Longshot Espresso Bar

Overview

Is there a particular time when you turn into an adult and prefer sparkling water to still, or am I an anomaly? I remember detesting sparkling, even in my early 20s when I was travelling in countries with foreign languages, making it hard to decipher which water bottle was which. I have really bad water karma now as I ended up cracking the bottles and listening for the fizz before putting them back in the chiller at the supermarket, and grabbing the one with a different label. Now when everyone else's water gets topped up at a restaurant, mine gets conspicuously ignored. I am sorry, okay water gods?

Food tastes change so I guess water tastes change too. Now I love my sparkling water. I even own a soda stream. Sparkling water forever. At the newest cafe to open in Ponsonby, Longshot, they don't ask your preference but just automatically give you sparkling water when you sit down. My adult self loves this.

I ordered a green juice and fish and chips, because my adult self is also a complicated woman. My partner ordered a scotch egg because scotch eggs are the best things ever, but I was hungry/greedy and fish and chips sounded like a bigger portion size. Both were delicious, the scotch egg was yummy and oozy in the middle with a great pickle and potato salad and the tartare sauce complimented the fish perfectly, especially with the little crispy capers mixed throughout.

Longshot serves Allpress coffee which is consistently great, and you can kind of just laze about in the entire Longroom vicinity while enjoying your cuppa or fried fish. The location is central and familiar as it housed the old Santos cafe for ages. It seems to flow a bit better now, in summer it will be glorious, and the menu is fun and varied so it's easy to want a repeat to try the rest. I'm eyeballing the lamb tzatziki pita.

The staff are great and they didn't make me feel super awkward while I sat there like Nigel no mates waiting for my lunch companion to show up. The lunch menu is varied and tasty - and if you have limited time, it's really efficient. The breakfast menu boasts homemade baked beans, savoury waffles and corned beef so I'll be sure to go back and check out the early options as well.

With a zillion cafes along Ponsonby Road, it would be easy to miss this new opening. But I really suggest you don't.