Herald Rating:
We came here because we were camping at the wonderful Mahurangi but needed a blast of civilisation. And chocolate. The Chocolate Brown cafe and chocolaterie sounded the perfect choice.
We ordered the CB full breakfast - both the Kiwi kind ($21) and the English ($22). These came with bacon, Blackball sausages, eggs, rosti, baked beans, mushrooms, tomato and toast, with the addition of black pudding for the English version. Both were hearty portions and pleasing.
The green eggs ($18.50) came with poached eggs, hollandaise, spinach and rosti and a choice of crispy bacon, smoked salmon or portobello mushroom. We chose one of bacon, one of salmon. Both were filling and tasty.
Those with bigger eyes than their stomachs also ordered a bucket of chips ($8.50), aioli and tomato sauce, which came served in a large tinned food can, with a lining of newspaper-printed greaseproof paper inside a sheet of real newspaper - a clever presentation.
The coffee was good, as was the hot chocolate. Unfortunately we didn't notice before ordering the menu of various types of hot chocolate - next time we'll have to try the Belgian.
The service was a bit slow but it was busy. While we waited we were able to peruse the to-die-for chocolate shop to which the cafe is attached.
Overall we thought the cafe could make more of a feature of chocolate on the menu.
