Dreamers Cafe

By ELEANOR BLACK for canvas

Brunching at Dreamers Cafe, a doll-sized cherry-red cottage slotted between a beautician's and a post shop in Great South Road, is like eating in someone's home.

The walls are covered in personal memorabilia (portraits, colourful butterflies made from netting and wire, needlepoint pictures), the welcome is warm, and the food is simple.

If it weren't for the multiple tiny tables topped with lacy tablecloths and sheets of glass, you wouldn't realise you were in a cafe at all.

There's nothing adventurous or particularly stylish on the menu, which offers eggs done all ways, French toast and the classic big breakfast, but everything is surprisingly affordable. Most meals are $8.50 and most drinks $3.50.

After ordering at the counter - where you can also buy beaded jewellery, cakes and slices, and packets of potato chips - we sat down at one of the doll tables with a view into the back garden, where many more little tables are scattered on the lawn.

We were admiring the dainty pink flowers painted down the side of the window when our drinks arrived, swiftly followed by our meals. My hot chocolate ($3.50) was deliciously creamy and piping, but Kate was disappointed with her banana smoothie ($3.50), which was not banana-y enough. She perked up when she saw her hot cakes with banana, maple syrup and cream ($8.50), a supremely comforting combo which went down like ... hot cakes.

My eggs benedict with bacon ($8.50) was not so good. The poached eggs could have been left in the water a minute or two longer, and the Hollandaise sauce was strangely sweet and heavy. I kept sneaking glances at the hot cakes and resolved to have those next time, because while the food is not exceptional, Dreamers Cafe has loads of charm and prices to please. Walking in through the lavender hedge, you feel as though you are walking into a storybook and that's an experience I'd like to repeat.

Parking: In the weekend, there's plenty in Great South Road

Ambience: A real-life doll's tea party

Service: Minimal but super-fast

Open: Monday to Saturday, 7.30am to 5pm.

* 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.