The soft-shell crab benedict at Major Tom. Photo / Getty Images
The soft-shell crab benedict at Major Tom. Photo / Getty Images
Address: 87 Apollo Drive, Albany Phone: (09) 845 4797 Open: Mon-Fri 7am-4pm, Saturday and Sunday 8am-4pm Cost: $55.50 for two
Set up & site
Major Tom looks like it should be situated at the end of a lush green manicured lawn with a white-gloved butler pointing you to your table. Instead, you climb the wide, imposing steps from the corner of an industrial estate between Mairangi Bay and Albany. Itis so new that a Google search of the property reveals only a blank section. Parking was plentiful when we went there but Apollo Drive is a busy, busy area and I can't promise you'll be lucky enough to also find a spot at the door But believe me, Major Tom is worth a walk. Inside, it's all polished concrete, old-fashioned primary school-style metal-and-wood chairs and there's an intriguing mural featuring a most unseaworthy-looking houseboat afloat on a sunflower that has attracted the attention of an astonished duck.
Sustenance & swill
One of life's guilty little pleasures is opening a menu and finding you're in a place that isn't afraid to be bold with its food and that lays down the challenge of squid ink. I didn't rise to the eggs benedict that came with soft-shell crab and squid ink toast (next time) but I did go for the turmeric coffee ($5.50), a newly discovered addiction. I would have liked to have savoured it for longer but it was cool enough to down in almost one gulp. To accompany that I ordered the lucha pork benedict with pickled beetroot, spinach brioche and candied pumpkin seeds (19.50). My companion chose the dulce de leche french toast (also $19.50), which came with a small but perfectly formed panna cotta. My benedict was a gloriously disordered mess of broccolini and seeds and the french toast was a colourful collection of berries and colour. Both of us regretted spoiling the visual artistry with our cutlery — but only until our taste buds got their turn. So moist, so sweet, so good.
Major Tom, 85 Apollo Drive, Albany. Photo / Getty Images
Service & other stuff
I don't think it's a good idea to give an eatery a 100 per cent score. There is always something — for us the coffee could have been warmer — and besides, you don't want them to think they have nailed it and to stop trying. But then I also read that Major Tom is solar-powered. And that makes up for the tepid coffee.
