t:. toastcrumbs

I’ve had the idea for a while, and now that I’m back in Aotearoa, and in a new city, its a good chance to get it started. Kawhe.com is the name for my new site, “New Zealand Cafe Review”.

The idea behind this is to identify the best cafes in New Zealand. At the moment we have reviewers in Christchurch and Auckland, but I’m hoping that as interest grows, so will the number of available reviewers.

This was a good exercise in Wordpress setups. The whole thing including finding a good theme and installing caching and star review module (to put pretty stars on the page) took four hours.  In time, I may want to change the site to arrange reviews in a better structure, but for now tagging and categories will help me organise the reviews.

Reviews take into account the coffee (both espresso and flat whites), food and atmosphere.

Click here to go to kawhe.com…

Cam was experimenting when I went to Flat White today. While I was paying for my triple espresso he reached over one of the La Marzocco’s and handed me a shot glass which was 2/3rds filled with carbonated water and topped with an espresso shot. The taste was very interesting - the carbonated water brought out a very sour taste of coffee which contrasted with Monmouth’s very sweet+acidic espresso blend. Cam reckons it could be an interesting drink for Summer and it did remind me a bit of the granita I had in Rome which was sort of like half frozen ’slushy’ espresso.

A while ago, I wrote about Espresso + Tobacco Sugar Water. He’s got a new version of this which he says I should try next time. He’s opening a new cafe in Covent Garden soon - perhaps he’ll have some interesting items on the menu.

Interesting. Dad just sent this on…

Three nomiees for Timeout “..in the “Best Coffee Bar” category are Kiwi cafes - Flat White, Sacred and Bullet.”

Hope Flat White wins it because Sacred can’t make good coffee :)

Click here for more…

Followup (25/09): Fernandez & Wells won it

I went back to Sacred Cafe a few times, but they were consistently poor quality (and the last time they ripped me off). So, upon Rudy’s recommendation I went to Fernandez & Wells. I first went to their deli which looked amazing - big spanish hams other meats, cheese and various other things including takeaway paninis. I was directed to the cafe around the corner which was very plain looking (Monmouth-like decor - not surprising considering that’s where their coffee comes from). Friendly staff, overpriced coffee, but I did get a very good coffee (and a particularly good dark chocolate biscuit)… I’ll stick with these guys till Flat White come back.

Gutted. Arrived at Flat White to find them closed for refurbishment. Not only did I fail to take photos of their cool interior (with genuine 60s Aussie wallpaper) but I couldn’t get my triple espresso for the day! However, not swayed too much, I made my way back towards Carnaby Street to Sacred Cafe (this is another kiwi cafe that started a wee while after Flat White). I ordered a triple ristretto and was charged for a normal espresso. The verdict: my triple ristretto was bitter, lacked a good crema, and fell far below the standards of FW. Come back Flat White!