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What a joy it was today for Oli and I to go to Good One Café at 42 Douglas Street to not only have the best coffee in town but also to feast my eyes on their new range of goodies from Little & Friday. They’ve always been a friendly bunch at Good One and of course Sam is up for the Metro Barista of the Year. VOTE NOW

Anyway back to the treats and of course top of the list is the L&F doughnut. It is the best of the best – stuffed full of custard and jam.

They don’t get better than this!

For those of us trying to do the 5 + 2 diet (yes I am so no LOL please) I’ve just blown my low calorie day in one bite. But worth it, as it’s so divine. Oli loved them as well.

As you will see from the photo there are other gorgeous goodies as well. Not to mention the yummy pies and toasted sarnies from the normal menu.

And to cap things off Good One Café are doing some renovations from Oct 7^th to 12^th so the space will be even better for the great range of products and services they provide. I understand coffee will still be served during the renovations

And finally I am so pleased with the new menu offerings as I don’t need to VOP to Newmarket to get my L&F doughnut.

Spring is here, summer fast approaching, life is good.

We are always on the lookout for good Japanese restaurants and we are reasonably well served in Ponsonby. At the more “cheap & cheerful” end we have been regulars at Tomo at Three Lamps. Our latest favourite however is Yuzu at 145 Ponsonby Road (next to Chapel) and we were there last Friday night. Yuzu has a bit more ambiance than Tomo much of which is provided by the wonderful Jane and her team.

They do a great take on okonomiyaki (seafood pancake) and our favourites are the any of the tempura, teriyaki chicken donburi and chicken katsu – all very yummy and reasonably priced.

Perfect for a quick bite – lovely service and very reasonably priced.

PS Can’t wait for Ponsonby market day this Saturday Sept 21st

Just to finish my posts on the trip to Europe I thought I’d let you have some travel tips:

1. Buy an Oyster card for London tube (and other rail and bus) travel. Yes I know you all know this one but if I don’t put it in people would say “what about the Oyster card?” Actually I bought a card before I left from RailPlus in Newmarket. It costs a little more but you at least hit Heathrow with card in hand ready to go and don’t have to join the queues!!
2. iPhone and iPad apps – London Tube; London’s Best Coffee; Translate (great app for French this trip); vianavigo (for Paris metro – better than the “Paris Metro” app); TripAdvisor; Google Maps.
3. Buy Vodafone’s Data Roaming Bundle for Europe – $50 for 200MB (Zone 2) rather than fiddle around buying and installing local sim cards and worrying about whether your phone is locked or unlocked. Over 4 weeks I used 500MB at $130 which might seem a lot but its hassle free. No brainer! One touch to top up and charged to you Voda account.
4. Actually the real problem with using your iPhone for on-the-move google mapping or tripadvisoring is the phone running out of juice so take your charger with you and plug in at cafes etc. to recharge as you go.
5. Excellent dining in the Marais area of Paris at Les Philosophes (28 Rue Vieille du Temple), Bourguignon du Marais (52 rue Francois Miron) and in Montmartre at Le Garde Temps (19 bis rue Pierre Fontaine – very nouveau francais)
6. Excellent dining in London at The Pantechnicon a gastro pub in Knightsbridge/Belgravia
7. Excellent dining in Stratford-upon-Avon at Loxleys in Sheep Street
8. Excellent dining in Bowness-on-Windermere if you’re in the Lake District at Postilion & Jackson’s Bistro
9. Great coffee at kiwi-owned cafes – Nude Espresso Soho Square in London and Federation Coffee if you happen to be at the Brixton market.
10. And finally, if transiting at Shanghai you can have a shower in VIP Lounge 69 for NZ$50 if you buy 250RMB (local currency) at the Currency Exchange. Deb did, I didn’t need one haha

Next we’ll be back to good old Ponsonby stuff

Hello everyone. Sorry for the lack of posts over the last few weeks. Couldn’t quite master posting from my iPad. We got back on Saturday morning at 6.30am and after a shower and power nap were at Diz by 10.30am for a decent coffee, eggs benny and a side of mushrooms – heaven.

After 4 weeks of temperatures regularly over 30 degrees C it is hard to adjust to 10 degrees. Still at least we’ve got summer to look forward to.

My last post was just after we got back to London from Paris. We then picked up a rental and headed north to:

Stratford-upon-Avon – not to be missed as a quintessential English town and birthplace of Shakespeare. Fabulous meal at Loxleys on Sheep St; Morris dancing was a hoot – the English version of the haka I guess haha

Bowness on Windermere – a great introduction to the Lakes District; excellent food at  Jackson’s Bistro and Postilion Restaurant & Bar; must visit trip to Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm where she brought to life her memorable characters; Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck, Jeremy Fisher, Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten – there must have been a Rebecca in there somewhere haha. Deb in photo below is standing in Mr McGregor’s garden where Peter Rabbit was born/raised.

The house is incredible – it is as though Beatrix was there yesterday – her hat and gloves are on the table and her shoes are underneath. For many people the trip to Hill Top is I’m sure something of a pilgrimage.

Windermere – we stayed at the Langdale Chase Hotel on the shores of Lake Windermere – a sort of The Chateau meets Lake Whakatipu – gorgeous. Visited William Wordsworth’s house in Grasmere so the trip up north so far had been very literary.

We have really enjoyed absorbing ourselves in the literary history associated with Shakespeare, Beatrix (we’re on first name terms now) and Wordsworth.

To be honest I’ve never been a great fan of Shakespeare as I could never understand what he was saying!!! Of course I am now!!! Wordsworth I generally get – he wrote 200 years after WS and the English was a bit more understandable. Beatrix I get absolutely and remember reading her stories to the children and Oli of course. Deb of course gets the lot!!!!

Sorry just realised how long this post is getting so I’ll give you a break. More to come.

I said from time to time we would venture outside Ponsonby (VOP) which is what we’ve done – and is the reason for being no posts since July 12th cos I’ve just got to a pc and can’t seem to do it right on an ipad.

Anyway we left Auckland on July 14th bound for London via Shanghai. Why Shanghai – well Air New Zealand fly there and we still like to fly the flag or Star Alliance and you get to go Virgin Atlatic from Shanghai to London. And by the way if you are looking for a shower en route during the 4-5 hour layover at Shanghai be prepared to pay around NZ$50 but it needs to be cash in the local currency (RMB250) which you can buy at the currency exchange booth.

Anyway I digress. On to London for a few days then the Eurostar to Paris for 7 nights. We happen to be in Europe when summer is at its sweltering worst. Paris was 32 to 34 degrees every day. Stinking hot as my dad used to say – but we expect no sympathy. And we were in Paris for the last day of Le Tour which was very special – bit like being in Auckland for the rugby world cup final. Seriously.

Of course I thought I’d been very clever in booking an apartment through airbnb rather than those tiny hotel rooms and it was in the heart of the Marais. Outcome in the heatwave was no airconditioning so had to sleep with the windows open which let all the noise in from the noisy street below. Went out to buy a fan on day 2 for 40 euros and left it at the apartment! Didn’t get much sleep – small price to pay for being in this fabulous city.

But you’ve gotta love Paris – we went to some great bistros, loved the Musee d’Orsay, went to the Moulin Rouge (awesome) and did a 4 hour bike tour which was fantastic – sore bum though. Also if I could have worked out how to get some photos from iphone to this pc I’d have posted photos of my role as Huffer’s European brand ambassador where i posed in huffer t’s around the major sights of Paris – they’ll come – sorry Steve, not good for the brand image but I couldn’t help myself haha.

Well that’s about it for now. More Paris and London stories to come. “Wicked” was wicked and you can get a great flat white from Federation Coffee in Brixton – and not many other places in London – Even Sacred (off Carnaby Street) has gone off I think.

Am sure missing the great coffee from Diz, Farro and Douglas Supreme. Nothing as good over here.

Later, and look out for my travel tips blog being launched soon.