Homestead Cafe at the Pah Homestead in Hillsborough, Auckland. Photo / David Rowland, Getty Images
Adress: 72A Hillsborough Rd, Hillsborough
Phone: (09) 624 1215
Open: Sat-Sun 8am-5pm; Tues-Fri 10am-3pm; closed Monday
Cost: $75.50 for two
Online: pahhomestead.company
SET UP & SITE
Culture with your coffee? Head to Homestead, the eatery inside the gracious historic home that's been turned into an art gallery. There's plenty of parking, and the cafe art is a cut above your usual nikau palm triptych (that's a very covetable Russ Flatt photograph taking
centre stage right now). Outside, from the veranda seating, there are views of the city and a small sculpture garden. Go before November 13 and soak up the grandeur of the 25th annual Wallace Art Awards. It's a beautiful wander past 88 finalists' works including the one that's been racking up all the newspaper column inches - a full-frontal nude carpet rendition of Labour leader Andrew Little. Maybe have breakfast before you view the art.
SUSTENANCE & SWILL
No sausage for the vegetarian, thanks. Staff were happy to swap meat for mushrooms and (so on-trend) pickled cabbage, on the Homestead Breakfast ($23). It was prettily presented in a series of ramekins, but the food, especially the house beans, could have been hotter. I went for the crumpet. And by that, I mean actual crumpet: homemade, deliciously soft and doughy, with smoked fish, a caper beurre blanc and (slightly over-poached) egg. They do sweet versions too, with lemon curd or poached apple, that leave the supermarket version absolutely for dead, but you'd expect that at $18-$19 a serve. Lunch options run from mirin-cured salmon ($19) to braised oxtail ($26) and there's a small wine list if you're in that kind of mood. It was 10.30am on a Tuesday, so I stuck to coffee. The crema was thin and there were strange oily globules on the surface. Next time I'd just drink tea. Two cups, because you're really going to want some of the exemplary baking on the counter - a delectable little grapefruit cake ($6), for example. And the chocolate and lemon oat slice? Oh, why not?
