In a sunny afternoon, I walked in this new area, in the hope of finding some cozy place for a…read morecoffee. Then the sign by the garden captured my vision, pointing directly to this Cafe, meaning, this might be the One... People-friendly environment that anyone can just walk in, wander around, take a peek, enjoy his time in front of the counter for dessert, coffee or just for a sweet thought. There I was. Right by the counter, smelling the freshly grounded coffee and words just came out of my mouth: An Americano, with a bit of milk please. Then my eyes were totally attracted by the whole shelf of dessert next to me. Clearly I can tell, lemon yoghurt cake, chocolate caramel slice, passion fruit cheesecake, date scone, brownie etc. All fresh and with reasonable price. Unfortunately just had my lunch,otherwise I would throw myself into these sweet treats. Sitting down, waiting for my coffee to come, the country-style Cafe is such a delight to your eyes and mind. At least, I enjoyed a moment just looking at the light in the ceiling. There my coffee came. Not too strong, not too plain, just right. Not too bitter, not too sweet, just right. It is a man's work with wisdom, with experience and with enthusiasm. Take a sip, let it linger, the chocolate, creamy and a bit nutty taste was just perfect, with the afternoon sun shining to warm my heart. Yes, I am a coffee-holic, but, why not? Enjoy your coffee there, enjoy the sun.

Another place I visit far too often. I come here for breakfasts and brunches and snacks and…read moremilkshakes and coffee. I can always find an occasion. The food is pretty darn good and definitely on the cheaper side of things. I recommend the French toast, berry smoothie and a scrumptious apricot slice to finish it all off. If you're a beast with a sweet tooth like me that is. I've also had the burgers and sandwiches from here and they're always a treat. They're quite decently sized and are served with chippies too (bonus!) The service is friendly and fairly quick and of course the location is great!

Pukeko are well-known for their handmade artisanal bread. They make every thing from sourdough to…read moreGerman rye fresh every day from their bakery in Brown's Bay. Personally, I'm a fan of their Kumara loaf with sunflower seeds - delicious toasted w PB - and although it has a small amount of flour in it, it's a-ok for those who are midly gluten-intolerant. This particular Pukeko store is owned independently, which means whilst they get all their bread and pastries from Pukeko, there is other goodies in store like trade aid chocolate and paleo muesli. They also have an espresso machine but it's seems to be a bit of an after thought - i'd head across the road to Paper Moon.

When I think of Mairangi Bay, I think of the very popular cafe across the road from Bay Cafe which…read morehas won previously a cafe of the year award, so to visit the smaller of the two, much less appealing to the modern eye was a bold choice, mainly due to the amount of people seated across the road on a Sunday afternoon. At Bay Cafe, they have quite a bit of seating inside with small tables surrounding one large rectangle table, and then outside there are two tables which suit warmer days. The coffee my dad, partner and I ordered was fantastic, so I can't argue with the barista skills here. As we were only after a light snack, we opted on a few homemade sausage rolls, and a few date scones. The rolls, were ok, could have been possibly crispier to the bite as one would expect, but filled the gap. The date scones on the other hand were amazing! Full of fruit, and was done to perfection! So I must recommend them, the cheese scones however definitely not as nice and lacking that scone like bounce. The service is kind, and they have amazing quick service so I would recommend popping in for a morning or afternoon coffee.

I'm usually one to go for the underdog! So in Mairangi Bay I may opt out of coffee at Papermoon and…read morerather head across the road to Bay Café simply because Papermoon is always packed and Bay Café is, well... the underdog. I have to say they do OK. But only just OK. Their only real step up is that they are open on public holidays when the other cafes in Mairangi Bay are closed. And I think this is probably the only time they nab all the Bay's locals. Their food is sufficient and their drinks do the job, but there is nothing about this place that makes it stand out from the crowd and it does look a bit run down and dreary. It could use with a boost as the location is great and I do think this wee café has some big potential.

Fact-tree cafe is an unassuming, neighbourhood cafe located in a random block of shops right…read moresmack-bang in the middle of North Shore surburbia. You'd never know it was there unless, well, you knew it was there. Decor-wise it's pretty cute. A big wooden tree that doubles as shelves spans one of the walls, the coffee comes with heart-shaped teaspoons and they've got terrariums with plastic dinosaurs on the tables. The vibe is upbeat and friendly. You get the feeling that it's a favourite amongst locals and given it's size, would be packed on the weekend. As for the food, they've got an extensive brunch & lunch menu handwritten on those cool paper rollers. Unfortunately I was running short on time so I opted for their bacon and vege stack to takeaway. It came heated with a generous pottle of homemade tomato chutney. Flavour-wise, it was nothing new but it was pretty damn tasty. I'm not 100% sold on the location (...yet) but the breakfast menu looks to good not to head back for a lazy weekend brunch!

This is such a cute cafe, in such a random suburban spot!…read more Came here for a weekday brunch has my friend and I happened to both have the same day off. She loved this place as its her local so we headed down around 11am, it was pretty busy for weekday which was good but surprising. We snagged a table inside next to the counter. The decor is cute, fresh and light. Service was really nice and were asked for our coffee orders right away. Looking over the menu was hard as there were so many options that looked amazing. I decided to go for the salmon eggs Benedict on homemade hash brown as that hash brown sounded so good. My friend grabbed the chorizo omelette. The food took its time to arrive, but we were ok to wait as we had nothing planned for the day, maybe just something note! The food was delicious, and huge servings. The hash browns were my favourite part of the dish because they were so crunchy - definitely recommend trying those! The omelette looks massive and also came with some ciabatta bread. Overall the cafe was really good, a little slow. I will definitely be back!

My husband and I had the most delicious lunch here today. The sandwich fillings were very yummy - I…read morehad the egg&potato sandwich which I loved and my husband had a Chicken roll that was full of chicken and very tasty. The baking here is superb! Best blueberry bran muffins and melt in your mouth mini custard tarts with excellent coffee. Service was 10/10. We'll definitely be back!

Absolutely chuffed to stumble across this wee gem in the backstreets of Forrest Hill, a short…read more10minute drive from my house. I've only stopped in for coffee so far, but I've got to say it was the best coffee I've had in a long time - velvety smooth milk poured over perfectly extracted allpress espresso. Bliss. The barista clearly knows whatsup. The décor in here is also right up my alley - clean, white and modern with freshly cut flowers. It's pretty cosy inside but there's a coupley tables and chairs out the front as well. Definitely a spot for smaller catchups - 2,3 or maaaaybe 4 people max. The menu looks extensive - breakfast, brunch and lunch - and there's plenty of delectable looking sweet treats available on the counter. If you need any convincing, scroll through their FB pics - food porn at it's best (yesterday's was freshly pulled pork and a big bowl of coleslaw). This is also the North Shore pick-up point for Jess' Underground Kitchen, which is definitely worth checking out if you haven't already! She makes fresh, flavoursome take-home meals which you can pick up Mon, Tues and Wed. Head to her website for more details.

I am very glad have this cafe near my home. There are some cafes around Apollo dr in Albany area,…read morebut I can't find good cafe like Black and Gold that can make good coffee and serve nice foods. Black & gold uses coffee bean from Supreme, which has strong flavour and body. that means if good barista makes coffee much better than other coffee but if poor barista makes coffee with that bean, it taste just bitter and worse. Fortunately, you can be served from top baristas in Auckland at Black and Gold. David and Kayoko are very famous baristas in New Zealand and they have worked for many years in coffee industry. David is a judge of National barista competition and also Kayoko is a calibration barista last few years when barista needed to be educated. So busy or not, they always serve the best coffee. That is great benefit to visit this cafe. I have not had many meals but I had porridge before. Even porridge is not a favourite menu to me, but I had that by chance, It was really delicious, so I can recommend without hesitate. Cabinet foods are beautiful, looks nice and taste even better. I like lemon loaf, actually addicted with that. Just one thing, they do not open on weekend, so I hope to spend time on weekend morning at there someday.

It's early days but I honestly believe that Black & Gold and I are going to end up in a serious,…read morelong-term relationship.... What's to love? Well, what's not to love. The coffee (Supreme) is strong & smooth, the space is light and open but what really got me was their cabinet food. So often cabinet food in cafes is disappointing - stale, unimaginative and carb-heavy.... not at Black & Gold. Today I got their mushroom, beetroot & goats cheese pide lightly toasted to takeaway. The flavour combo is already a winner but add in a garlicky aioli and wow... best sandwich I've had in a while. I also couldn't help but notice their glorious array of sweet treats, plenty of which were gluten-free. I didn't indulge this time but I get the feeling that resistance is futile so i'll report back on the sweet department soon! Super excited about this new(ish) addition and it's close proximity to my house!

This place is still open? It was lovely with the original crew, too bad the owners drove all their…read moredecent hard working staff away. Bravo.

After reading about SIP Kitchen I went the first chance I got. Juices and espresso with raw vegan…read morefood, that's me, I'm up for that. I was not disappointed. The juice board is quite exhaustive, from straight up fruit and vegetable juices to more substantial superfood smoothies using ingredients like avocado, chia, coconut and cacao. The cabinet has a small range of vegan friendly raw foods. Their take on the bliss ball was scrumptious and my beet salad had a tangy lemon dressing that also price wise I was impressed with. $8 for a bowl. Service was great. They even answered all my annoying, 'are there any animal products in there?' questions with a smile. I'd go back, just nor often if they were on the other side of the bridge.

On a recent visit to Murray's Bay one early morning I decided to pop to the beach for a swim and…read moresome glorious sunshine. I honestly at this stage of the morning (it was around 10:30 am) needed some caffeine, and thought I would pop across the road and see what there was to offer in Murray's Bay. I discovered this cute lounge cafe, on the bottom floor just below the local South African restaurant. Serving sensational Chiasso coffee, I was well impressed with the barista skills here, and my fudge brownies to go were just amazing. Whilst waiting for my takeaway coffees I got to gaze around at the comfy surrounds of a very creative chilled decor, they even had some cute children's art work pinned up on a wall, and perfect for the beach across the road a New Zealand Naturals Ice Cream station. Fast and efficient service and I didn't have to ask for them to heat up my fudge brownies; which was very thoughtful.

Places like this one are hard to find and every parent of an under 5-year old child would probably…read morewish more cafes of this kind existed in Auckland. On the other hand, this is probably not a cafe to come to if you don't have younger kids to sip on a latte. Be warned, it can be quite loud in here! I probably come to Cafe Windsor (part of the Baptist Church next door) at least twice a month with my 1 year old girl and I always end up bumping into other mothers I know from somewhere (not a lot of dads around though). In general, it's a great place to meet and hang out with your coffee group and the little ones are catered for really well with changing tables, high chairs and a little indoor and outdoor playground. The whole front of the building can be opened up which is fantastic in good weather. The whole area is fully fenced so escapes won't happen. They also have a range of parenting books for sale and sometimes special events like clothes and toy markets are organised. Oh, and try the mixed berry smoothy which is well-priced for $5.50 I think.

If I'm wanting a decent conversation with my fellow mum friends, this is where we go. With fully…read morefenced surroundings and two separate play areas - the outdoor playground with shade covering - the kids can run free while us mums can actually talk. The food and service are both relatively good, although fairly standard fare. Of particular interest on our latest visit was an offering of a picnic plate kid's meal for $3.50 - a sandwich, fruit kebab and cheese cubes. It was definitely great to see a cheaper and more well-rounded option on the menu that standard kid meals of nuggets and chips. Would I return here without a child? Heck no. It's never going to be a peaceful way to spend a couple of hours with dozens of children rattling around. But Cafe Windsor has clearly seen a niche in the market and they have filled it well.