Its been a month since my last post. Its not like we haven't eaten out with or without Hospobaby, its just that life has been far too busy. We haven't eaten in any noteworthy places either. We have had to move to Ellerslie, so have had to wave goodbye to all the lovely cafes and takeaways in Ponsonby.
It is much more dull in the south. Not many cool places, no mum-baby-dog combos walking along the road each morning. With moving and repainting we have sadly had too many Dominos pizzas and Indian takeouts. Last week however, I managed to squeeze an impromptu lunch on Friday after picking hospobaby from daycare, then stealing my man from the restaurant. We wanted something quick, so we started to head to Fatima's for kebabs, then veered into Bird on a wire next door. Sid said that he'd heard they do Bahn mi bale style chicken sandwiches. We loved Bahn mi bale sandwiches when they were available in High street, now the place has packed up and left with our favorite Vietnamese delight.
Bird on a wire does only free range chicken. The place smelt divine. Sid and I ordered a banh mi bale sandwich each and a side of beer battered chips to share. The sandwiches seemed reasonable at 12 bucks each for free range fare. The sandwich was a let down. The filling was tasty with the chicken pate. The roll was too hard and my jaw felt strained eating it. By the time we finished our mouths felt dry.
The beer battered chips were amazing, crunchy but soft inside. It came with a complex dip with slightly spicy flavors. Zoya ate all our chips! Next time I might pick up half a bird instead, the one with Jerk seasoning sounds promising.
On Sunday, friends from Melbourne were in town and wanted to catch up at a child-friendly cafe. We were a bit stumped as Zoya is only one, so we have been dragging here to all our favorite places without the need for any other entertainment but us and the food. Simon and Luisa have beautiful twin girls, so the dilemma of having three kids at a table narrowed our limited picky cafe list to 0.
I googled- the last resort for the desperate. I came up with only one cafe- Mecca stonehouse in Mission bay. It was the only one in the vicinity of mission bay or the CBD. We hate chain cafes, Mecca is one of them. They are impersonal and the food is just run of the mill. We sincerely hoped this would not be the case last Sunday. Two chefs, and three kids to feed was a good challenge for Mecca.
We were seated and greeted promptly. Hospobaby was hungry and started creating a scene the minute we sat down and she saw drinks being brought to the table. I decided to walk to the counter and order a muffin to settle her. The staff quickly intercepted me and took my order and delivered it promptly. I was impressed. Perhaps,we were wrong. I am sure you can sense the "but" approaching. Well after ordering our brekkies, juices and coffees we let the kids lose. The twins took to all the play equipment as enthusiastically as Hospobaby took to her muffin. Almost everyone ordered dishes with eggs. I can't do eggs perhaps because of a childhood phobia or just because their texture and smell puts me off. I ordered what I considered a safe dish, creamy mushrooms with roast potatoes and chorizo. My creamy mushrooms came in a bowl rather than a plate. That should explain it all, that creamy mushrooms had more cream than mushrooms, the thing was a soup. The chorizo had not been seared first just boiled in the cream, the roast potatoes felt insulted as they quickly lost their crunch swimming in the cream. Hospobaby ate a few bites from my bowl but her tastebuds like mine rejected the goop. We ate the bread that came along with our breakfast soup and had our drinks. Hospobaby has had a thing for coffee cups, the takeaway variety. Everytime Sid wants a coffee Zoya wants some too. Its hazardous. So the only good thing to come out of Mecca besides catching up with our friends was finding out the ingenious idea of giving Zoya her own fluffy in her very own cup.
I would rate Mecca for its child friendliness. Go in if you want a catch up with friends which involves juice and muffins (coffee is not that great either). Make sure the kitchen gets your order, the last coffees our table ordered never came despite several reminders. Go in if you want to explore the great play ground by the beach. I can safely say I stand uncorrected about their food. Its still rubbish.
Sunday, saw us finish the final touches of paint. So after replacing all that we could in its rightful spots, we were craving a bit of the city and so were our bellies. We went back to Mexico. We reached there at 2.15 and parked in a bus lane so had to be out by 3 when the buses came back. It was not a problem last time and wasn't this time either. The mexican food genie still works there, apparently. We ordered drinks, Hospobaby attacked my guava soda and had to be brought an empty glass so she could have a sip of her own. We ordered two of the skirt steak tacos, as we loved them last time. They were even better than before. One of the pulled chicken taco which was divine and the lovely signature fried chicken. A chicken quesadilla that Hospobaby devoured as it wasn't spicy. We decided to try the chorizo and squid which was amazing. Crunchy chorizo packed with flavor and perfectly cooked squid rings in a tangy dressing.
Our waitress had warned us that we were ordering too much and we had reassured her that it wouldn't be an issue. Thank you very much for the consideration but your food is so delicious we will eat it all!
We did, we could have eaten more. At $77 for everything, we know why we will keep going back there again and again. North Shore need not despair, Mimi and Warren have informed us that they are opening up another Mexico in Takapuna. Oh but that does not help us, we live on the south side...
I guess I am going to go back and check an old favorite that I haven't visited in ages, back in the day, when Metro magazine hadn't even heard of it, Mexican Specialities on Marua road in Ellerslie was a fav haunt of mine. Will keep you posted.
Until then... live to eat like Hospobaby.
It is much more dull in the south. Not many cool places, no mum-baby-dog combos walking along the road each morning. With moving and repainting we have sadly had too many Dominos pizzas and Indian takeouts. Last week however, I managed to squeeze an impromptu lunch on Friday after picking hospobaby from daycare, then stealing my man from the restaurant. We wanted something quick, so we started to head to Fatima's for kebabs, then veered into Bird on a wire next door. Sid said that he'd heard they do Bahn mi bale style chicken sandwiches. We loved Bahn mi bale sandwiches when they were available in High street, now the place has packed up and left with our favorite Vietnamese delight.
Bird on a wire does only free range chicken. The place smelt divine. Sid and I ordered a banh mi bale sandwich each and a side of beer battered chips to share. The sandwiches seemed reasonable at 12 bucks each for free range fare. The sandwich was a let down. The filling was tasty with the chicken pate. The roll was too hard and my jaw felt strained eating it. By the time we finished our mouths felt dry.
The beer battered chips were amazing, crunchy but soft inside. It came with a complex dip with slightly spicy flavors. Zoya ate all our chips! Next time I might pick up half a bird instead, the one with Jerk seasoning sounds promising.
On Sunday, friends from Melbourne were in town and wanted to catch up at a child-friendly cafe. We were a bit stumped as Zoya is only one, so we have been dragging here to all our favorite places without the need for any other entertainment but us and the food. Simon and Luisa have beautiful twin girls, so the dilemma of having three kids at a table narrowed our limited picky cafe list to 0.
I googled- the last resort for the desperate. I came up with only one cafe- Mecca stonehouse in Mission bay. It was the only one in the vicinity of mission bay or the CBD. We hate chain cafes, Mecca is one of them. They are impersonal and the food is just run of the mill. We sincerely hoped this would not be the case last Sunday. Two chefs, and three kids to feed was a good challenge for Mecca.
We were seated and greeted promptly. Hospobaby was hungry and started creating a scene the minute we sat down and she saw drinks being brought to the table. I decided to walk to the counter and order a muffin to settle her. The staff quickly intercepted me and took my order and delivered it promptly. I was impressed. Perhaps,we were wrong. I am sure you can sense the "but" approaching. Well after ordering our brekkies, juices and coffees we let the kids lose. The twins took to all the play equipment as enthusiastically as Hospobaby took to her muffin. Almost everyone ordered dishes with eggs. I can't do eggs perhaps because of a childhood phobia or just because their texture and smell puts me off. I ordered what I considered a safe dish, creamy mushrooms with roast potatoes and chorizo. My creamy mushrooms came in a bowl rather than a plate. That should explain it all, that creamy mushrooms had more cream than mushrooms, the thing was a soup. The chorizo had not been seared first just boiled in the cream, the roast potatoes felt insulted as they quickly lost their crunch swimming in the cream. Hospobaby ate a few bites from my bowl but her tastebuds like mine rejected the goop. We ate the bread that came along with our breakfast soup and had our drinks. Hospobaby has had a thing for coffee cups, the takeaway variety. Everytime Sid wants a coffee Zoya wants some too. Its hazardous. So the only good thing to come out of Mecca besides catching up with our friends was finding out the ingenious idea of giving Zoya her own fluffy in her very own cup.
I would rate Mecca for its child friendliness. Go in if you want a catch up with friends which involves juice and muffins (coffee is not that great either). Make sure the kitchen gets your order, the last coffees our table ordered never came despite several reminders. Go in if you want to explore the great play ground by the beach. I can safely say I stand uncorrected about their food. Its still rubbish.
Sunday, saw us finish the final touches of paint. So after replacing all that we could in its rightful spots, we were craving a bit of the city and so were our bellies. We went back to Mexico. We reached there at 2.15 and parked in a bus lane so had to be out by 3 when the buses came back. It was not a problem last time and wasn't this time either. The mexican food genie still works there, apparently. We ordered drinks, Hospobaby attacked my guava soda and had to be brought an empty glass so she could have a sip of her own. We ordered two of the skirt steak tacos, as we loved them last time. They were even better than before. One of the pulled chicken taco which was divine and the lovely signature fried chicken. A chicken quesadilla that Hospobaby devoured as it wasn't spicy. We decided to try the chorizo and squid which was amazing. Crunchy chorizo packed with flavor and perfectly cooked squid rings in a tangy dressing.
Our waitress had warned us that we were ordering too much and we had reassured her that it wouldn't be an issue. Thank you very much for the consideration but your food is so delicious we will eat it all!
We did, we could have eaten more. At $77 for everything, we know why we will keep going back there again and again. North Shore need not despair, Mimi and Warren have informed us that they are opening up another Mexico in Takapuna. Oh but that does not help us, we live on the south side...
I guess I am going to go back and check an old favorite that I haven't visited in ages, back in the day, when Metro magazine hadn't even heard of it, Mexican Specialities on Marua road in Ellerslie was a fav haunt of mine. Will keep you posted.
Until then... live to eat like Hospobaby.
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