Quay Street Cafe - CLOSED

Overview

Quietly occupying the corner opposite The Northern Steamship, sits Quay Street Cafe. Leafy hedges border its large outdoor seating area and through the glass walls you can see the hive of activity inside. Walking in you are almost immediately greeted - "breakfast? would you like to sit inside or outside?" Oh, why yes, outside will do quite nicely thank you.

Quay Streets menu was pretty good. It took me almost half an hour to decide what I wanted so there was a lot to choose from in the vegetarian department. The chili fried egg jumped out at me, as did the haloumi with pumpkin puree, currants and spinach. The spicy lentils with poached eggs were also looking rather appealing. Ugh. Decision making.

In terms of vegan/dietary specific options, there wasn't huge variety on offer unless you asked to remove or substitute an ingredient, which the staff were pretty happy to do. Quay Streets strength was in it's large range of both gluten free and vegetarian dishes, which are all completely delicious and I have now eaten each one multiple times - particularly the gluten free zucchini fritters with pickled onions, creme fraiche and dukkah. Also, according to my true blue kiwi mother the pork belly  was "absolutely divine".

Aside from their menu they also have a great range of cabinet food always with at least one gluten free cake, which my sweet tooth greatly appreciates. The resident barista master Si also makes the best coffee i've ever had, in case you're wondering. Honourable mention must go to their house fries - giant wedges served with aioli and sprinkled with some sort of delish mystery salt (I now know what the secret ingredient is but mysteries are way more fun, right?).

Overall, I can definitely see why this little ripper was voted 'Top 50' by Metro Magazine this past November. Quay Street does a darn fine job of providing a varied, unique and friendly menu. There are delicious options for almost anyone, especially as the staff are so happy to accommodate your needs. So I say well done to one of my now very regular eating spots - you're Picky Eater Approved.