In this episode, we interview the owner/proprietor of Preservatorium Cafe & Cannery. This is a very new cafe that has just opened on Webb Street, in Wellington. We interviewed Peter Thompson, a Dunedin native, who came to Wellington a couple years ago, specifically to build and open this new cafe.

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In the interview, Peter discusses the reasons for coming to Wellington, and talks about the long, but fruitful journey to open this wonderful cafe.

In addition to various coffee beverages made with People’s coffee, Preservatorium Cafe & Cannery offers a wide selection of cabinet, including all manner of sweet and savoury dishes, as well as breakfast/brunch items from you can order off the blackboard. All of the food is made in-house.

There is plenty of space in this well-lit cafe, both inside and out, with tables and chairs that were hand-made by craftsmen right here in the Wellington region.

Not only can you purchase food off the menu or from the cabinet, but as the name suggests, Preservatorium Cafe & Cannery offers sales of various preserves and pickles; again, all made in-house. And if you want to try before you buy, all meals purchased are served with their pickles, relishes and jams. Peter has even discussed the idea of holding special events where customers can come in and learn the craft of preserving foods for themselves. He also has future aspirations to expand its current weekday trading hours to include a special Sunday roast offering as well!

Have a listen to the episode (link above) and go check out the good food and drink at Preservatorium Cafe & Cannery!

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This week we reviewed the Chocolate Frog Cafe. The Chocolate Frog has been around since 1999, and is a cafe built inside Palmer’s Garden Centre in Miramar. The cafe seats about 20-30 in the cafe itself, but it also has a patio which is built into the greenhouse of the garden centre. So in addition to having the shelter of a roof over your head, you also have the outdoor experience due to all the plants!

The Chocolate from is constantly busy, but the line-ups move quite quickly and there always seems to be a free table. We have been there quite a few times, and have never had an issue getting a table – though there is usually only one or two left. And we mostly get one when there is just the two of us.

Despite a constant wave of people moving in and out, the tables are always bused promptly, meaning that you will almost always get a free and clean table. The tables and chairs are all hand painted cafe style seating with kitschy art and amusing sayings, which adds to the ambiance of the cafe.

The counter where you order has a jam packed cabinet for food ready to go, such as cakes, pies, sandwiches, wraps, slices, etc. They also have a great selection from their menu. Leo ordered the Chocolate Frog Vege Breakfast which consists of: two free range eggs: Poached, scrambled or fried.
Cooked Spinach, Sauteed mushrooms, potato cake, tomato and toast.  You get all of this for $19.50, which is kind of expensive, but if you measure it to the amount of food and the price you’d pay in other cafes here in NZ, it is probably not too bad.

Kristie ordered the Little Mama breakfast, which is a free range scrambled egg with cheese, bacon and hollandaise sauce, served in a cup. Kristie describes the dish as a deconstructed Eggs Benedict. Her dish cost $10.00; not bad at all for Wellington!

Leo ordered his eggs sunny-side up, and when being served, one of them was served over easy, as the egg yoke had broken while cooking. The server pointed this out to me as I was being served and said that the chef was preparing another egg for me according to my order. I mentioned that it wasn’t necessary, and they told me that the chef had insisted on it. I think this shows as a great example of phenomenal customer service as well as uncompromising commitment to quality.

Leo has ordered this particular meal twice in the past, which goes to show that the quality of the dish is wonderful; it is a huge meal, and all of the different veggies compliment the entire dish extremely well. The contrast between the earthy taste of the spinach against the meaty texture of the sauteed mushrooms worked really well with the rest of the dish as a whole

Kristie described her dish as: very yum; very rich! The cup size was just right.

For this visit to The Chocolate Frog, we didn’t order any coffees as Kristie ordered a Chai Tea Latte, which she loved, and Leo ordered got a hot chocolate. We have gotten their coffee before, and it is solid. Nothing to write home about, but very good.

Review

• Cleanliness: 4 (but 5 in the greenhouse part)
• Atmosphere: 5
• Service: 5
• Food Quality: 4
• Price: 5

• Overall Rating: 4.6

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Kristie and I have been to Olde Beach Bakery on several occasions. For this particular review, we were spending a three day, get-away weekend, at a lovely beach bach, in Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast.  We visited the Bakery each and every day! The Olde Beach Bakery is an incredible, yet tiny, establishment that serves some of the best baked goods that we have had in New Zealand (and in the case of their Danishes, the best Leo has EVER had). The Olde Beach Bakery has a huge selection of on-premise baked goods that will send your taste buds into overload. They serve all manner of cakes, scones, tarts, breads, pastries, pies (both sweet and savoury), sandwiches, soups and milk shakes! The staff are always friendly and courteous, and strive to get your order as quickly as possible, with a warm smile on their faces. You won’t find any seating inside, but they do have a courtyard outside with seating hanging baskets and a caravan selling curios.  But as inviting as they make it, you’ll probably want to take your food on a picnic and take the short walk or drive to Waikanae beach, or to one of the nearby parks. At any rate, if you find yourself in Waikanae, or don’t mind a 50 KM drive to get something sweet, we hope you’ll go and pay a visit to the Olde Beach Bakery. Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Review

• Cleanliness: 5
• Atmosphere: 4
• Service: 5
• Food Quality: 5+
• Price: 5

• Overall Rating: 4.4

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In this episode, rather than simply adding our own review, we’ll let Raglan Roast speak for themselves. We interviewed the manager of Raglan Roast (Wellington), Jed Creser, a remarkably well informed young man when it comes to coffee and cafes in NZ.

In the interview, I think that you’ll find that Jed is passionate about what he does, and I think if you get the chance to experience a coffee poured by him, you will taste the difference passion makes.

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Review

• Cleanliness: 4
• Atmosphere: 4
• Service: 5
• Food Quality (Coffee): 5
• Price: 5

• Overall Rating: 4.6

*A note on the cleanliness and atmosphere: Although the cafe was quite clean, this isn’t a cafe for people who like everything in it’s proper place. This is a cafe that has a rough (by design) interior; it has a bohemian quality. It is a place built by surfers, for people who want good coffee, not pristine surroundings.

That being said, there are some couches that could stand a bit of repair, but this was touched on by Jed in the interview.

The first time we went into the Home Cafe, it was a weekend afternoon. By the time we had arrived, we weren’t impressed with the meagre selection that was left, as all the really good stuff had been picked over. So we didn’t get anything, and decided that we probably wouldn’t bother going back. But a few weeks later, Kristie had mentioned that a friend had invited her back for lunch, and she was impressed enough to invite me along for another try.

The first time we went there together, we only ordered one of their sandwich cookies for take away. Holy yummy chocolate chip cookies Batman!

After tasting that, we knew we wanted to go back!  The photos below, were taken on two separate occasions, but be sure to listen to the review, where we take a deep dive into sandwiches!

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Review

• Cleanliness: 5
• Atmosphere: 4
• Service: 5
• Food Quality: 4
• Price: 4

• Overall Rating: 4.4

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Reading the menu

It is kind of fitting that this is the first cafe that we actually review as this was one of the first cafe’s we had eaten at when we arrived here in Wellington almost six years ago. But, to be fair, it wasn’t actually Leafee at that time.

It had changed hands about a year or so after our arrival, and we think it is actually a better establishment now than it was when we first ate there.  Listen to our entire review below.

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Review

• Cleanliness: 5
• Atmosphere: 4
• Service: 5
• Food Quality: 4
• Price: 4

• Overall Rating: 4.4

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Welcome to the premier episode of Unfiltered Cafe!

As this is our first episode, we just wanted to give you an idea of what you can expect from Unfiltered Cafe.

Please have a listen, to get an idea of what you can expect in the weeks, month, and hopefully, years to come!