Cafe on Kohi

By BRENDA WARD for canvas

It's a given. Just as red cars always go faster and blondes always have more fun, so food always tastes better by the sea. And, oh yes, even better when you take a brisk walk in the weekend sunshine to earn it. One Saturday we laced up the trainers and went on a mission to research this phenomenon at the Cafe on Kohi on Tamaki Drive.

I have an admission to make. I am addicted to the Cafe on Kohi. Not the coffee, not the view (although they're both sensational), but to settling down at a table on the pavement with my Herald on weekdays as I wait for my flat white to go.

It's a cafe community, a breakfast social club, a Cheers for the commuter. It's the place where everybody knows your name - and damned if I know how they know it.

So brunching at the Cafe on Kohi was a very scary thing. Could the weekend experience ever match my weekday coffee buzz? Could they cook? Would anyone ever speak to me again if I hated the food and bagged it dish by dish? Is there a God? And would He intervene to give me the brunch experience I craved?

However, when I strolled across the pedestrian crossing, the immediate questions were different. Would we get a seat? Would we ever be served? The cafe was packed to overflowing, with a queue for seats, and when we found a table, we were crammed back to back with The Elbow Man. Bruce felt the emphasis of his conversation several times.

The food seemed to take an age to arrive, but what a relief. The Eggs Florentine ($15) laid reverentially over a bed of spinach looked delicious, and quickly vanished. My pancake stack ($13.50) was interlaced with tropical fruit, and when there was a pause in the traffic hum I could almost hear the palm fronds rustling. I checked out another diner's Kohi Big Breakfast ($14.50) and was overcome with envy.

The crush wasn't the cafe's fault. They can't help being annoyingly popular. There wasn't the chatty familiarity of my morning indulgence, but the food was delicious.

So, yes, I can go back. There is a God.

Open: 7am-5pm weekdays, 7am-6pm weekends

Parking: Unlimited, on the road

Ambience: Cheers and coffee

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, party places and entertainment in canvas magazine, part of your Weekend Herald print edition.