Mecca, Mission Bay

By ELEANOR BLACK for canvas

For a place that draws large crowds every weekend for its sea view, Mission Bay is, oddly, not awash in great cafes. Truth be told, there are a lot of eateries on the cafe strip you would bypass if it weren't for that slice of ocean vista.

Mecca, happily, is not one of them. Choosing a quiet seat at the back to avoid the unseasonably chilly breeze out front, we sat down to peer at our menus, strangely protected in stiff plastic sleeves. You have to press firmly on the plastic to read the print, which is a novelty, I guess, but a tad annoying.

My mother, not an habitual brunch-eater, was starving by 10am and chose the big breakfast ($15.50), a real truck-stop meal with a bit of everything: two fried eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, little bits of cubed potato, grilled tomato, and buried down the bottom of the heap, two pieces of white toast.

The hungry one gave her dish the thumbs up, although she spent considerable time cutting the fat off her bacon in a belated attempt at a healthy breakfast. Personally, I think streaky bacon is part of the big breakfast package, but it is probably true that if you eat like a trucker you end up looking like a trucker.

I went for the creamy mushrooms ($13.50), a plate of sauteed mushrooms, chorizo sausage and more of those potato cubes, all liberally doused in an orange-coloured cream sauce. A simple combination, but surprisingly tasty and filling.

The spicy sausage, cut into bite-sized discs, offered a hot counterpoint to the potato and cream. But I think the proportions were wrong - I would have replaced some of the sausage with potato. After a while, the chorizo's warmth took over, leaving little room for the mushrooms to make an impact.

The Mecca at Mission Bay is part of a chain which also has outposts downtown, at the Chancery and Vulcan Lane, in the Viaduct basin and Newmarket. Having sampled three of the five, I'd say the Viaduct cafe is by far the best of the bunch, but I went there for dinner, not brunch.

The brunch at Mission Bay is more than satisfactory - good, simple food in generous portions.

Where: 85 Tamaki Drive

Parking: It's there, you just have to hunt for it

Ambience: Vaguely Middle-Eastern

Service: Quick and friendly

Open: 7 days, 7am until late

* 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.