was our main waitress for the first half of the meal – was so unsmiling and blistering with negative energy that I was really taken aback at her highly irritated demeanor. My dad, who is the kindest soul… vocalized his empathy that she must be having a really hard day… and she softened a tad after that! But really… I was uncomfortable with her manner. (Dad said, perhaps she’s just had some awful family news. I said, or perhaps she’s just had a late night out?)

Regardless, it was an outstanding meal. My pre-schooler loved having some crayons & an activity sheet on the back of the kids menu.

The outdoor covered courtyard was really nicely presented, and had a great feel to it, and apart from the chill-wind blowing in from that one waitress, it was a pleasant temperature on an Autumn afternoon.

Cleanly kept, stunning food, and good for kids. We had a lovely time.

It’s a pumping atmosphere here on a Friday for lunch. My friend & I enjoyed our shared Antipasto platter. We asked for ‘less meat and more veg’ due to one of us being a vegetarian. For $35, we received an ENORMOUS platter of delectable sun-dried tomatoes, baby-belle peppers stuffed with soft cheese (Clevedon Buffalo Mozzarella if I’m not mistaken), Olives, mushrooms, green beans, chorizo, chargrilled red peppers, gherkins, etc, etc. A lovely spot outside in the sun was a bonus. Only thing missing was the artichokes that were on the menu, and I was desperately craving! Oh, and more bread would have been really good (the four slices of ciabatta were very nice… but not quite enough for the size of the platter)! And we felt that a further $5 for another couple of slices that the waitress apologetically offered, was a bit unnecessary…

We both enjoyed the staff’s recommendation of “The Ned” Pinot Gris, and I appreciated that the helpful young women at the bar offer me a tiny taster before I committed – fantastic They also warned me that the food would be half an hour, before I placed the order… so that was fine – the place was packed.

It’s a very busy gastro pub, where you ‘bags’ a table and then head up to the bar to order & pay. (In other words, no table service provided.)
One more recommendation for the staff… can you please remind me to use my loyalty card? – I always forget!!!

A very pleasant way to spend a Friday lunch.

Best Japanese food I have ever eaten to date. Honestly, each dish was incredible…We chose 5 small plates to share between the two of us.
Starting with the Shrimp Olive Edamame: Pan-fried shrimps and the most perfectly flavoured and cooked edamame, with big juicy Kalamata olives, and crispy little garlic ‘chips’.

Then, came the Salmon belly. Wow. Honestly, it was only $6.50… and is the best $6.50 I’ve spent all year. Incredible. I wish I had a better vocab to explain how the salmon just melted in the mouth, and the sweetness and saltiness of the sauce (what was that amazing sauce?!) hit all the right ‘high notes’ and ‘bass notes’ and really… I want to go and have that Salmon belly every weekend for the rest of my life.

Just when we thought food couldn’t get any better, along came the Pan-fried eggplant with sweet miso sauce. Heaven. It was so succulent and juicy, I wished I had a spoon to scoop it up with… but we both managed to get the thing loaded onto chopsticks.

By comparison to everything else, the tempura battered vegetables had the least ‘Wow’ factor – maybe because we already know how much we love Japanese tempura veges, and they were very good. Though personally I liked the kumara ones least, and lusted after the sole courgette which my partner woffed down before we realised there was only one of each vege (then we started splitting each vege in half – tricky with chopsticks… and a bit uncouth & European with our fingers. LOL! But we managed it.)

And then came the Wasabi flavored teriyaki chicken and avocado. So delicious. Again… hitting all those different tastebuds in my mouth. I’m supposed to be a vegetarian now. But it knocked me off the wagon, I’m afraid. It had a garlic vinegar soy dipping sauce. And I’ve NEVER tasted avocado done like that.

What a magnificent meal.
Staff were attentive, friendly & helpful. Only thing missing was our Japanese shout-out from the kitchen when we arrived (they must have all been looking the other way at that moment), as they did the welcome shout in unison for every other guest who arrived after us. I love that.

Oh, and I must mention I was impressed that our waiter mentioned to us not to eat the pods around the edamame beans, and they also gave us a wee slip of paper warning us about bones in the salmon belly. Very thoughtful.

A couple of beers, a wine, and five dishes came to about $80. Not bad at all, considering the top notch food.

I like the red-brick wall interior. The space was warm & warmly-lit. And oh Lord, when we walked in the door, the aromas were devine.

Look, honestly, we’ll have to get more date-nights out, because I can’t stay away from this food for long.

Wow. What an incredible look and feel this place has. It just had a great feeling from the moment we walked in.

From the circular, ceiling high book shelves, to the amazing split photographs framed behind the bar… and the upside down lamps stuck to the ceiling!

The food was excellent. The salted chilli calamari was the best calamari I can remember having, and made me realise that calamari is not supposed to be chewy at all. When you bit down into it, it was all flavour, and no effort.

Tempura prawn cones were also amazing – though when we first saw them, we thought they’d done them ‘wrong’ – as they looked to us like they’d been done in normal-old Kiwi fish & chips batter. But that was only until we actually tasted them. They were delicious. Loved the dips with them too.

We were practically forced (well heavily encouraged) into ordering the fries because it was Good Friday, and, they were strict on ‘no substantial meal, no drinks’. Fair enough. But we wished we’d ordered more calamari instead. The chunky chips were tasty in their potato skins though – just a little too filling for us.

The favourite hit wine of the night was the Te Whare Ra Tonu (I think), which apparently is a blend, including their famous Gewurtz (my personal favourite wine ever). Really really beautiful.

Excellent service. We had to ask twice for them to bring my second wine… But when we went to pay at the end, (and without us complaining at all), they didn’t charge us for our 3 scoops of delicious icecream (which they had put together for me specially, as there was no icecream on the menu). Hence were REALLY impressed by the service.

Cafe Cezanne succeeded in giving us outstanding value, and a thoroughly enjoyable birthday dinner experience for our little family of three. We were really delighted with the exceptional calibre of the moderately priced food.

I thoroughly enjoyed my roast pumpkin, feta, walnut, red-onion and green salad. From the kids menu, the chefs whipped up a beautiful fluffy but succulent omelette with pineapple (the chef suggested via the waitress that pineapple would be a good choice for my daughter who didn’t want the ‘ham’, and he was spot on!).

My partner loved his haloumi salad.
The setting is very relaxed, to suit the style of the Cafe, and reminds me of the classic Auckland cafes of the late 90′s… giant arty-murals, chunky wooden chairs & tables, concrete floor. Plus drawerfuls of children’s books to entertain our young one after she’d finished her delicious chocolate afghan.

I think for the price-bracket of this cafe’s menu, they have got the formula spot-on. The only improvement I’d suggest, would be to renovate the toilet room. However, that said… the plethora of sanitizer seat-wipes & sprays and hygienex pump soap and paper towels, overcame any qualms I had about seating my daughter in there, thank goodness!

We were so thrilled with our experience, and the helpful staff, and the excellent food, I think 5 stars are in order.

I stopped in briefly at Tuihana for a nice roast vege panini with hummus.
What a lovely light, clean, and funky cafe.
Very friendly helpful staff explained the food choices well.
The food highlight for me was the treat that I chose after my meal: a chocolate macciato truffle ball. Yum!!!

I was offered salt & pepper for my panini, and being a salt-addict lately, I would have been wise to take up the offer of sprinkling a bit more salt on the panini to make it even more to my liking. I do think it’s good that they give us customers a choice though – better to lean towards less seasoning than too much. And I think if the kumara was heated through just a tad more, the panini would have been ‘excellent’.

Very very handy was the free parking down the driveway… specially on a rainy day like today.

My 5 stars are for the excellent service from great staff, the quality of the food, the easy parking, and the very styley interior.

I took my 3 year old daughter and 6 year old niece who had a marvellous time on the bouncy castle! In between their bouncing, the girls enjoyed their steak and cheese pies, which had a lovely homemade quality to them.
The feijoa and apple smoothie was also a big hit with them.
The highlights for me included the flavoursome roast vege and couscous salad, which was perfectly un-heavy on the couscous, with a glass of riesling which I sipped slowly for an hour in the sunny, though rather windy picnic tables outside.

I know from past experience that this is a place to come when I’m not rushed… As the kitchen usually takes quite some time to get the meals and drinks out, which is what happened, but I was’nt fussed, and I appreciated the effort to get the kids fed first, bringing out the food well before mine was ready to serve. They also did an extra side of chopped up fruit for the kids at my request, which I asked for even though it was not part of the menu. They were very obliging with this.

Plus I was meal-checked at least twice, to see if everything was ok, so I felt looked after.

A delightful experience, and I’d love to go again soon.

PS: one tip if you’re sitting outside is to watch out for little buds falling off the splendid big pohutukawa tree onto your table/into your drink!!!!

Firstly, the salads here blow my mind!
Secondly, My 3 year old can literally spend hours with her friends in the playroom upstairs, which has a window hole cut into the wall so I can keep an eye on her while I sit back and relax with friends in the dining space next door. Over lunch and coffee.
Back to the salads though… What can I say? I had 4 diff types of plant-based salads, and they WERE all LUSCIOUS.

I came back last Sunday , only to discover they’re not open on that day… But I’m looking forward to my next excuse to come back.

‘GREAT’ was the toasted pita. We both had the “Herbivore” with caramelised onion, roast veg, etc – it was amazing.
Flavours were so good, that it kept interrupting our conversation, when we were trying to talk, because we were “Mmmmming” too much about the food! We sat outside where there were a few tables. It was very pleasant & quiet for conversation.

It’s wierd though, coz it was my friend’s shout, and she told me she was charged $26 – that’s $13 per pita!… but their take-out menu that I’m reading now says $10.30. So I’m confused! Maybe she read the amount wrong on the eftpos device???

I’d like to give 3.5 stars actually, but I’m being generous… because while on this occasion, it was GREAT, the first time I went, it was just ‘pretty good’.

The first time I went, I had a salad… and I think I made a bad choice of dressing – basil somethingeruther…? So I wasn’t over the moon about the flavour. But I still loved the healthiness of the idea, and the sustainable-styles of the place (cardboard containers, recycled flyers, etc).

I think this place will get even better (it’s brand new) once business starts to pick up a bit, so their grated carrot isn’t sitting so long in the bain-marie getting a little dry at the edges before being sold. That aside… I will definitely be back for more toasted pita.

The flavours of the exquisite mushroom dish I had were just gorgeous. I was in seventh heaven eating that meal… Especially accompanied with the best wine I’ve tasted this year: Te Whare Ra gewürztraminer.

I found the service was very good, and we enjoyed the relaxed setting. Soft accoustics meant it was really easy to enjoy conversation, and the tables are very spaced apart from each other – it was a great set up.

There was so much more on the menu that I wanted to try. I’ll definitely be coming back here.

Turns out the barista here won the regional barista championships last year. I feel like I stumbled on an undiscovered gem! Warm mini carrot cake muffin was yum too.

This place has a gorgeous outlook from its outdoor verandah with afternoon sun.

Hidden in the back of a wee mall, I’m glad I wandered down here to check it out!

We were stoked to find a place still serving food after 10pm.
We were the only ones still eating… so I think they were being super-kind to us. The place was completely packed out, and had a fantastic party atmosphere. Live DJs, and they had an old black & white Charlie Chaplin movie silently playing against the brick wall after the rugby finished, which was very arty & cool. Inspite of all the action going on, we could still comfortably hear each other talk, way over in the dining area.

We thoroughly enjoyed the pecan pie & icecream that we shared. REALLY delicious. Before that we shared a beetroot & feta salad with pinenuts. All aspects of the salad were nice… except for the mesculin/rocket that accompanied it, which was maybe less than fresh? Anyway… we weren’t too worried. It was the experience we were after, and the atmosphere was great.

The waiter made a great wine recommendation when I asked for a sweet aromatic… so I had two… Lovely. The last round of drinks were rather slow to come – and we asked after them, and they arrived instantly with an apology – so no problem there.

All in all, on a Friday night it’s a great place for people-watching, drinking, and having a laugh. You’d definitely need to book if you wanted to eat there in the segregated dining area – we swung by at 7pm and it was fully booked. Glad they let us in after 10pm – it was a great ending to a brilliant night of Pub&Food crawl that we’d been on.

Our CBD pub&food crawl last night wouldn’t have been complete without some mussels & beer at the Occidental.

The mussels were fabulous as always. Plus, the kitchen prepped us some extra vege-topped mussels without any bacon toppings when we asked if we could avoid any red meat on the $19.50 mixed platter of grilled mussels (there were about 5 different toppings… all were delish – especially the ones with melted cheese). We appreciated the extra & unflinching effort from the waitress & the kitchen to go the extra mile. Great service.

I enjoyed a lovely wine, while the Leffe Blonde went down a treat for my partner.
We were ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ over the mussels throughout the meal… and the waitress downstairs was excellent in finding us a table for two upstairs next door.

The space next door is like a little private function space with its own bar, and they had filled it with 6 or 7 tables for casual diners. It was fab, because it was quiet, so a great space for conversation.

Loved it.

O’Carrols’ Portobello mushrooms: An ecstasy of flavours, with blue cheese and dukkah topping these four succulent big mushrooms. I’ll have to come back again for these. We were on a pub&food crawl last night, and these were my highlight dish of the whole night. An absolute treasure, and only $10.

I loved that the on-tap beers included a good range of NZ craft beers (Epic, Emersons… etc) – coz I’m all for supporting NZ made. But sorry, being influenced by Dunedin heritage, and preferring a simple easy-drinking beer, we just couldn’t go past a Speights. Which drank beautifully with the mushrooms.

A nice atmosphere, good for conversation – not too rowdy… and easy to get service at the bar. Friendly female bar-tender was fab – offering tasters of the various Craft beers too. Nice one!

First stop on our CBD pub&food crawl… Queens Ferry provided our starter for the night: absolutely delicious Kumara chips with aioli and a bbq dipping sauce. Monteith’s went down perfectly with it. My partner raved and raved about the flavour of the kumara chips (even if a few were a bit burnt around the edges)… and loved the bbq dipping sauce, while I was in love with the smattering of whole grain mustard seeds in the aioli. Staff were very helpful, friendly & smiling.

Most of the rowdy drinkers were outside, enjoying the Friday Night party atmosphere of Vulcan Lane, which meant it was a nice and relatively quiet place inside to start off sober!
My partner insists I give 5 stars, as he loved those kumara chips so much.

–
Update: since my first review above, I wish to wholeheartedly re-affirm those 5 stars, after I held my birthday event upstairs at The Gin Room last weekend – which was a simply stunning venue. I have to sing the praises of the manager, Jonathan – he was exceptionally helpful, and made things happen just the way we wanted. And the GM Joe was excellent, and even assisted us with helping to stretch our budget further, by suggesting, a week before the event, that we’d probably pre-ordered too much food! So we adjusted the amount on his recommendation, which meant we had just the perfect balance between food and drinks by the end of the night. Wonderful, wonderful experience. I highly recommend!

I had a “Large salad” dine-in, and it was AMAZING. There were at least 4 or 5 vegetarian salads to choose from – all brimming with delicious fresh flavours of dressings, cheese and super-fresh veges.

It was one of the few cafes open, early January in this area, so it was CRAMMEd full… so the 4 of us, including two pre-schoolers perched on the long communal table. A bit awkward… but to be honest, we were meeting at the child-friendly cafe next door, but it was closed! It’s not really the place to bring pre-schoolers, but I’m glad we did, as the food was incredible, and well-worth the stressed-out glances we were getting from people as our children were getting under their feet. Oops!

I would definitely return, minus children, to enjoy those beautiful salads again. Helpful, friendly service too – even when they were run off their feet.

This place is flowing with warm hospitality and good food. We found it to be a brilliant place for a family group get together.

Yummy pizza, and my 3 year old enjoyed her beef ravioli in a tomato sauce.

Apologies to the other customers for our two 3 year olds who were having far too much fun, sprinting from our large indoor table to the alfresco seating outside. That outdoor table would be awesome in the height of a summer evening. Very mediterranean…

Oh, and the tiramisu… NOW I realise why people go on about it. I don’t think I’d ever had a proper one till now. Beautiful, decadent, rich, melt-in-your-mouth.

As I said, great food.

Fresh, beautiful sushi. Friendly, chatty staff. The food is so full of flavour. There are unique styles of sushi here, and quite a few deep-fried filling options, but I can always find enough ‘traditional’ pieces to keep my more conservative salmon-loving tastebuds happy.

Parking up the road on Remuera Rd just past ‘Dick Smith’, meant I had a 2 or 3 minute stroll in the sunshine to get there – so parking at lunchtime is fairly handy & free… but watch out for the Clearway signs after 4pm.

Expertly barista-ed coffee, in a cosy cafe, just near the bucket sculpture on Cuba St.

A nice spot to catch up on the morning paper (I like that they have plenty of copies available for patrons).

And I love that they play that quintessential Wellington sound when they play Trinity Roots on the sound system.

Very groovy. Very comfy. Rather a favourite.

I had a beautiful dining experience here for a business lunch, where we had booked out the private dining room.

The meal was beautifully prepared and presented, and the surroundings warm and elegant.

I loved the high arched window in this private dining room, which allowed the light to flood the room, and made an excellent space to bring a business colleague for a 2 hour meal & meeting.

The wine was lovely, of course.

What an awesome feast we had here! For only $12 each, we got a huge bowl of intensely delicious Korean style vegetables ( one of my favourites is the purple kumara stalks, salty and so full of flavour). The huge bowl came with a fried egg on top, and a bowl of rice to mix through it all. It’s called ‘bibimbap’ and we got the vegetarian version of it (coz it usually has meat or seafood in it too).

But my favourite part of Korean dining, is the refillable supply of complimentary side dishes. Including a yummy bean sprout dish, fish cake strips, spicy kimchi, tasty potato strips, and something else I can’t remember. Service was very friendly and they explained things we weren’t sure of, which was great.

I was dining with my best girl friend and our pre-schoolers who have good healthy appetites for veges, and they loved it too. Most other people were using the bbq cookers embedded in the table tops, which smelt delicious, but I was going vegetarian today.

My only recommendation would be that we wanted to try some authentic Korean desserts, but the only dessert was icecream, which the kids enjoyed.

Well definitely go again. We loved it.

An absolutely delightful experience at Jack Tar. My husband and 3 year old stopped in for an impromptu meal on a windy, rainy evening.

The place was a warm solace and gave us absolutely delicious food and helpful friendly service.

I liked the fit-out, with the warmth of dark wooden dining tables & chairs against the industrial concrete & original high-gables of the corrugated iron roof … and then offset by bright red or white funky bar-stools & wooden leaners.

The chips are the best I’ve had anywhere for ages. Huge big fat chunky ones that come out in a short retro-style enamel pouring jug – so cool! Plenty of them and very tasty.

The pumpkin, feta & rocket salad was gorgeous. Even my daughter was steeling bits of pumpkin & feta off my plate.

Hubby’s pizza was ‘delicioso’ as Dora’s backpack would say, I’m told – and again, pilfered by said daughter.

The friendly service was good.
Bathrooms clean & stylish as you’d expect.

We all left feeling happy, full and like we’d just enjoyed a really great treat.

An excellent range of ready-made sushi, which was very tasty.
Nice clean shop is brand new. Plenty of tables to stop and enjoy sushi after walking the dog in the off-leash dog-park just nearby.

My one recommendation would be to have some kind of re-usable plates for dining-in, so I don’t feel so guilty about using the plastic disposable tray when I’m eating in!

Otherwise, I’m utterly thrilled to have a local sushi shop! Domo arigato!

This sushi was fresh and delicious. Driving thru to pick up sushi is a bonus. And I loved that there was a huge range of sushi fillings – especially good for my vegetarian leanings.

The place is little – but still enough room to perch on a bar-stool & bench at the window to watch the world go by if I had more time.

It had a really clean, fresh feel to the place. Furnishings look brand new actually.

The best thing about Carl’s Jr is their fries. Skin-on. They taste AMAZING!

Second best thing is the Portobello mushroom burger.
I haven’t found another burger that I would rave about at Carl’s Jr. But the first meal I had there, we were both blown away by the flavours of chips & burgers.

Second time we went, we ordered different burgers… and they were a bit average.

But I would have given 5 stars if I was just rating the Portobello mushroom burger and the fries.

Interesting to see the queues out the door and drive-thru cars lining up down the street when (and since) they opened their doors like a month ago. The owners did super-well with their positioning here. I feel a bit sorry for McDonalds in Glen Innes…

Yesterday I had the good fortune of indulging in their roast vegetable salad for lunch – it was AWESOME! The flavours were divine. What WAS that awesome turmeric-coloured dressing on top? And the kumara & peppers & red onions, etc were just perfect. – Feb 2012 update on previous review.

NOVEMBER 2011: This cafe is our new local. I LOVE it! Outdoor seating is perfect for a stop at the end of walking the dog (there’s an off-the-leash dog-park about 50 metres away!)

The stand out aspect was the incredibly great service with really enthusiastic staff.

I loved my coffee. As always, Columbus use the Barista grade soy – so my flat-whites don’t actually taste like soy. I love it when cafes know what they’re doing with that. (I can’t stand the cheap soy milk that tastes horrendous!)

The muesli & fresh fruit was really generous & delicious. I was so full, I had to get them to transfer my coffee in a cup to a takeaway coffee. They had no qualms about doing this, and were just incredibly helpful & chatty.

Thumbs up!

Here is a team of staff who take pride in their food prep and presntation. Delicious fresh chicken, tomato and lettuce sandwiches. Gorgeous moist carrot cake. Excellent coffee. Warm smiling staff. A surprisingly calm oasis with outdoor tables and sun umbrellas. Excellent value for a central cbd cafe! $3.50 for my scrmptious light sandwich.

Gorgeous food, and the mood of the place is so fabulous. It’s brand new, and is stunning inside. we absolutely loved the incredible flavours: crisp, sweet & juicy tempura vegetables in their light batter was our starter. And then my partner & I shared a crunchy pork Katsu which was really tender. Then my favourite: a delicious grilled eggplant topped with cheese, and finally a grilled hokke (a smallish sized butterflied whole salty delicious fish).

Both the surroundings, the food, and the service make us want to go back there again as soon as we can get another baby-sitter!

One point for improvement, would be that I’m really glad I looked at the picture menus on this site before I went, because I needed those pictures to figure out what to order.

The place is brand-new with lots of aesthetically charming features including the purpley-blue tone of lighting. And, I LOVE that the whole staff, chefs included call out a friendly greeting to guests on arrival. How cool!

Brown’s is my new favourite local cafe because the food is excellent and there is a super-sunny area out the front to relax while I’m tucking into my soy-flat white & date scone. The date scones are worth driving across Auckland for. These are the lightest most delectable date scones I can recall having!

The place used to have rickety old chairs, but now they have new ones that are so ergonomically snug-fitting to my lumbar (yes I have a bad back), that I find it hard to get off my butt to walk back home! Love it.

Very friendly owners too.

The food was really yummy.
Such a busy, happening place, last Saturday night. They turn things over fast-fast-fast here!

The service was hilarious – I’m so glad I read the reviews here before I went along – otherwise I would have been shocked by the briskness of the main lady who served us. She was so abrupt and had such a “Kim Hill”-style bulldog expression when we tried to seek explanation for how/what/etc. The reviewer who said something about not expecting any chit-chat from them or much explanation of the food’ was a great bit of foreknowledge to have!

But, having an understanding of the fact that that’s just how this place operates, made the experience a great one – full of laughter and delicious, interesting food. In a unique atmosphere.

PS: parking out the front is available for $4 (cash only) per hour, which you go in and pay at the reception of the restaurant, and pay and display.

A truly indulgent experience at Foxglove, my companions and I enjoyed the 7-course degustation. It was amazing value (part of Dine Wellington).

My favourite dish out of the seven courses, was the “Yellow Brick Road snapper sashimi with mango, cucumber,soy‐mirin pearls, wasabi creme & sweet ginger air”. The flavours and freshness were incredible. I could have eaten 7 courses of that and been perfectly happy – it was heaven!

However, I also loved the Lemon & champagne sorbet, to cleanse the palate in between the two fish-based courses.

Plus the buffalo yoghurt & jasmine gelato, blackberry, thyme were standout flavours for me.

Most of all, I loved the warm ambiance and classy chic of the place. It’s a place I could sit in for hours and while away an evening with friends.

Even when it’s hailing outside.

Beautiful warm spot to catch the morning sun and I can see why it’s a popular spot with it’s floor to ceiling windows flooding the place with natural light.

Slightly let down by counter staff-member who was unfamiliar with food ingredients of sandwiches because they were ‘brought in’ (though to her credit, she didn’t want to risk incorrectly advising a patron on potential allergenic ingredients). And then she was unsure of which teas were herbal vs caffeine. So . . . some more staff training would be good.

But a very helpful guy took over to make up for it.

The poached eggs were a vibrant explosion of runny golden free range goodness. Yum.

Loving the friendly vibe of this cafe, staff, and its other patrons.

Yum cappuccino, could be improved by Barista-grade soy, which doesn’t have that goaty-flavour to it.

Original heritage tiled floor is gorgeous, while the bohemian-style slightly mis-matched wooden chairs & cushioned bench seats give an arty/edgy feel to the place.

Scopa sits at the corner of Ghuznee & Cuba Streets.

The extremely tasty rocket salad hit the spot for me perfectly. A very generous bowl of fresh rocket leaves, a lovely balsamic vinegar, and some kind of delicious flavoursome Italian cheese (‘grana’?)…grated into tiny snowflakes throughout the salad. (Yes it was snowing outside when I was eating it).

The state-of-the-art ladies loos are groovy.

A perfect spot to people watch on a cold snowy(!) winter’s day.

Inside a charming cottage, high on Boulcott Street, with a nicely furnished, intimate interior. Beautifully prepared food (I enjoyed the Dine Wellington “Gremolata-crumbed Cook Strait Octopus with sauce tartare”. The octopus was utterly succulent and beautiful with the creamy thick tartare. Then the smoked fish & Pacific Catch mussel pie was hot and tasty, even though I was surprised it was potato-topped (not the pastry I was hoping for . . . even though my hips were happier it was potato).

While a different wine (Pinot Gris) was offered than the Pinot Noir advertised, I was very happy with the sweet flavour match.
A nice experience.

Loved the beautiful sharp versus sweet flavours of the Lunch Special – Honey roasted kumara salad. Came with caramelised red onions and a richly brewed balsamic vinegar. Fresh green mesulan leaves made the dish just what I needed for a light and health-packed lunch. And made up for the generous creme brulee. Only cost me 15 bucks. Staff were great.

Such a friendly welcome from the people at Dory. They were very accommodating to my preschooler, who relished her freshly prepared salmon & avocado sushi.

I liked the complimentary condiments of delicious seaweed & pickled something. Juicy & flavoursome.

They also bought me complimentary miso & green tea.

Amazing service, and we only spent $9 for 8 pieces of sushi and all the other complimentary items!!

Will definitely revisit next time we’re in the city.

My five stars are for the amazing clam linguine that I enjoyed last week. I loved it. Incredible flavours, and I enjoyed the freshness of those myriad wee clams. Also liked the scollop entree, and thought it was excellent value when it all came to $35 incl a wine. (Was on an ‘Express Lunch’ menu card.)

One comment for potential improvement would be to find a way to streamline the multitude of menus, specials-cards and other options, which made it a little mind-boggling to navigate . . . but, am I really going to complain about too many options and too many special-deals?! I don’t think so!

Staff were also excellent. I liked the rustic atmosphere. Best seats would be in the front window-area if you can book a table in there where the natural light flows in even on a grey day.

A great place for a business lunch.

The banana cake at Mozaik is divine: layered inside with slices of fresh banana – yum, and looks amazing.
This time though, I bought a gorgeous chicken & bacon sub, filled with perfect avocado and generous with its warmed up juicy bacon, plus large chunks of chicken breast.
This week I also tried the ‘flour-less chocolate cake’. I was worried about foregoing my fave banana option, so asked what it was like . . . an exuberant staff member raved so passionately about it (including mock-swoon and ‘to die-for’ comments) which was funny and cool! As it was take-out, he told me to warm it up for 20 seconds in microwave and have it with icecream. Stunning result.

The cafe itself is incredibly spacious, and always looks new and sparklingly clean.

Both the branches of Mozaik I frequent (Mairangi Bay & Parnell) are a cut-above the average cafe.

This is my local go-to place for coffee and sweet treats. Amazing service – the owner listened to my concerns about the flavour of the soy in my soy-cappuccino, and he especially changed the cafe’s Soymilk to Barrista-quality soy!

I just tried my first coffee with the new soy milk recently, and it was AWESOME.

I’m really quite blown away by that level of customer service.

Love their food too. And the coffee-card stamps or free muffin with every coffee is awesome.

The chicken tikka masala was gorgeous. Loved the chunky pieces of onion and green pepper. Loaded with tender chicken. Hugely flavoursome. Beautiful soft garlic naan.
I had to knock a star off, because we ordered MILD palak paneer, and received HOT palak paneer. Sadly I couldn’t eat it, as my palate just can’t cope. My partner managed to consume it, but wasn’t really able to enjoy it because it was not mild enough for him to taste the flavours, not just the heat, either. (I always order mild palak paneer, wherever I am dining out on Indian around the country, and I’ve never experienced a version even half as hot! So it was definitely a mistake on the part of the kitchen or ordering process!!!)

Apart from that however, when we went in to collect the takeaway, the venue looked like it would be amazing for a function.

Would purchase tikka masala again, I would just be super clear about my heat-requirements!

The florentine at Turner’s is utterly divine. That chocolate-smothered classic Italian sweet treat always reminds me of the book “Chocolat” from last decade.

Plenty of funky wooden tables to perch at to enjoy a bit of reading & coffee to compliment your yummy indulgence.

I always love the incredibly flavoursome seafood at these Belgian beer cafes. De Post provided another outstanding experience, with a wickedly delicious Seafood Chowder for our lunch – great value at $14.

The decor is really cool. I love all the woodwork around the historic-styled building, and we enjoyed our window seat upstairs overlooking Mt Eden Rd.

My partner was loving his crepe (he got the $20 lunch deal which meant he got a glass of Blonde Beer included).

We had an efficient and friendly waiter, who served our drinks and meals promptly, and provided a bit of fun banter. Also helped me choose the Seafood Chowder which he very rightly described as amazing.

An excellent spot for a scrumptious lunch.

I loved Andiamo’s hearty and flavoursome mince on toast for lunch yesterday. Imbued with delicious flavours, the mince was generously heaped upon on two thick crusty rounds of toasted bread. Loads of shaved parmesan cheese, beautifully balanced by the spinach, tomatoes and other goodies hiding within the mince.

A delightful place, even if a little breezy/smokey if too near the front door when it’s open and smoking patrons are outside.

Very pleasant and helpful staff (who double-checked on the smoke-smell a second time after we’d showed concern about it earlier).

Fabulous value as well – at only $15 a pop for the mince on toast, it was excellent quantity of quality food!

Four stars for the delicious flavours in my dish, Yasai don buri (I think). The vegetables were fresh and perfectly prepared. They had a lovely kind of chargrilled flavour to them, and I enjoyed the sesame seeds and the very more-ish sauce that accompanied the dish.
That said, I had to knock a star for the fact that I really did want a larger quantity of veges for the $12.50 price. Loads of rice though, so I didn’t go hungry. Also, the free green tea seemed to have an extremely bitter bite at the back of the palate (the waitress listened, but seemed unconvinced she needed to take any action on my comments which I expressed when she asked how my meal was. She smiled and nodded sweetly.)
Only other complaint would be sticky sticky tables!
Apart from that, I think it’s great to have a super healthy, fast, convenient hot lunch option like this in Newmarket. Nice one Wagamama!
PS: I also liked the puzzle-sheets they have for kids; and I thought the long bench-table layout was very sociable and funky.

I’ve always found the Union cafe to have good coffee & very good service.

Even though a long queue forms for coffee frequently throughout the day, if you’re in the know, you can just take a seat and signal to receive table-service if you’re not looking for a takeaway.

I enjoyed my coffee today, and the yummy ginger crunch.

Very friendly and attentive wait-staff make it a great place to have a business meeting, in a very spacious and quiet area (head right to the back behind the faux-fireplace for a quiet spot).

Beautiful menu that we enjoyed last Friday. A nice environment for a business lunch. Helpful, efficient service.
I chose the rustichella linguini, as I was sold on the “candied jerusalem artichokes, preserved lemon, shitake, percorino” for $22.
It was very yummy. Though if the lemon was mixed throughout the dish to provide a more piquant flavour against the creamy linguini with every mouthful, I believe I would have called it ‘exquisite’. As it was however, I didn’t discover the lemon flavour until three concentrated bursts in my last three mouthfuls!! Still a flavoursome, interesting dish that I really enjoyed.

Mouth-watering pizza. The Deli didn’t scrimp on ingredients – the pizza base was perfection and the topping thick with cheese. At $9 per slice (a big slice) it meant they could cram it full of various vegetables and other delicious ingredients. We enjoyed a nice table in the afternoon sun. A very busy little spot. I liked my “Hummingbird cake”.

Yum. I love the Attic for a quiet drink by the upstairs open-windows overlooking Mission Bay.

I was delighted that the waitress asked the sommelier to come and recommend something when I mentioned there was no Gewürztraminer option (my fave wine) on the wine list. He came over and with good humour, offered to open a bottle of Gewurzt that he happened to have on hand, and ‘he’d have a glass too’! Really impressed by their service, and the food was delicious – haloumi delightfully prepared.

A beautiful spot for family lunch.

I phoned ahead to book, and when we got there they’d set us up in the sunshine outside as requested, and thoughtfully organised a highchair all ready-to-go for our two year old.

Chicken & Avocado Salad was absolutely delicious. The service was really helpful (and when I asked for a ‘lite’ version of the salad, our waitress helpfully suggested they leave off the noodles and serve the dressings separately on the side). It came with beautifully tender and flavoursome grilled chicken breast, with avocado, capsicum, curled green onion, on tossed green leaves. Yum. Great coffee too.

Will definitely come again.

Love the outdoor area with sandpit for kids!
Coffee was good. Service was efficient. Had a tasty date scone. Loved the long bench tables – perfect for lining up all our pre-schoolers in a row with their fluffies and cookies, prior to them heading into the sandpit for a play, while us Mums had a catch-up over coffee.

My new favourite fish & chip shop.
AMAZING tasting chips!
Excellent value on the burgers.
I had a medium sized burger: Chicken, Camembert & Cranberry. It was light and flavoursome. Was about $6.50 I think. Loved it.
Terakihi cooked beautifully – crisp batter, fresh fish.
They do charge Mission Bay prices (we spend about $20 for 3 of us) . . . but they offer great quality, and very yummy.

Was really fast service as well, as it seems to be a bit of an undiscovered gem, so no massive queues. (I discovered this place because I couldn’t be bothered waiting in the queues at “Fish Pot” down the road, where I’d found the burgers were really average!)

Helpful, friendly staff, even though we weren’t spending much – only in for beers.

I was sitting on the open-air deck with a couple of colleagues for a business meeting, enjoying a beer and the views . . . but was getting sizzled in the sun. Popped in and asked if they had any sunblock – and staff were very friendly and instantly produced some sunscreen for me to use.

I loved the mussel pot I tried at the Ponsonby Belgian beercafe, so am keen to come again on a day when I have more time and enjoy some here too!

A fantastic brunch menu, flavoursome coffee and food. I had the vegetarian breakfast with perfectly cooked poached eggs. I loved the walnut wholemeal toast. Excellent friendly service.

We were all super-impressed by the free-range items throughout the menu. Free range bacon, chicken, beef, etc. Wow – brilliant.

Good kids menu, though we just chose sides of salmon and avocado and wholegrain toast for our daughter who loved it.
One improvement could have been even more salmon for the price of the smoked salmon side – it didn’t quite fill up my 2.5 year old. But that said, she was more than happy in her high-chair, and seated right next the little kiddies’ toy/play area, she had a fantastic time before and after eating, while us adults could relax and chat, still keeping a eye on her from nearby.

All in all, we loved Triniti of Silver, and highly recommend it for food, service, coffee, pretty easy parking and child-friendliness. Nice one!

Fantastic location for those of us with kids! My toddler loved the sandpit & toys, in the lovely shaded outdoor area. The coffee was delicious, and the blueberry and banana muffin really moist and tasty.
A very relaxing environment, with a real community feel amongst the patrons.

My absolute favourite sandwich place. I don’t know what they put in their dressing, but their rolls and sandwiches taste divine.

The yummy desserts on offer are far too tempting. I love stopping in for a chocolate-dipped strawberry with my daughter!

Nice coffee too.

This is my favourite child-friendly cafe.
I usually simply order sides of salmon, avocado, 5-grain bread and poached egg, which I share with my 2 year old.
The bench seats along the back are great for her to perch on, or when that’s full, we’ve used the nice wooden high-chair for her.

Service is always friendly, helpful and efficient.
Food is delicious – always just what I want.
Free parking round the back is handy.
The cafe is super-busy on Saturdays for brunch, but we’ve always managed to find a table.

And to top it off, they serve a great coffee.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch which was amazing value. My dad loved his “Minute steak”, and I found my salmon dish to be succulent and tasty.
Great presentation, with a cute potato croquette in the shape of a pear served on the side! The only suggested improvement I can think of is that the croquette would have been even better if it was piping hot, but it had cooled a little by the time I tucked into it.

But what an enjoyable meal we had.
The main also came with a salad, plus we tucked into some delicious soft toasted garlic bread as an appetiser.
Totally Yum.

I couldn’t work out how they can do the whole lunch deal for only $18 each, and it included the garlic bread and wine/beer!

Service was spot on, the environment was comfortable, and dining as we did on a Wednesday, parking was close & plentiful.

Beautiful muffins. I popped in to grab a takeaway muffin on the run. Oh my gosh. Moist, textured centre with beautiful berries, and a delicious sprinkling of cinnamon-toasted oats embedded on the top. Yum. Loved it.

The stand-out dish of a truly fantastic dining experience, was the seared scallops entree, which came with a ‘risotto of pink fir potato’ (!). The flavours were really amazing. Best scallops of my life. Wish I could eat those scallops every day.

As a group of 8, we were seated around the corner, quite secluded – deep at the back of the restaurant – which was great for conversation across the big round table. And lucky for other diners, as we were pretty loud with laughter!

The service was very professional – attentive and unintrusive at the same time.

I would eat out there every month if I could. If only money grew on trees – this is one place I would be spending my harvest.

I had the most amazing dish, which according to their menu here is described as “Firstlight Farm Raised Venison: preserved cherries, cocoa mille-feuille, black pudding & licorice”.

I saw it last week described as dish of the year by Metro magazine. And wow! I can see why.

What seemed to me like a bizarre combination of ingredients, actually had 6 different flavours that contrasted and worked together amazingly well. I’m not a big red-meat eater . . . so I was quite amazed at how succulent Venison was! It was truly beautiful.

This one’s great for business meetings. I really like their selection of cabinet food. I had a tuna club sandwich which was fresh and really tasty. Staff were helpful and efficient.
Easy parking in the side-street.

I love to drop in for a hot chocolate and meet up with friends who also have kids. Yummy chocolatey treats and muffins. Comfy couches and beanbags too.

I’ve also found this place to be an amazing source of info on parenting, and have gone along to a number of their workshops.

Best sushi I’ve eaten for over a year.
Fresh succulent food.
I had the classic salmon & avocado sushi rolls – delicious. Plus avocado inari – mmmmmm.
Also a very delicious portobello mushroom inari, which if I’d known how delicious it was going to be . . . I would’ve got another 2!
I found both staff members incredibly welcoming and helpful.

This is true Italian ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ pizza at its best. The flavours on my “Fattoria” pizza with capsicum, olives and chicken were simply delicious. The chef is full of exuberant Italian warmth as well. Best pizza I’ve had for a long time.

I have only had takeaways from here, not dined in . . . but this is one of my favourite takeaway places for fish & chips. The chips and fish are lightly golden and crisp. (I always ask them to drain the fish well though, otherwise it’s a bit too greasy.)
We love to sit in the park right across the road by the beach.
Had a fish burger for the first time recently though, and it was really average. The fish in it was great as usual, but the fairly bland burger was definitely average . . . and they didn’t put the promised beetroot in my one. Stick to the fish and chips.
Make sure you put a phone order in before you go, coz the queues are often spilling out the door into the street.

I really enjoyed my ‘All Day Breakfast’. It was a nice light meal, with a very tasty little breakfast sausage, a piece of buttered white toast, a hashbrown, a couple of slices of tomato, 2 yummy eggs, and it normally comes with bacon but I traded up to avocado instead for an extra dollar, so it cost me $9.50.
The Karajoz coffee was good. And there’s really quite a massive range of food on offer. Beautiful salads, like avocado with slices of thai beef, etc. Plus they have the usual bakery sandwiches/wraps/cakes/pies, as well as Asian style stirfrys.
The place has heaps of seating. It seemed very clean, with heaps of mags to read. And I loved the natural light that floods through the big doors and windows.
If I worked in town, I’d be a regular.

Service was flawless, food divine. The highlight for me was the combination of stunning melt-in-your-mouth “Rosemary, cardamom & apricot spiced lamb shank” paired beautifully with my Torlesse Gewürztraminer, as recommended by our very warm and helpful waiter. He offered a tasting of two recommendations before I committed, which was a great touch.
My partner and I left feeling relaxed, replete and really rather pampered after our wonderful 3 course meal. The sticky date pudding also a highlight for me.
This is an essential dining experience for anyone in Auckland!

I had an outstanding lunch in the sunshine at Soul Bar, with a relaxing environment, great food & extremely excellent wait-staff.
Uber-attentive waiters/waitress topped up my water-glass whenever it got low, I was greeted warmly, and had my napkin laid out on my lap for me.
I was greeted by a very knowledgeable and friendly young woman who recommended the perfectly cooked, succulent squid entree – because I had limited time. It arrived freshly cooked, literally within 3 minutes of me ordering – accompanied by the crisp rocket & parmesan side-salad I ordered.
Georgeous setting – view of boats & harbour bridge. Sunshine washing in over all the corporate lunch diners, on the open-sided deck – which is sheltered outside under a glass awning/ceiling.
With Fat Freddy’s Drop playing in the background . . . the perfect lunch experience.

The best thing about this cafe at the zoo, are the fruit salads in tall ‘starbucks frappe’ style clear-plastic containers. My 1 year old daughter and I really enjoyed sharing the grapes, watermelon, pineapple and rockmelon, along with our crisp golden hot chips.
I do have two complaints however, the chicken satay pie was very yummy . . . but it was labelled as a “Vegetable Pie”. And it wasn’t very hot, so I ‘nuked’ it in the microwave. It was actually very delicious though, so I can’t really complain, as I’m not a vegetarian these days.
Pricey . . . but, hey, we’re a captive market (it’s like eating at the airport – it’s not like there’s a lot of competition to drive the prices down!)

What a snug little cafe to enjoy a hot chocolate in, on a blustery, chilly day.
Really friendly staff serving.
I enjoyed the colourful crunchy ‘hundreds & thousands’ sprinkled on top of my generous hot chocolate.
A really nice place to sit and read the paper.

Fantastic food, warm, friendly, bustling environment.
I loved the roast beetroot salad with cress, mint, almonds and grilled haloumi.
As my lunch companion, the esteemed food critic Ewan McDonald said (NZ Herald 29/4/09), “We agree that cress – the grown-up sort, not that ridiculous mini-me – adds flavour and character as a salad, but when you’re meeting someone for the first time, it’s damned difficult to nibble with dignity. Just try to murmur business intimacies with a lengthy stalk hanging from a corner of your mouth.”
Tee hee hee. That’s how it was.

Beautiful fresh red paint, Circus Circus has been spruced up. My favourite thing is the fact that you can find a table to your liking in one of many cosy little corners and alcoves. New areas have also been added onto it’s extensive meandering interior of polished wooden floors.
The heat lamps make it very warm on a winter day, and we found the staff to be very friendly and competent. The drinks/muffins were all good.
I’ll definitely be back to sample the food another day.