Takapuna Beach Store and Cafe (North Shore City, New Zealand)

We visit Takapuna regularly but I never seen this place until recently when one of our close friends introduced this place to us. Located at the end of Promenade Street on the beach side you will not notice this unless you visit the Takapuna Beach Holiday Park or have a boat and off load it at Takapuna Beach Boat Ramp.

Tucked in a quiet location apart from the busy Takapuna streets, it’s a nice location especially in summer when the sun is out and the sea is calm. The views it offer is picturesque especially with that Rangitoto Island dominating the Tamaki Strait, perfect for having a breakfast Al Fresco style.

Diners here are quite well off, Takapuna is quite a posh place to live in specially the ones on the East Coast side plus since the boat ramp is just around some of the diners are those boat owners, hence prices reflect the demographics of their clientele. Though is not that really pricey it’s not your daily cafe breakfast price averaging at $25.00 per plate, $9.00 for drinks and $12 for desserts.

Well it’s not our daily breakfast but we want something really good for brunch so my wife though of this place and so we dined in here. We arrived somewhere around 10:00 am on a Saturday and the place is already packed with people, some just woke up, some still in their exercise gear but most are just there to chill out, relax and have a good meal in front of a good view. As we were welcomed by the staff, they asked us whether we like to dine inside or Al Fresco and since it’s not that sunny we chose outside.

It quite a perfect day, not to sunny a bit of clouds and not to breezy so we sat comfortably in where we were. We then ordered and grabbed some pasta, roesti and lamb.

The pasta was a simple hand cut pasta with tomato, basil, chili ($23.00), though what’s written on the menu looks simple what was served looks amazing with the microgreens served on top. Though it was not good as the same pasta we had in Italy it was good enough compared anything we tried in New Zealand. We loved the texture of the pasta, it was perfectly cooked.

Next was the Smoked Trevally Agria Roesti served with ricotta, courgette, pickles and poached egg ($22.00) which was quite a let-down, we just thought the smoked fish did not match well with the potato pancakes. I guess the prosciutto, slab sausage, bacon or even the avocado crush would taste much better.

The best one on the other hand was this slow roasted lamb served with sumac labneh, lentils and cucumber ($27.00), everything on the plate seems like it was well thought of. Lamb was perfectly cooked and it blends well with the Middle Eastern style cheese and lentils, it was seasoned well, it was creamy, with a bit of acidity, it was just perfect every bite.

Overall we had a good breakfast, next time we will definitely be ordering a different roesti, we just want to be adventurous at this time. After our breakfast we went to their store which is popular with their ice creams, they received multiple awards so no getting them would be a crime.

Just beside their cafe just in the entrance is their store and it is always filled with customers especially in the morning time as they also sell pastries there. On one side is their ice creams and you will see lots of different flavours, after giving some thought on what we will order we decided to get their award winning Salted Caramel, if I can remember a cherry and mango gelato at $7.00 for two scoops.

They all tasted amazing, full flavoured, creamy and smooth. The salted caramel was something really special, it was really salty but in a good way, it’s just salty enough to complete with the sweetness making a perfect blend to two flavour profiles which enhances the caramel. It sort of remind me of the sorbetes ice cream in the Philippines when the salted ice contaminates the ice cream, it’s that addictive salty taste which draws you to it.

We then enjoyed this ice cream in a beach front which I guess a perfect way to end our brunch, will definitely come back here again.

Takapuna Beach Cafe  
Address: 22 The Promenade, Auckland 0622
Phone: +64 9 484 0002
Website: http://www.takapunabeachcafe.co.nz/