Fluff Cafe
Unit 7G/38 Khyber Pass Rd, Grafton
Ph. (09) 282 1206
We spent: $50 for two
We arrived
Zanna had heard about this cafe, which was placing a heavy emphasis on its fluffy white bread, and that sounded like a nice point of difference to me, as someone who has had enough of
our culture's unexamined belief in the primacy of sourdough. The photos she showed me indicated a pleasant decor of polished concrete and wood at the city end of one of Auckland's busiest city-fringe arterial routes. Parking would be a nightmare, I knew, but it was in the city, or at least on the edge of the city, in the area that's trying to get itself known as "Uptown", so if you're trying to get there by car, that's your problem.
We ate
I had the eggs benedict, which came on a single slice (double thickness) of the signature fluffy bread, toasted, coated with a layer of smashed avo and topped with two eggs, hollandaise and microgreens. Two slices of extra-crispy bacon hung precariously and tastily across the far-eastern corner of the bread. Zanna had two poached eggs on the signature fluffy bread, alongside two crumbed mushrooms, which were topped with fresh chilli. She wasn't a big fan of the fluffy bread, with its light sweetness. She prefers to kowtow to prevailing modern cultural tastes viz a denser, heartier, "preferably seeded" bread.
Both plates were elegantly presented, with all food fresh and happy. Nothing on the plates was trying too hard but nothing was shirking its duty either. It was there primarily as a secondary event, gathered around the fluffy bread, pointing to the fluffy bread, which sat there sweetly, absorbing most of the attention - and the flavours. Unlike Zanna, I found the bread delicious, both because it was and because it was a much-needed rebuke to the stultifying modern bread orthodoxy.
We finished with a caramel slice from the cabinet, which had a well-proportioned biscuit layer and an elegantly thin goo of caramel, topped with a hard chocolate shell. The coffee presentation provoked Zanna to tell the server it was beautiful, which was something I had never heard her say before. Maybe she was just in a good mood after finding parking.