Safran

By EWAN McDONALD for viva

Funny how things can get away on you in this town. Turn your back, take a different route to work for a couple of weeks and they've built a new apartment block or a hospital before you know it.

If you'd phoned or emailed the Viva crew a couple of weeks back and asked what was the best place in Auckland for a choice of cheap'n'cheerfuls, bit of an ethnic mix, we'd probably have said, "Easy, just drive down Dominion Rd till you see something you like the look of."

Wrong. We hadn't taken a wander around lower Khyber Pass lately, hadn't seen the mushrooming (mostly shiitake, but not all) growth in eateries in that part of town. With so many apartments around Parnell and Newmarket, plus the movie theatres, it was inevitable.

What wasn't inevitable was the diversity: Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Italian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Turkish, Texan ... George would be licking his lips if he'd put together a coalition like that. Mostly cheap'n'cheerful: what about the one with gas rings on the tables, orange rubber tubes and gas bottles underneath, for DIY Chinese.

Most of the names are new, though some have been around for yonks: Edouardo's Italian, Poppadom Indian and Chao Phraya Thai. And around the corner, among others, there's knock'em'dead gorgeous Rikka and Safran facing Lumsden Green.

The little square of grass and fountain and local history has to be one of the nicest settings for cafes in the inner city. Angle your chair just right to cut out the carpark building and the public toilets and you have greenery and trees and splash, and if you ignore the traffic noise you can almost forget you're in the middle of Babylon. Sip back and drink in whatever you like to drink in.

Safran was one of the first cafes opened here after the square was beautified by immersing the Olympic Pool in multiplexes and chain stores. One of its first chefs was Anna Hansen; with her husband, Jeremy Leeming, she moved to Melbourne to work alongside Stephanie Alexander, to London with old mate Peter Gordon at the Sugar Club. Now they're now partners with him in The Providores.

Like any cafe that's been around a while, Safran has had a number of owners. For a time it was part of a mini-Mediterranean empire that included, if you want to toss in family and marital connections, Caravanserai and the Merchant Mezze Bar in Queen St and Bar Comida in Mission Bay.

These days the names above the door are Arche and Mufida Kulbegovic, a couple who want their customers to get out of Auckland. "Take any Mediterranean country - Spain, Greece, Portugal, Morocco, France. Imagine a street cafe - casual, open, buzzing with activity - the enjoyment of good food, a glass of wine, or a perfect espresso coffee and a little something sweet. Late lunch, late night, mid-afternoon, dinnertime, coffee times," they bid us. "Now put yourself in the picture."

Which is pretty much how it feels. There's a happy buzz of conversation from around the tables, Spanish guitar plucked out of the sound system, Fahrudin chatting to the regulars and keeping an eye on everyone's wine glass. It's relaxed, comfortable. The food is rustic, honest, hearty tortillas and salads and grills, and there's plenty on the plate.

Go there before or after the movies; even if you've spent two hours trapped in the snows and horrors of a bleak Warsaw ghetto during the war, good coffee will get the circulation and the spirit up. Go there in a group, because it's the sort of place that you'll want to kick back and chat and laugh and order another bottle of the red.

You might think that it's near-impossible for a cafe on the country's biggest and longest mall to be part of the neighbourhood. Well, think again, because Safran is. When Viva's photographer, Nicola Topping, went to take the photograph accompanying this column, Arche took her outside to meet a couple of his regulars. Regulars? Renee and Graeme Beck have eaten lunch at Safran every day for the past three years. They take their dog, James - we're told he likes the ham. That's 900-and-some meals. On special occasions they go for dinner. That's, clearly, a couple of satisfied customers. So were we.

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, fashion and beauty in viva, part of your Herald print edition every Wednesday.