Cafe review: Once Strangers, Upper Symonds St

Saturday's lunch: bulgogi beef burger and pear and walnut waffles

The story behind this cafe is a unique and personal one. Emily and Aaron, the owners, are now engaged, but previously they were once strangers who got to know each other at a cafe. Their vision for their newly established eatery, appropriately named  'Once Strangers', was to create a social place; a space to talk, eat and enjoy each other's company over affordable meals. Every element you see has a story behind in; the menus, logo, table numbers, the feature wall.

Conveniently located in front of the bus stop on Symonds Street where Mt Eden Road and Khyber Pass Road buses converge (next to Gina's Italian restaurant) the cafe greets you with a welcoming airy glass frontage. The interior is bright and fresh, bustling on a Saturday afternoon.

The menu is one of those menus that you could spend 20 minutes trying to decide. Because, ooh the waffles! But ooh soft baked eggs? Yum I love pork belly. But the bulgogi beef burger...

Breakfast waffles; bacon, grilled banana, whipped cream and maple syrup $15

I love waffles. Not many cafes serve them, usually brunch menus only extend to pancakes and french toast. But there are two sweet waffle options and a savoury one here!

Pear & walnut waffles served with poached pear, walnut crumble,
whipped cream and caramel drizzle $14

It tasted as good as it looks. The waffles were the perfect texture; not crunchy and not chewy, the right crisp and fluffiness. My friend loved the poached pear and I loved the biscuit flavor of the walnut crumble although I prefer the bacon less crispy with the savoury option.

Pork belly bao bun with pear coleslaw $18.50

Bao is a Chinese style steamed bun that is ever so slightly sweet but the combination is delectable when filled with meat, vegetables and asian style seasoning. Once Strangers did it just right; soft and not at all dry. There are two options for order: spicy, stir-fried thin sliced pork belly or honey balsamic thick pork belly. For those of you undecided you can get one of each for $18.50 or a single one for $9.50. We were one of the undecided ones.

I have to say I'm not keen on pork but my friend who ordered it is, and he says the best one is the honey balsamic because it had a hint of sweetness that complemented the savoury pork flavor.

You know the food is good when you look up and there, across the table, is your friend eating with his eyes closed.

Bulgogi marinated beef patty, housemade potato rosti,
caramelised onion in a brioche bun with fries $18

The king meal for the hungry: bulgogi beef burger. The bulgogi beef is a korean BBQ style tangy sauce. It tasted absolutely amazing. The potato rosti (hash) was tasty and paired well with the caramelised onion and bulgogi flavor. It was a massive burger that you'll regret not finishing later. The fries were crispy and came with aioli (slightly too lemony, I thought). This burger is a definite winner and I'd recommend it without hesitation if you come here.

They had an extensive drinks selection, from acai smoothie to Vietnamese iced coffee. It's worth coming here even if you're not ordering food. They have affogato and a Kohu Road ice cream cabinet which you can buy in scoop or make into a milkshake. My friend is a coffee snob so when he says the coffee is good; the coffee must be good.

Kohu Road ice cream

Once Strangers' menu is their strength. There is a lot of variety that I imagine would satisfy almost everyone. Not too much variety in their cabinet mealwise, although the sweet slices looked unique and tempting paired with a coffee.

Cabinet food selection

What makes this cafe unique is their personalised touches.

The table numbers are made up of people's names who helped made the cafe what it is.

There are packs of personally made conversation cards on every table; blue to break the ice and pink for "date conversations". Or if you're here alone, there is free wifi!




Both my friends have said they want to make a second visit. With a menu variety like this and the quality of food we've had, I'm keen to go again.

This is the place to go for your next brunch/ date.

Signed,

Elisa


Menu below taken from their Facebook page. Eat off each others' plates like I did if you can't decide what to order :p

Once Strangers
159 Symonds Street,
Eden Terrace
Auckland
HOURS | Tues - Fri 7-3pm, Sat 9-4pm

Fed Deli brunch

We're just three girls who love God and that's how our paths crossed.
One day in 2013 I met one of them and realised that she lives next door to me and then over the years figured out that we both #loveleo.
I met the other girl... I can't quite remember when. The first time I remember talking to her was when I was waiting at the bus stop after dessert at Milse and she had just finished work at Cafe Hanoi. That was when she started dating my 'lil bro' and I was asking her about it and if he gave her flowers.
Because flowers, no matter the impracticality or lack of function they have, are a great gesture of affections. The most nature-al thing to show your natural feelings.

Anyway, I had been wanting to go back to the Fed for brunch ever since someone asked if I had had their griddle cakes. Last time I went for dinner, it was delicious and I loved the diner atmosphere. So I went back and took ma two gurls with me.

Their website describes it as an "old school New York Jewish deli". Pretty American, that's my take on it.

It's right on Federal Street, where the entrance to the Skytower is. We watched a number of bungee jumpers risk their lives for twenty seconds of adrenalin. Not for us, we thought.

An iced coffee for me, because they don't do espresso; they only have filter. Worth noting that it is bottomless filter! 

Iced coffee was nothing special, although I do like this style more than a frappe.

For the full menu, click here

Morning Glory; breakfast salad with portabello mushroom, haloumi, poached egg and dukkah $18

Griddle cakes; blueberry pancakes with cinnamon butter and nutty crunch $18

Turkey on rye; with cranberry, walnuts, smoked cheese and apple $15

Not bad, a little on the pricey side than most nice cafes. But we enjoyed catching up with each other.

And to conclude,

Here is my latest artwork; Tintin's first meeting with Captain Haddock. Taken from The Crab with the Golden Claws.

Signed,

Elisa

A little bit about homemade subway cookies

I love subway cookies!
The M&M ones are the best and I made my own at home. Going to share them with my action group.. :D


ps. If they're microwaved for 15sec, they'll taste more like legit subway cookies :p

Subway Cookies

225gr butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
6 Tbsp white sugar
2 eggs
4 tsp vanilla essence
3 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 bag (200 gr) M&Ms

1. Beat butter and both sugars until soft
2. Add egg, one at a time, beating well after each addition
3. Add vanilla essence and continue beating until well mixed
4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, soda and salt with a fork
5. Combine with butter mixture and mix with a spatula until just combined
6. Roll into balls and add M&Ms before flattening
7. Bake at 150C for 17 minutes and cool on tray for about 15 minutes

Makes 30 cookies

all the red ones for jt...


And to conclude,
I went to The Shelf, a fairly new cafe on High street. It is so pretty and has been recommended to me so many times, I'll do a blogpost on it when I go there next to try their waffles :D

Look at their hot chocolate! For $5.50 is was pretty special...
Hot steamed milk with a chocolate stick to stir and melt and a mini jug of chocolate syrup for the sweet tooth :D
Very satisfied.

Signed,
Elisa

A little bit about a date: Station and Chocolate Boutique

I have just finished my 5 exams and it feels so good. As good as dipping a spoon in a nutella jar... mmm...

But not so good when I think of the results :/

It's okay, I've done my best- letting God do the rest!

jt and I celebrated by having a day full of good food..

We went to Station Canteen and Espresso for lunch, famous for their $6 meals

They have a mix of cuisines; Chinese, Italian, European, Thai...

So many people have recommended it to me, and six bucks for a meal at a restaurant? Unheard of! So we went to check it out...

I was starving after my 3 hour morning exam!! I ordered spaghetti bolognese $6 pretty delicious... It hit the spot. But I was still really hungry after that. What is this?! Can anyone explain why I can eat 3 dinners during exams? Is it the stress, is it because studying requires a lot of energy and I'm not eating enough to keep it up? I'm hungry as I write this and I had two servings for dinner...

jt's chicken noodle soup. It smelled so good!!
He said it was to his expectations (and he has high expectations)

I loved the decor and ambience immediately.
The place was well decorated, sunny, airy and had a relaxed feel. I can tell they would get pretty full and busy sometimes!

this is the seating just before the main doors.



Oh and do you know what's awkward? Unisex toilets.
They basically had one bathroom with two cubicles, one for gents one for ladies.
So awkward!!




Anyway, we walked to Parnell afterwards, to the Chocolate Boutique!

My banoffee parfait! Bananas with hokey pokey ice cream, cream, toffee sauce and grated russian fudge.


The Chocolate Boutique is one of my favorite dessert places, I had been looking forward to sharing it with jt.
The selection, the price, the food... To read a previous post about it, click here: The Chocolate Boutique

Chocolate waffle!! Look at that pleased face :) He said it was delicious
You know the food's good when he makes satisfied sounds when he eats :p

yumm...

It was delicious indeed.



The rest of the day we spent walking to Newmarket, leaving him at a bookstore while I perused the make up and the dresses and stockings... Then we went home and watched Rhys Darby Live DVD and cooked spaghetti bolognese!

It was so yum, I had two big bowls, which is about quadruple the portion I normally eat...
Follow the recipe here, but instead of half a can of water we used a quarter cup of red wine.


jt was well fed today and in turn, it made me feel good about myself!
Girls, feed your men.




And to conclude,

We've been getting into Dynamo: Magician Impossible shows.
I am really into magic and tricks,
Look at his trick here, where he slams a phone into a glass bottle and the cellphone is stuck inside http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c6s-G6LGEM

I've been youtubing all his tricks, because I can't stand not knowing how the tricks work! Unfortunately, it's not as impressive when they are revealed :p Watch them on youtube! They are mind boggling.

Signed,
Elisa

A little bit about high tea with my mum at Stamford Plaza

Ever since Calci took me to high tea at Cornwall Park Restaurant for my 19th birthday (thank you Calci!! That was so special) I had been wanting to take my mum to experience this European culture...

Stamford Plaza (which is a reaaaal nice hotel; Dom told me this evening that LADY GAGA stayed in their top suite) serves high tea from 12pm on Sunday accompanied by a live pianist, so that was super elegant :D

Mama said: I used to wish my children would play the piano like that.

lol Grade 4. soz bout it.

I was going to order rosehip with hibiscus flowers, then the waiter said we could order coffee in the high tea package, so I got a trim latte (noticed the link to my blog address? ;) )

mummy with the tier

The white curl on the top tier is white chocolate! So cool! Reminded me of that time I dropped a chocolate curl in Josh's drink at chocolate boutique cause "Tiff told me to!"

top tier: custard fruit tart, berry sponge friand and macarons

middle tier: chocolate scones, raisin scones and curry puffs

finger sandwiches; cucumber and salmon, relish, ham and cheese

jam and cream in cute little mugs for the scones :D

me :) aw i like this photo

the finger sandwiches were good and I always appreciate interesting ways of cutting the bread haha. I especially liked the cheese in the ham and cheese filling.

curry puffs were a bit spicy for me (radiation side effect #1) but the first 3 seconds of chewing it was quite tasty :p

I usually avoid eating scones because they're really dry (radiation side effect #2) but I had these and they were yum with jam and cream.

The only good piece from the dessert tier was the fruit tart, but even then the ones we made for Calci's brother's engagement party were way better. The berry friand was average, not very gourmet tasting. The macarons were even worse. Seriously, if you're going to serve macarons, serve real ones, not ones with jam in the middle.
It's alright, mama and I are making Adriano Zumbo's on Mothers' Day.

These are the goodies my mum brought back from Sydney! She got them from Coles. The Lindt hot chocolate tastes like the gold easter bunnies... melted. Absolutely delicious.

The restaurant in Stamford Plaza is called Knights, situated in the lobby. I liked the seating plan; open and relaxed with a business feel created by the low knee-high tables and arm chairs.
I felt like Blair was going to walk in at any moment to join Serena for a martini. And Chuck behind them, trading his father's assets with Jack over a brandy.

Do you know what I always do when I go somewhere nice?

Check out the bathrooms.

Check out myself in this fantastic mirror.

You know it's good when they have hand lotion in the bathrooms!!

Bottom line: Great location, but the food didn't live up to it. Average.


Lauren and I have had this plan since last year to have high tea at the Langham... And then we found out it was $45 per person. Aiyaaaa. Maybe once, for a very very special occassion...

And to conclude,

one day...
http://stamfordresidences.co.nz/apartments-for-sale/one-bedroom.html

it would be nice.


Signed,
Elisa