Brunch: Arum Cafe, Glendene

Arum Cafe in Glendene, Auckland. Photo / Richard Robinson

Herald Rating: 3/5
Address: 4155 Great North Rd, Glendene

We came here because the cafe is housed inside the Palmers Garden Centre and it seemed a good idea to stop for brunch after some taxing plant shopping.

Parking was easy in the large carpark.

We walked in and immediately thought the indoor plants and green colour scheme make this place a cool retreat on a red-hot summer Sunday. It's a large space with plenty of seating.

The menu was fairly standard - pancakes, french toast, eggs benedict, eggs on toast, etc - but they offer plenty of side dishes so you can create your own meal if you like. The extensive range of cabinet food also looks great. We can recommend the homemade chocolate chip cookies.

We ordered eggs benedict on a potato hashcake with bacon and spinach, poached eggs on toast with a side of mushrooms and bacon on Italian toast. All were fine, although the overpowering hollandaise could do with a finetune.

The coffee was probably the least enjoyable part of our meal. I didn't finish mine.

The service was great. The staff are friendly and our meals were delivered quickly.

We recommend if you come here you browse the adjoining garden centre. We grabbed a few bargains.

Overall we thought it's a nice spot, particularly convenient if you need some daffodils or dahlias, but the coffee needs work.