Cafe Botannix
Dad's pick, and honestly not bad. A tomato sauce that had no business being good, the crunchiest bacon yet, and a price tag that does all the right things. Hollandaise could have been bolder.
Scores
Time for brunch. Dad unfurls a refresher course on the rise of destitute youths as a direct result of brunchflation. Proceeds to tell me about his favorite independently run franchise cafe frequented by his anachronistic cycling group, and its bank-friendly $22 bennie. Off to Cafe Botannix Takapuna we go.
Cafe Botannix really is quite a pretty little cafe; it has a lovely outdoor seating area on the main strip of Takapuna which on a weekend morning is quite the spectacle of athletic endeavor. Oat milk iced coffee and bacon 'bennie' on rosti ordered, I sink into an outdoor seat and wonder if fitness also works via osmosis.
The $8.40 coffee was mild in taste; caffeinated and cool but not packed full of flavor - receiving a neutral 7.5 / 10. Shortly after the lovely staff proffer a delicious looking brunch whilst passerby fitfolk steal jealous, salivating glances and reconsider their morning routines.
As a benedict traditionalist, I'm always skeptical when cafes attempt to improve upon perfection. Namely, this bennie was seated on a plate garnished with a tomato based sauce. I presumed it would end up being a graveyard of avoided desecration on my plate but to my pleasant surprise, I would say this sauce was nearly a highlight of the meal.
The rosti seated atop was bountiful and packed a spice infused punch. Truthfully, the jury is a little out on this one as I don't believe that the rosti should be the focal flavor of the food.
Eggs were cooked to perfection, with the yolk runny yet the eggwhite cooked through. All coated in a gossamer hollandaise, and underlaid by a bedding of spinach leaves.
Food devoured, the lingering sentiment was one of ambivalence. The eggs were grand, the tomato sauce light and flavorful, and the bacon was the crunchiest found yet. But the overpowering herbed up rosti along with the thin blanket of hollandaise left me longing for what could have been.
Overall, Cafe Botannix is a lovely little cafe with good, affordably priced food, and affable service. The bennie receives an absolute rating of 6.8 / 10, but after a tasteful price normalisation, yields a final score of 7.8 / 10. Final arbitration reveals a madrosti_ score of 7.7 / 10.