Herald Rating:
The menu is so much more interesting than the average cafe. There is definitely an Asian influence: sticky rice with ginger and palm sugar, bahn mi and a lemongrass chicken platter. Though there's also granola, smoked fish and prawn cakes and a mushroom tart. If you're craving eggs and bacon, they have them, too, but with a delightfully naughty twist: bacon-wrapped soft eggs coated in panko crumbs and then deep fried.
The look isn't nearly so appetising as the menu. Sprout has sprouted up in an old petrol station that on Saturdays morphs in the terrific Mt Albert market. There's seating inside and on the old forecourt. On the plus side, the forecourt parking is great for picking up takeaway coffee.
We ordered the pancakes with soft green bananas, raspberry compote and caramelised pecans ($16) and the aforementioned bacon-wrapped eggs ($19), which are served with tomato basil salsa and homemade hash cake. The pancakes were the subject of great enthusiasm, however, the bacon and eggs are the showstopper: they're likely to be addictive.
The coffee is Coffee Lab and very good.
