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Wednesday 26 September 2012

ROSEHIP CAFE




RoseHip Reflection




The RoseHip Swirl




Favourite Place To Sit




Aprons on Hips




Spiced Tomato Juice w Antler Celery Stick




 Slow Cooked Lamb On Turkish Bread Slab




Whitebait Fritter




Mini Rounds - Carrot Cake / Chocolate & Hazlenut Cake




Banana Cake




Lemon Meringue Crowns




Take-Out Soya Flat White




#38 Christmas Cake


The Hipster On The Block

This sun-drenched hangout is The Rosehip Cafe in Parnell, Auckland, a breakfast, brunch and lunch cafĂ©, serving 
Allpress coffee.  

Aptly named due to its adjacency to the rose gardens, the Rosehip Cafe knows how to do coffee & cakes to perfection.

Rosehip like a lot of fine dining cafes in NZ are child friendly, as testament to the fancy dress Lion aged 7, who walked up to the counter complete with mane and tail and was given a glass of milk with a straw.  Warning! clicking here and feeding the Lions could be dangerous.

The RH is such a popular community cafe that at times they probably play a game of musical chairs to find a place to sit. If you do get lucky, the coffee here is amazing, with Soy Lattes, Cappuccinos and Flat Whites considered by the local clientele as 'probably the best in the world...' The barista here knows how to tread the fine line between piping hot and not burning the bean.

The menu was so full of scrumptious soundbites it felt hard to concentrate. All the passing plates looked delicious, particularly the buttermilk pancakes and Vietnamese-style squid and the Borlotti beans with scrambled eggs and chorizo on ciabatta. Some of the local folks seemed to be voting with their feet and a quick head count suggesting you can't find a better Eggs Benedict in town.

Rosehip also conjure up a fine rendition of the NZ Cafe Culture classic:-

Pancakes with Bacon, Fried Banana and Maple Syrup.

The piece de resistance was the discovery of Whitebait Fritters on the seasonal menu. These tiny little Whitebait are a bit of a rarified treat in the 21st century, now selling at  $135 a kilo. Once upon a time they were in such abundance West Coasters sent kerosene tins of whitebait to their city relatives to dig into the garden as compost. And women on spring picnics would jump out of their pantyhose to use them as makeshift nets, to catch a kilo or 10 for an impromptu fritter tea with their whanau.

The whitebait capital of the North Island runs along the stunning Mokau river on the western coast. Their roadside lay-by fritters are bigger than frisbees at $16 a pop. To the South the whitebait epicentre is the Turnbull river in Haast, where the loveable 91 yr old Whitebait Betty has built her national reputation for baiting patties. 

We left Rosehip with a firm grip on our Take Out Soya Flat Whites. These Allpress coffee masters have one of the most recognisable coffee brands in NZ, underpinned by good colour credentials and successful ventures overseas to Shoreditch, London and followed by an imminent cafe opening in Tokyo.

Whitebait Fritter's and Flat White's are a winning combination.  Perhaps it is time to open a WFFW concept cafe.... 




The Famous Betty Eggling's Whitebait Pattie Recepie

Ingredients
400g whitebait (if frozen, add a couple of tablespoons of flour)
2 eggs
Salt,pepper

Method

Have the whitebait as dry as possible.
Separate the eggs. Add the yolks to the bait, season with salt and pepper and stir together. Beat the whites until they peak and then fold together with the seasoned bait and egg yolks. Cook immediately in clarified butter in a moderately hot pan. 

Serve patties with white bread, salt and pepper, a glass of red wine and mint sauce.


Betty x


Monday 17 September 2012

KOKAKO



We Sure Like You Too...



Curved Corner Facade



Organic Coffee + Spiced Cauliflower Fritters



Open Sesame



A Coffee Safe Haven


The Handsome Open Plan Interior



High Shelf + High Heel Discussions



The Perfect Cafe Stool



View Of Roasters Depot At Rear



ALLGANICS Organic Apple + Fejoa Juice



Organic Potato Hash w Spinach,
Poached Free Range Organic Egg, Chopped Chives
Hollandaise & House Made Smoked Tomato Relish 


Scrambled Free Range Organic Eggs
w Toasted Sourdough And House-Made Salsa Verde



En Route To Upstairs



Like A Bauhaus Painting



Mugs + Peg Letterboard Pricing



Dhalias / Chrysanthemums + Flagon



Paper Bird Take Away Beans



A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush ......



 The Real Thing  x



#37 A Flea In Heaven


This Bird Has Wings

This is Kokako... the first certified organic fair trade roasters in Auckland, busy honing a fast growing reputation as New Zealand's most creative organic coffee brand a la modeStanding apart from the generic crowd, you could describe this laid back roasters depot as the.......                     L     a     n     d            O     f            T     h     e            L     o     n     g             F     l     a     t            W     h     i     t     e .

Antipodeans are natural born instigators of coffee culture, instinctively knowing how to find downtime to visit their favourite coffee hub, while getting about their busy daily lives. Their philosophy..... to value time to think, to talk, to observe and to smell the flowers, while savouring the flavour of a freshly roasted brew. Without these life essentials they would ask What's the point ?

Even Magnus Magnusson might not have known New Zealand has more roasters per capita than anywhere in the world. So it is no surprise this relatively recent cultural obsession, and addiction to premium coffee, is now part of the social landscape of NZ history, and is already setting the benchmark to the world. 

The Kokako HQ has a prime curved corner spot on the Great North Road in Grey Lynn, a suburb of inner Auckland. Anyone who has navigated the Great Northern Run in the UK could presumably head here to run the Great North Road, the 2nd longest road in Auckland  and might be lucky enough to find a free cup of coffee at the finish line.

The interior space is beautifully conceived and full of good stuff. Good design, good food, good service, good roasting, projecting a sense of quality craftsmanship without any air of pretension. Open plan with a complete 360° view of kitchen, counter bar, cake cabinet, roastery depot, tables + benches and large industrial scale windows letting the natural light flood in. 

The native Kokako bird has distinctive cobalt blue wattles hanging from under its beak and is a hauntingly beautiful songster of the bush and only found in the North Island. Hence this brands distinctive graphics and store environ echoing these bright blue markings. 

The K brunch was perfect. The organic potato hash w spinach stealing the show and leaving a lasting impression.  Oh and the real reason to come, the award winning Rangatira coffee is great too.

This organic coffee brand has an impressive wingspan and is surely ready to embark on its maiden migration overseas. Though a great crooner, the native Kokako bird has short wings and a flight path of no more than 100 metres. However I suspect its namesake coffee brand has engineered the critical momentum to travel 12,000 miles. And then some.

These Ko-Ka-Ko folks also carefully blend their own Hot Chocolate using a Dominican Republic cocoa bean that is known to make the local north island girls swoon. Remember that tip at Christmas boys.

Staying true to my original principles if I genuinely love something  I will blog about it. 

I've started so I'll finish.




ps.  In the interests of New Zealand's Organic outriders I would like to flag up another NZ bird on a similar quest : Hummingbird Coffee

Thursday 13 September 2012

OZONE ROASTERS



London HQ Entrance



New Plymouth HQ Entrance



London Interior


New Plymouth Interior



Chilling Out In London



Chilling Out In New Plymouth


Empty Coffee Cup London


Empty Coffee Cup New Plymouth


Flagon of Water  London


Coffee Of The Month New Plymouth


Bull Dog Menu London



Tomato Juice London


Sourdough Toast, 2 Poached Eggs, Bubble + Squeak Cakes
London


Benedict Style Eggs, Bubble And Squeak Cakes w/ Bearnaise
and Portobello Mushrooms  London



Exiting Ozone New Plymouth

#36 Three Dozen


The Ozone Layer

This will be interesting. My first attempt at a pictorial blog covering two versions of the same place.  Ozone northern Hem and Ozone southern Hem. 

The Ozone team have been bringing sustainable, ethical, freshly roasted, single origin coffee to the people since 1998.  Certainly no flash-in-the pan jumping on the bandwagon tailgater.  These intrepid New Zealand Roasters held a vision from the outset to aspire to coffee excellence and achieve international recognition as a leading artisan coffee roaster. 

Ozone is also the first coffee roastery in New Zealand to have printed, biodegradable takeaway cups. For the coffee anoraks they also use German Probat roasting equipment.

The world is increasingly realising NZ roasters and baristas are continually producing some of the best coffee in the world, with coffee culture in NZ at the forefront of the industry internationally. Like all things of a specialist nature, the more a customers knowledge is expanded upon an artisan process, the greater their appreciation and loyalty.

Inevitably sustainable success in the modern day NZ economy means conquering your home turf and then taking your knowledge, momentum and specialist brand overseas to a bigger audience. To quote the founders " It's not about a New Zealand company going overseas to London it's about a parochial New Plymouth company"  

It seems to me the perfect cup of coffee is principally about the flavour and taste. But behind this taste is a passion, philosophy, education and dedicated engineering process that governs the success of those principles from the roast to the brew. A great brand is also about having a sense of purpose and a raison d'ĂŞtre and Ozone have clearly figured this out from the off.

The two head quarters of Ozone roasters are 11,511 miles apart. Intuitively they compliment one another, both for their commonalities as their points of difference. One offers grey sky in summer and the other blazing blue sky in winter. Weather aside, their calling card 'cup of coffee' is great tasting and fit for purpose, as any artisan roaster specialising in Third Wave Coffee should be. With the addition of an inventive and talented chef and full menu in London it makes Ozone London a place not to miss on the breakfast-brunch-lunch circuit.

info@ozonecoffee.co.uk


info@ozonecoffee.co.nz

Ozone London Map
Ozone New Plymouth Map


NZ Coffee in London: Flat White, Milk Bar, Caravan, Allpress, Ozone, Sacred Cafe + Kiosks, Bullet, Modern Pantry, Providores, Kopapa

NZ/Aus Coffee in London: Kaffeine, Lantana

NZ Roasters in Auckland/Wellington: Kokako, Mojo, Ozone, Atomic, Havana, Cafe Laffare, Coffee Supreme, Coffee Lab

NZ Roasters in Tokyo: Allpress, Mojo

NZ's first dedicated siphon coffee bar: Lamason in Wellington.

NZ Roaster of the Year: Coffee Lab 

NZ Barista of The Year: Gravity Coffee's Aymon McQuade

NZ Latte Art Championship Winner: Gerry Zhang

NZ Baristas are the pioneers of the 'flat white' - sorry for swearing, even starbucks are now doing a flat white.

Link to: NZ Coffee Festival

Link to: Handy Database List of NZ Cafes and Roasters

Link to: Harvesting Coffee Beans

* It is also possible to harvest beans from coffee plants grown in NZ, more specifically both robustus and arabica varieties are being cultivated and grown commercially. 

** In humans caffeine acts as a central nervous system stimulant, temporarily warding off drowsiness and restoring alertness. Hence its addictive tendencies and popularity.

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