Wow.
My partner and I stopped here whilst driving down to the mother in law's place in Katikati. I'll be honest here - as a resident of Melbourne, I think that this little place actually blows a fair amount of Melbournian cafes out of the water.
It doesn't look like much from the highway, and we only stopped here because it was later in the afternoon and it was the only open cafe we found. We went in expecting stale scones and passable coffee and boy, were we ever surprised!
Aesthetically, this cafe gorgeous. Filled with goods from local vendors, it seems like an ideal place to pick up flowers, artisan foods and even furniture made by the local school. They had a delightful display of cookies, scones, pies, sandwiches and salads, but also a full menu including all day breakfast and everything you'd expect from lunch. We ended up ordering some coffees, juice, cookies and scones, as we didn't want to spoil dinner.
The coffee was great - hot and perfect. We sat outside undercover and even though it's on the side of a highway, the place is oddly serene. The shortbread cookie I ordered was pretty good, not too sweet but really hit the spot. My partner, who is a chef, said that they were by far some of the best scones he's ever had, and wanted the recipe. I wish that we could have tried something from the hot food menu!
As we were leaving we noticed that there was a chalkboard displaying that they were a finalist in NZ restaurant of the year, which after eating there wasn't surprising in the slightest.
If you're driving south from Auckland, make this the place you stop. read more