All posts tagged: cafe

Tasty questions with Leisha Jones, Honeytrap

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Down in St Kevin’s Arcade on the infamous K Rd is a little cafe called Honeytrap. Offering their signature meaty BBQ sandwiches, soups, salads and their popular “shake of the day”, their food always packs a flavour punch. Honeytrap use free range meat and eggs and their sauces and pickles are made in house. I’ve mentioned foodie web-series Club Sandwich a couple of times. What I haven’t mentioned is that Honeytrap are responsible for this sweet little look into the Auckland culinary landscape. You can check out the entire collection of films here on Vimeo. Leisha Jones is the is the owner of Honeytrap and below are her answers to the tasty questions I cooked up for your enjoyment. Describe your restaurant’s food: Comforting. Flavourful. Creative. What is your restaurant’s signature dish? Our BBQ beef brisket sandwich. The beef is braised in the oven for around 8 hours, before being shredded and tossed with our house made BBQ sauce. Then served on a toasted bun, with zucchini pickles (also made in house), and red cabbage slaw with ranch dressing. It has been on the menu …

Kiwi Flavours in Mt Eden

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Last month, I was invited to Tuihana Cafe for a Zomato meetup. A mere 600 metres from my house, I was a little embarrassed that I’d never visited Tuihana Cafe before. With a clean, modern interior with gorgeous monochrome wallpaper on one wall and a huge photographic print of the owners on Piha beach, Tuihana has a modern kiwi feel…like a brand new beachside bach. The owners are Nate and Leslie: Nate is the operations guy and Leslie in charge of the food. The story We met with Nate, who guided us through their menu and business as if we were new staff getting up to speed. I’ve worked in hospo before but I’d never seen anything like this sort of training. Nate had printed a set of notes for each of us, props at the ready for our viewing pleasure and professionally photographs via his iPad to explain the dishes. Nate’s background is in IT and this geekery clearly shows with their tech integrated cafe. As someone tethered to a computer, phone or wifi …

31. Welcome Eatery

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In celebration of Auckland Restaurant Month, I will be posting 31 quick-fire reviews on 31 restaurants and cafes in the Auckland CBD and city fringe. The atmosphere is… A big space with business customers and very cheery staff. Their mantra is “Fast, Fresh & Friendly”. Some nice graphic elements (hand painted lettering) if you are into that sort of thing (I am). Come here for… Big smiles and a big feed. A good place to take clients to for a bite, coffee and a little work. The most interesting thing on the menu… Polenta with bean ragu and goats cheese Unexpectedly wonderful… Braised beef cheek sandwich, juicy and tender. I would come back to try… Some of the nice looking cabinet food. Client meetings with good food. Catering to… Breakfast and lunch office workers. The menu is short but evolving. Healthy and raw options. Heaps of cabinet food. Plenty of vegetarian options. Expect to spend… $10-$20 per person The service is… Overwhelmingly friendly. Very attentive. Avoid if… Friendly strangers frighten you. Welcome Eatery Orion Building, 181 Grafton …

16. Crave

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In celebration of Auckland Restaurant Month, I will be posting 31 quick-fire reviews on 31 restaurants and cafes in the Auckland CBD and city fringe. The atmosphere is… The neighbourly cafe you always wished for. A lofty space with lots of seating areas and local artwork. Edibles planted in front are a nice touch. Come here for… A well deserved brunch by a well-meaning bunch. The most interesting thing on the menu… Black rice risotto Unexpectedly wonderful… Crave’s community ethos and non-profit business practices. I would come back to try… Creamy herbed flat mushrooms on potato cakes Catering to… Everyone. Gluten free and vegetarian dishes clearly marked. Very kid friendly. Expect to spend… $20 per person. Please note, kids flufflies are free. The service is… A bit rushed during busy periods. At the counter only. Avoid if… You don’t like feel-good neighbourhood spots. Oscar the grouch can eat elsewhere. Crave 25 McDonald Street, Morningside Open 7 days http://www.cravecafe.co.nz

OOOOBY Box 7 and an Asian influenced menu

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Last week’s cafe menu with burgers, pasta, french toast, burritos, fish and chips and pizza exploded in The Koala’s comfort zone, but I prefer to eat more asian influenced meals. This week we received bok choy and lime which will be great for an asian inspired menu. As a good Chinese girl, even living in New Zealand, I grew up eating rice once, even twice a day. This week our CSA box included: Vegetables 3 Red Kumara (Certified Organic) 1 Baby Cos (Self Certified Organic) 2 Bok Choy (Self Certified Organic) 1 Cauliflower (Conventional Sprays) 4 Carrots (Conventional Sprays) Fruit 9 Gold Kiwifruit (Certified Organic) 2 Limes (Self Certified Organic) 3 Navel Oranges (Self Certified Organic) 2 Apples Newstead Gold (Conventional Sprays) Add Ons 1 loaf Wild Wheat Ciabatta 2 litres pure Apple juice The most interesting thing in the box: Bok choy and limes. Menu 7 Asian style chicken broth with carrots*, onion, ginger and rice Korean BBQ Beef (Bulgogi) with baby cos*, korean noodle salad (japchae), kimchi and rice Wonton soup (pork mince, chives and scallops) with bok choy* Honey lime* chicken and cauliflower with toasted …

OOOOBY Box Week 6. Cafe Menu

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Cafes can be found all over New Zealand and they all serve similar menus with their own twist. New Zealand cafe culture is HUGE. We take our coffee espresso very seriously and while restaurants are reserved for special occasions, people go to cafes for no real reason but to eat. The casual, informal style of dining appeals to our kiwi mentality. This week, cooking at home with our CSA box, we’re having grilled haloumi, french toast, salad, burgers, quesadillas a pasta dish, a soup and even a smoothie. Very much inspired by a stock standard cafe board. This week our CSA box included: Vegetable Garlic  (Self Certified Organic) Pumpkin (Certified Organic) Avocado (Certified Organic) Fancy Lettuce  (Self Certified Organic) Fennel (Certified Organic) Broccoli (Conventional Sprays) Fruit Pink Lady Apples (Conventional Sprays) Green Kiwifruit (Certified Organic) Mandarins (Conventional Sprays) Add Ons 1 loaf Wild Wheat Ciabatta 2 litres pure Apple juice All Good Fair Trade Bananas The most interesting thing in the box: Fennel. I’ve cooked it a couple times and while I don’t usually like aniseed, I do like fennel. I like the idea of …

Art Cafe, Chiang Mai

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Art Cafe is right by the Thapae Gate between McDonald’s and Starbucks. We ate there every second day so they must have been doing something right. The menu is huge and they are yet another restaurant that serves Italian, Mexican and Thai food. Good food at good prices. We may have been subliminally enticed by the name of the cafe, but there is no interesting art in here and while the interior is a bit dated, but it’s clean and light. Breakfast at Art Cafe With one of the most extensive breakfast menus around, I loved that they had lots of mexican inspired breakfast dishes. We don’t eat Mexican for breakfast in New Zealand but I love beans and rice first thing in the morning. The quesadilla were really good. 3 Buttermilk pancakes. Omelette with country fried potatoes and a croissant. Thai food They do offer Thai food, but it’s only ok. There are better and cheaper places around for Thai. After all, this is Thailand! If you want Thai, eat where locals eat. A …

Breaking the fast around the world

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A weekend brunch in Auckland is something of an institution. Aucklanders flock to their favourite cafes in the weekends to eat familiar dishes they can easily prepare at home. Big breakfasts, eggs benedict, creamy mushrooms on toast…all delicious and all can prepared at home for a fraction of the price. Dining out for brunch is a treat. Sometimes you just want to be waited on first thing in the morning. Sometimes you need someone else to do it all when you’re hungover or just want to relax on your day off. People eat brunch and breakfast all over the world, so why are there no restaurants and cafes that specialise in food from other countries? Okra, one of my favourite local brunch spots used to offer Bus-Stop Eggs (served in the pan). This was a dish of spiced lamb koftas and capsicum in a tomato sauce, baked with eggs ($15.50). Fairly exotic. Unfortunately, they took that off the menu, but they’ve replaced it with what they call Spanish Breakfast which is pretty similar, still served …