Longshot has taken over what was Santos, and its star attraction is that big, covered courtyard with plenty of seating and outdoor heating. Photo / Doug Sherring
Longshot has taken over what was Santos, and its star attraction is that big, covered courtyard with plenty of seating and outdoor heating. Photo / Doug Sherring
Address: 114 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby Phone: (09) 360 8803 Open: 6.30am-3pm, daily Cost: $86 for four people.
SET UP & SITE
Longshot is the newish daytime offshoot to Ponsonby Rd's Longroom bar. Think of it as its sensible little sister, more your cold-pressed juice than your flaming negroni (though we did see a couple of blondes embracing elevenses with a bottle of sav; perhaps they just hadn'tgone home?). Longshot has taken over what was Santos, and its star attraction is that big, covered courtyard with plenty of seating and outdoor heating. Latin jazz was pumped out by the sound system as we were told to grab a seat anywhere we fancied. Despite its size, the only options for our party of two adults and matching kids were bar stools at a high table for three and a plum table in the corner that had a reserved seating sign on it. We nabbed another stool and squeezed in at the high table.
SUSTENANCE & SWILL
My sensible (big) sister ordered a cold-pressed Gran's Remedy: (apple, beetroot and carrot, $7.50) that tasted quite beetrooty and she says, healthy, while I had a flat white ($4.50, perfectly fine) and the kids' two lemonades ($3 each for a generous glass). They do have a kids' menu that leans more towards lunch but both girls went straight for poached eggs on turkish pide ($10). They were hungry but, by God, they hovered up those gooey orbs in under 60 seconds flat. Both judged them the best eggs ever. They followed on with a decent serving of churros each ($9). I managed to steal one stick: it seemed a touch overcooked but really, how wrong can you go with a stick of sugared donut? My sister's smashed avocado with rocket, cherry tomatoes, capers and feta on sourdough ($16) was pretty tasty without being outstanding, the tomatoes and avocado nicely ripe. I don't like waffles but somehow managed to order a ham and cheese version of them, sidetracked by the poached eggs, spinach and chipotle ($14) that accompanied them. Actually, they were pretty good, the sweetness of the waffle not overpowering the dish.
Service was faultless: cheerful and attentive (not long after we'd had our order taken, they moved us to the table with the reserved sign). They were even nice to the kids. There was a small hiccup when, having taken our order, another waiter then asked if we knew there was a 25-or-so-minute wait on the food due to a large party before us, but when I told them my kids were beyond starving they did their best to hustle: our food was on the table in less than 20 minutes. All in all, a handy new addition to Ponsonby Rd.
