This morning’s trip out to Maranui Café was a compensatory visit. Not for the hungry hordes whom happily ate there. But for the DH (Darling Husband) who wanted a surrogate Father’s Day celebration, as last weekend was spent away from home with my family. Fair enough, we’re not complaining.
Soon after we get seated at Maranui, a group of cyclists came in, “table for 10?” Ha ha, good one!
Now, a word of warning. If you want to experience the best-run café with a brilliant atmosphere and food and in the weekend, get up early. Even if you do manage to get up, dressed and out to Lyall Bay before 9am, be prepared for a wait, for a table and food. This is well known, which is why nobody really minds waiting and will happily queue up the stairs. You do occasionally find people who like to have everything just perfect. These frustrating people want loads of space and pronto service, and will keep table swapping until they find the perfect table. Forget that; eat at home if that’s what you want. You come to a café to enjoy the people watching, get served on and eat food that you wouldn’t whip up yourself on an early Sunday morning. Stop fluffing, relax and enjoy.
The buzz at Maranui Café is exactly what drew me to cafes in the first place. As a student in Dunedin was my first café experience. Not a tearoom – they’re entirely different. But a proper café, that served fresh espresso, huge savoury muffins and salads.
The best thing at Maranui, apart from the view and the food, is watching the staff working expertly together. There is very little verbal communication between the staff. A humorous bike hooter is used instead of “SERVICE”, a raise in music volume is used to rev staff up when the place is packed and queued out the door, and a smile is used when new staff look overwhelmed. Then the barista staff break into song along with Amy Winehouse “I told ya I was trouble, you know that I’m no good”.
Maranui doesn’t need the good press. Never has. Ironically, that is another reason people go there. It’s a fickle thing, getting the right mix in running a café. Maranui have it in truckloads. I go and sit there in the weekday afternoons with a coffee and watch the planes coming into land. It’s very therapeutic.
There is usually pulling power on the celebrity front too. Not that we’re bov’erd. We’d rather gaze at the surfers paddling out to catch the next wave, or watch the planes battling the gusts of wind to level out just in time. I believe that’s where the clapping started, by the way, when you’re on a plane coming into land and the pilot has masterly glided the plane in during a northerly, now that deserves an applause.
Today we were all very hungry, as I was saying. The junior Locals love the Maranui kids Pixie pancakes and thick shakes. Part of the appeal of the thick shakes for the juniors is that they are delivered in the original metal milkshake containers. How is the thick shake then Noisy Local? “It is FANTASTIC and has two straws!” Can I try? “NO”. Fine, I sneak some later. I very rarely can go past the adults version of the pancakes that are organic buttermilk with crispy bacon and banana. The DH chose the eggs benedict with dense ham off the bone, crusty sourdough toast and obligatory hollandaise sauce. He was very happy, felt treated and content.
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