A & J Cafe

Full marks for Ara Tai! There wasn’t one thing I didn’t love about my time at Ara Tai. Getting there was easy, parking was easy to find. There are parks for boats or marina folk but they are separated from public parks by a mechanical arm. The cafe is large and spacious inside, and has plenty of outdoor seating as well. Cabinet is well stocked. The menu had a wide range (which I personally like). Coffee was great. Now let’s talk about the pancakes… 😱🤩🥳 they are AMAZING! Surrounded by fruit and compote, drizzled with chocolate sauce, a nice dollop of whipped cream and a huge slab of French vanilla ice cream. Wow. It was so good the birds were jealous. My mother had the bagel and that was also amazing. The girls that work there are lovely, one of them even gave me a recommendation for next time. Definitely will be going back.

Came for lunch on a weekday and it was busy enough to have a buzz but not packed. Service was quick and attentive. My flat white was really good and I'm quite picky with my coffees. I ordered the chicken burger with fries. The fries were crunchy and tasty and came with tomato sauce. The chicken burger was generous with a whole chicken thigh and fresh salad. My only suggestion for the chef is to replace the pickles (which in my opinion are more suited to beef burgers) with something with some sweetness like cranberry sauce or a tomato relish. The oiliness of the chicken and aioli had nothing to balance it out so the burger didn't have a lot of flavour. Also as the chicken is grilled the outside was a bit tough - not terribly but as the bun was a very soft brioche bun, everything was easy to bite except the chicken so with each bite the burger was falling apart as I had to tear the chicken with my teeth. I would recommend either making the chicken softer on the outside (it was actually juicy and delicious in the middle) or using a more structured bun. Overall I enjoyed my visit and think they deserve 4 stars - I'm sad to see they got so many bad reviews recently, I think they are working on it. Hopefully constructive reviews are helpful for them in this process!

This place is so nice for a sunny morning brunch! We had a quick lunch here and the view was stunning. we got the chicken pot pie as well as the seafood pot pie. the seafood one was definitely more yum but both are nice with a crispy top. We then got a thai beef salad which had perfect flavours and nice textures. Overall lovely place would recommend!!

okay cafe, though quite pricy. Their pork belly sandwich was bland and definitely needed some seasoning, and their matcha latte wasn't that good, but their eggs benedict was quite nice! We ordered around 3+ dishes that had poached eggs and they were cooked perfectly. Nonetheless, too pricey for the quality of food.