Plume Cafe Matakana

Last weekend Shane, Max and I headed to up north to check out the Matakana market and do a touch of sight seeing. After leaving the market we decided to find somewhere to have lunch, there are quite a few options in a smallish area but Plume Cafe caught my eye, the building had always been there but I don’t remember it looking as good on my last visit. Turns out Plume opened a little less than a month ago, just in time for the busy summer season. We were lucky enough to get there about 10 minutes before the lunch rush, not that a rush would be an issue as the staff were friendly and attentive and there is plenty of seating indoors as well as outside amongst the beautifully manicured lawn and garden (the outdoor area is coved by sails which provides the perfect amount of shade).

Both Shane and I had left home without breakfast and were tempted by the breakfast/brunch menu. Both of us thoroughly enjoyed our meals, they were fresh and summery and were delivered to our table promptly.

If the name sounds familiar it might be, Plume restaurant is also located in Matakana and has been a Cuisine recommended New Zealand restaurant in 2011 and 2012, the cafe is owned and run by the same group. I can highly recommend stopping by Plume if you are in the area, I think it would be a great choice if you have kids, the lawn area is perfect for a run around while you wait for food and the staff were very kind to Max. We didn’t get a chance to purchase any of the beautiful looking breads or pastries that are all made on sight, as we were all pleasantly full but they looked delectable!.

Plume Cafe
Open 8am – 3pm, 7 days
1335 Leigh Road, Matakana
Phone 09 423 0390
www.plumerestaurant.co.nz

Food Roadie North of Auckland

Simon and I headed up to the beach (Ruakaka – family has a Bach) on Saturday to chill out for the weekend since Simon had Monday off work.  The weather was horrible!  Severe wind and rain, but it was great to be somewhere quiet (well not really, Simon started playing Final Fantasy on his Xbox which meant I had to put up with its constant and repetitive music).  I got some baking done and we stopped in at a few food shops on our way to and from the beach.

Our first stop was in at Matakana to visit their farmers market and we stopped in Morris and James, a local pottery place:

So, lots of yummy food at the Matakana Farmers market – fresh produce, baking, beverages and lots of little things like hot filled rolls to eat there.  Matakana also has a Nosh store and their own local brand of ice cream, Blue, which is delish (tried some on my way back from snorkelling at Goat Island earlier in the month).  The village has some other gorgeous stores too, my fave is Red Letter Day – an awesome specialty stationery store.

We also stopped at Kaiwaka and went to the Dutch Deli, where we got some fancy chocolate sprinkles, hollandaise-mayonnaise and some specialty cheese:

On our way home we stopped in at Warkworth and went to Chocolate Brown, but I will post about that tomorrow as I took lots of pics and I have already put up heaps in this post.  It’s also an awesome place that deserves its own post :)

If you’re planning on taking a trip North from Auckland you could always stop in at Puhoi as well.  I went there not so long ago, so we didn’t have a look on this trip.  Puhoi also has a farmers market, cheese shop and even has a mustard maker.