Shaky Isles - Kingsland, Auckland

We were planning on meeting friends for brunch on Sunday morning, and wanted to go somewhere that had an entertainment book coupon.  We both remembered enjoying coffee at Shaky Isles previously so figured we'd give it a go.

Shaky Isles
492 New North Rd
Kingsland
(parking out the back!)


I do like the environment, and particularly the big outdoor benches.  We sat inside on Sunday - it was reasonbly busy when we arrived, although got progressively busier and noisier during our brunch!  You certainly couldn't say the place has no vibe!


Their menu is a little different to the norm (a good thing!), but delightfully flexible, so if you like your traditional eggs bennie, or scrambled eggs with bacon, you can build pretty much whatever you desire.  Simon and I both had the Bruschetta with scrambled eggs, tomatoes, feta, spinach & basil pesto, Simon also had a side of spicy kransky.  We'd both definitely order this again.  One of our brunch companions had the Crumpet with dates, poached pear & orange ricotta - and a side of poached egg because that's what she felt like! I love that this was no hassle - I do get frustrated with cafes that are unwillingly or incapable of deviating from the exact menu.  And the final meal at our table was the aptly named 'Isle have it all' - aka the big breakfast!  It's safe to say we all enjoyed our meals and would more than happily return.

Simon also had a kiwifruit, mint, lychee, banana smoothie - this was really good and very refreshing.  My long black was great, as was my cappuccino.  Simon wasn't sure about the blend used for his trim latte.  I really appreciated that they use different beans for their different coffees - and you can swap and change here as well if you like.  I'm tempted to order 3 long blacks one day - 1 of each blend, and do a vertical tasting!

In summary:
Love the flexibility of this cafe, the food is great, fresh & delicious, and the coffees seem dependable.  We will return and we will recommend to others.    

Brunch at Mello Cafe, Grey Lynn

I'm feeling a little guilty about calling this 'our' blog when I have only written 2 out of 25 posts in the last 3 months!  Hopefully this is my first of several in the near future!

This morning we headed to Mello Cafe in Grey Lynn for brunch - apparently because Simon had seen a couple of people sign-in here on Foursquare and one of them had recommended the coffee. I asked him who, he said it was no-one he knew. My how times have changed.

Well, regardless of how we got on to Mello, we're both really pleased we did!  The staff were friendly and helpful, the coffees were great (long black for me, trim latte for Simon) and it was so nice to look at a brunch menu and see a raft of items we'd never seen before - such as small veal sausages with white beans, mustard and crumbed smoked fish ball....

...and Potato Roesti with bacon and aged cheddar and sour-cream....

...along with items like Coddled eggs with a salad of salmon, and ciabatta (I think, sketchy memory kicking in at this point). I can't remember any more specifics, but we did both have a hard job choosing and had to ask for more time - and then we found out about the specials!!!  The cabinet food also looked really good, and we noticed a sign advertising a Ginger Latte as we left, one of us will try it next time.

Mello is on a stretch of Richmond Road that is endowed with a generously wide footpath, so there are several tables out the front, and they also have seating inside out the back, with a little terrace that was closed today, but I expect is open in summer.

Pop next door and enjoy the beautiful old memory-rich items at Flotsam and Jetsam while you're in the area.  What a delightful little place!

In Summary:
Yes, we will absolutely return to Mello and we're more than happy recommending them to friends, family and faithful readers alike. (And unfaithful for that matter, we don't discriminate.) Enjoy!

Sals Authentic New York Pizza

We did a quick Google search for 'best pizza auckland' today to find somewhere for a late and leisurely lunch. We had 3 results, the first 2 of which weren't open until 5pm on a Sunday. Sals Authentic New York Pizza however opened at 2pm, which gave us time to get into town, find a carpark and be there just on opening.

Let me just say for a start, we were both really surprised to have never heard of Sals before - they're on Twitter, they have a fairly active Facebook presence, and from all accounts, they seem to be a bit of 'go to' spot - reminded me a little of Giapo's culture (although no-one does 'creating a place' as well as Giapo!). I'd love to see Sals and Giapo next door to each other, it would be quite something!

Anyways, for a first visit we decided to order a full size pizza rather than choose slices to have reheated from the cabinet. Little did we realise just how enormous an 18" pizza is! (We brought slices home). We chose a half-and-half - pepperoni for one half, meatball for the other. It took about 15 minutes and was served on top of a stand (like a cake stand, but for pizza) - Simon has seen this before in the US, but it was a new experience for me. They had jars of parmesan, herb & chilli flakes available to help yourself to as well. The pizza was great. Simple, tasty, and did I mention enormous? The experience was a hit for both of us as well - the place was already full bar one booth when we arrived (2 minutes after opening time) and there was a constant stream of customers the whole time we were there, plus we saw one delivery go out as well.

I love the passion that Sals is clearly executed with - they import their mozarrella and tomato, they have a secret recipe pizza dough, minimal pizza flavour choices and just one size pizza (which of course you can also buy by the slice). Plus they do 2 specialty products - garlic knots (which we bought and enjoyed) and pepperoni wheels. And they deliver on Segways. Love it!

We will definitely return - although to be fair, we don't often have pizza, but next time we have a hankering for it, Sals will be high on the list of options. We will absolutely be recommending them to others. And I've already 'liked' their Facebook page. Give them a go, I'm confident you too will plan to return!