Overview
The morning and evening commute can be a dreary part of anyone's day but for those of us who pass through Britomart this commute can now be a bit more exciting. This is due to the arrival of Shakedown Milk Bar, a bright and inviting space serving up delicious milkshakes and a range of baked goods. Situated on the Commerce Street side of the train station, your eyes are immediately drawn to the splashes of colour decorating the space. When you step inside, the colour splashes continue and provide a very welcoming, funky space to grab a shake and cookie.
Owner Nick McCaw is thrilled with the popularity of Shakedown and since its opening at the beginning of March, he reckons they have served on average four hundred customers a day. Shakedown is part of the Mouthful Restaurant Group who have brought us Mexico, 1885 and Britomart Country Club.
It took a while to get the attention of the staff even though the place wasn't busy but we'll let that slide as this is a new venture still finding its feet. The milkshakes and cookies were so yummy, this made up for it tenfold.
Jumping on the freak shake bandwagon, Shakedown's version features a soft serve cone on top of a chocolate shake and topped with more sprinkles than you could shake a stick at. If the idea of a freak shake overwhelms you, don't worry as normal milkshakes and Allpress coffee are available too. Shakedown has also employed a 'pay it forward' service where you can pay for your own coffee and then pay for someone else's.
We sampled the double chocolate shake and the passionfruit shake. Thick, creamy and studded with fudgey pieces of chocolate, the double choc is certainly a contender for best milkshake we've tried in Auckland. The passionfruit shake hit all the right flavour notes and certainly wasn't a dumbed down version with an intense passion zing.
To accompany the shakes we tried the peanut butter afghan cookie. This was a freshly baked piece of heaven. Generous in size and topped with a swirl of peanut butter we just want to go back again and again to sample all of the flavours on offer. As well as the cookies, there are also sandwiches if you forget your lunch on the way to work.
So whether you're a commuter or not, you should make your way to Shakedown Milk Bar— we're already planning our return visit.