Mother
‘Baker Bleu, is that you?’ I thought to myself as I scrolled the posts on social media of the new kid on the Grey Lynn block, Mother. Luckily bearing no resemblance to the deeply disturbing film of the same name, Mother is a cafe by day and soon to be wine bar by night.
I visited Mother for the first time around 11am on a very wet Wednesday during the school holidays. Thinking I would avoid the crowds this way, I was wrong. The cafe has been open for 3 weeks but was thronging with people in a loveliest way possible. Walking around certain parts of Auckland these days, there is been no hum and a dire lack of human life at times. They all seem to be congregating at Mother and it is refreshing to see. This level of economic activity in one cafe makes me feel optimistic and buoyant about New Zealand’s future, even though the punters frequenting it would probably represent Auckland’s 5% . Looking around the well-dressed patrons as I eat my $17 sandwich, I turn to my husband and say jokingly, “What cost of living crisis?”
As an avid fan (along with the rest of Sydney) of Baker Bleu, Neil Perry’s insanely popular bakery and cafe, I can’t help but draw comparisons (particularly the similarities) between the two. I’m not even mad about the similarities; if Mother has drawn inspiration heavily from Baker Bleu, I’m all for it. It would save me a trip to Sydney. The font on the placards labelling the food are almost identical, as are some of the fillings for the focaccia sandwiches (chicken with green goddess dressing; mortadella with provolone and olives). Currently there is less in the sphere of loaves to takeaway but the menu has a good mix of savoury and sweet, pastries, sandwiches and unlike BB has a selection of salads and most importantly, ample seating.
Mother has been fitted out beautifully, and instead of BB’s jarring cobalt blue decor (which only has a faint mention in the aprons of the waitstaff), Mother is subdued and serene. There is a sleek, stainless steel bench running down the middle of the room and textured brown tiles that feature along the front counter. The lighting is low inside even in the middle of the day and the music playing from the retro, woodgrain speakers is hotel bar sexy-cool. You may be just popping in for a coffee and a pastry but the ambience created adds a little more ceremony to your cappuccino and croissant.
There doesn’t seem to be an albacore tuna salad sandwich on the menu yet (hint hint) so I plumped for the mortadella sandwich with provolone, pistachio butter and olive ($17). There is a similar but not identical sandwich at BB, and Mother’s riff on this is the addition of pistachio butter, a chunky almost pesto-like spread adding a rich and mellow nutty flavour. The focaccia is nicely seasoned with the perfect sprinkling of crunchy sea salt on top. The colours of this sandwich are beige but the flavours and quality of the produce inside are anything but.
My husband (who helped me finish this rather large sandwich) ordered the potato, taleggio and rosemary deep dish ($14). Deep dish what though? Pizza? Or focaccia? I’d say the latter, which had the same bubbly texture and chew of my sandwich but the heady aroma of rosemary and garlic. Again, another deceptively beige option that was scrumptious with every bite.
There was also a selection of pastries (sweet and savoury), doughnuts and a long and languid Jerusalem bagel (which they don’t serve with anything to dip it with currently, which should probably change if they want to sell more of these). I did not spy any fluffy, white buns smothered in icing that have been blowing up the internet; I suspect they were snaffled up earlier in the morning. They have a small selection of lovely sounding salads for $17 with the option to add protein such as salmon or chicken, and the bowls of these coming of the kitchen were positively large.
I spied on the back counter my sweet treat of choice, a Caprese torte ($12). I thought this would perfectly suit my husband’s taste, a self-confessed chocolate fiend. For the uninitiated, a Caprese torte is best described as the happy result of a marriage between a brownie and chocolate cake. It has the deeply rich, chocolatey flavour of a brownie but it’s lighter in texture (and butter and sugar). Mother’s version came with a thin layer of mascarpone cream and a thick dusting of rich, dark cocoa, a visionary addition that added a little acidity to cut the richness of the torte. We shared this slice of torte, but really the optimal ratio of person to torte would be one to one.
Although the cafe on the surface seems chaotic, it really isn’t. Order at the counter (which was very fast as the staff, of which there were several, are poised and ready to take your order at many points along it), take a number if you’re going to eat in, and take a seat! The cafe has a lot of seating. If you don’t agree with me, perhaps you should Google some photos of Baker Bleu in Double Bay, which has all of about five tables to choose from. You can look in on the busy bakers kneading dough and weighing out yeast from the dining room. There is a mysterious little half moon window in the wall that looks like it joins up to a pizza oven. Will we be seeing pizzas on their evening menu one day? I guess I’ll have to pay another visit to find out.
403 Richmond Road
Westmere
Auckland 1021