CafeBlog

I visited Columbus for lunch the other day while waiting for some friends in Manukau. Located in the middle of the Manukau Supa Centre car park, it’s reasonably easy to find, and was quite busy.
On walking in, I noticed that almost every table was used … a good sign. I ordered a soy mocha and a chicken and mustard pie from the cabinet. The pie was outstanding (maybe I was just really hungry - but it was way beyond what I was expecting in quality), the coffee also quite good.
There’s some outside seating in a walled-off courtyard, but there’s no escaping your sitting in the middle of the carpark. It’s far better to grab a seat inside if you can.

Icon Cafe is located in the Auckland Airport industrial / commercial area on Pavilion Drive.

Despite being a lunchtime, Icon wasn’t all that busy and seemed quite spacious - I don’t know if this is the case everyday, but it suited us well.

We ordered a pie from the cabinet, a trim latte and soy mocha. The pie came with a salad which was suitable drizzled with a “just right” portion of vinaigrette. The coffees were also good - nothing outstanding, but also nothing to complain about.

While it’s a little off the main road, it’s worthwhile visiting here if you want to get good food and a decent coffee in a quiet setting.

I think I’ve commented before how the decor of the Coffee Clubs really doesn’t do it for me as they always seem so dark. Not so here. The Coffee Club at Botany Junction (on Te Irirangi Drive) is on a corner site and completely glassed on two sides, allowing plenty of light in.

We visited after 3pm on a Sunday afternoon with a group of people, and the place was very quiet. Even so it took quite a while for some orders to arrive, and some just never arrived. This is bad form.

My soy mocha was good; very hot and plenty strong. I did wonder if there was a chocolate shortage, but realised as I neared the bottom of the glass that the syrup had not been stirred in. Alas, my last mouthful was mostly chocolate syrup, blech!!

Coffee Clubs also have a sort of a strange arrangement with ordering and paying - I wonder if they are trying to target the older (read “senior citizen”) market. You sit down, a waiter takes your order, and you pay as you leave. This sort of thing is fine for a restaurant where you are ordering off a menu, but in a cafe you never get the opportunity to peruse the cakes, muffins, etc in the cabinets. Granted, they also have a menu - but this is more for meals. If you’re visiting just for coffee and cake, the whole thing seems really rather awkward.

I recommend you avoid this cafe.

We ordered a trim latte, and soy mocha. The latte was on the reasonable side of average, but nothing to get excited about. The mocha was disgusting. I couldn’t even bring myself to drink it all.

The problem was due to the two full milkshake size squirts of chocolate syrup. In fact the chocolate syrup to coffee ratio would’ve been close to 1:1. It was horrid.

Again, avoid like the plague.

We discovered Brickworks Cafe, just by the Whitford roundabout, one Sunday afternoon. It was just after 4pm - you know, the time most cafes are closing and staff give you the evil eye if you look like you’re about to walk in. But not here. Even though it looked like the staff were in clean-up mode, we were most welcome and ordered the usual latte and soy mocha. Both coffees were hot, large and of good strength. And as we’d been without a coffee all day they didn’t last long

There was a choice of either indoor or outdoor seating. Inside, the seating is quite spacious and airy which provided a nice and cool refuge from the sun on a hot day.

If you’re passing Whitford, Brickworks Cafe is a great stop.