L'affare Melrose

We ordered one eggs Benedict with salmon and one with bacon, a long black and a flat white. The dishes were very well presented. The poached eggs and bacon were perfect, though I found the cured salmon a little too salty and fishy as an alternative to smoked salmon, making the dish hard to truly enjoy. That mild food disappointment aside, the staff were really wonderful and, as we found ourselves stranded by the Auckland flooding, they even offered us use of a couch upstairs and free coffees. Though we didn’t take advantage of this kindness, it really struck us as generous and hospitable—they do real credit to the venue and added some cheer to a miserable situation.

As a group of ex colleagues we came to L'affare Newmarket cafe for our monthly breakfast together. At 7:15am it was easy to find a parking spot. When you enter the cafe rich smell of coffee welcomes you and lovely hostess helps you to find a seat. It looks like management pays attention to customer service a lot as all frontend staff is very nice, polite and helpful. I truly enjoyed hospitality here. I ordered Avocado on toast and it was simply delicious, portion size was good enough. Coffee is invigorative and yummy

Everything was perfect! Just wished I could come here more often! For food, the three of us had an egg benedict w/bacon and another one with smoke salmon (one of which the muffin was changed to hash brown, as a huge hash brown fan, it was slightly disappointing) and truffle egg with sourdough bread. The scrambled egg was creamy and smooth and the truffle was no overwhelming. For drinks, a cappuccino, flat white and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate came with a surprise - a Whittakers chocolate bar. We didn't notice there were other goodies near the cashier, if not I'd had ordered a pastry instead! The ambience and service were both really pleasant! :)

I had some time on Monday morning to stop by for breakfast. Turns out the kitchen is closed on Mondays. I ended up just getting a hot chocolate since I was there. I was surprised at how nice the hot chocolate was, probably helped with the stick of Whittakers chocolate that came with it. It wasn't the start I was expecting but did turn out nicer than anticipated. The place was quite large and did have a nice dining area. The bathrooms were also quite clean and spacious. There was a "wait to be seated" sign by the door for those who were planning on just rocking up like I did.

Low-key and elegant, it took me a while to see the shop sign. The decoration is stylish and the space is very high. The waiters are very enthusiastic. Coffee should be the specialty of this shop. I ordered papardelle, the handmade pasta was springy and the sauce was good. Recommend worth a visit.