1st Ave cafe's panache ensures you fare well By LAUREN OWENS
Bay of Plenty Times, July 16 2007
LIKE most people, I enjoy basking in the warm, Sunday sunshine and I also enjoy tucking into a lavish brunch of bacon, eggs and English muffins.
Combined, they make for an excellent way to pass a morning of freedom.
However, like most brunchers, I do not enjoy a constant barrage of pedestrians crushing past my table, examining my meal and my eating etiquette as they amble to their destination.
That is one of the reasons I was delighted by last weekend's Sunday brunch at Alimento, situated at 72 First Avenue.
The courtyard out the front of the cafe beside the century-old karaka tree captured the rare day of sunshine and remained free from perusing pedestrians.
As we opened the door to Alimento and saw the queue to the counter, we realised we were not the only ones to discover this haven for avid brunchers.
More than four years after Alimento first opened in the former Masonic Lodge building, the day-time cafe continues to be one of Tauranga's busiest and most popular spots.
In Cuisine magazine's May issue Alimento featured among the top 10 breakfast spots around the country.
Breakfast is served until noon weekdays and from 7am to 2pm on weekends and public holidays. Alimento can also cater for large groups and is licensed.
Owner Hamish Carter said the cafe uses prime ingredients for its selection of vegetable wraps, salads, soup, muffins, sweets and coffee.
The cafe also stocks specialty food items and has a small deli counter offering gourmet meats, cheeses and smoked seafood to take home.
Alimento's wide range of salad options includes smoked chicken, blue cheese and pear or haloumi; marinated mushroom salad as well as Israeli couscous and chorizo sausage.
We noticed quickly that with a bustling room, the acoustics inside were not fantastic and with such a lovely day outside, Bernard staked a claim on an outdoor table while I ordered.
I decided on one of my brunch favourites, Eggs Benedict ($14.50), which is available with the optional smoked salmon for $1 extra.
For Bernard, the Big Breakfast, ($16.50) a gargantuan serving of poached eggs, bacon, chorizo sausages, mushrooms, fried tomatoes, potatoes and toast.
I ordered us both the mandatory glass of orange juice.
The meals were served promptly and we both tucked in.
I found the Eggs Benedict fantastic, with the eggs perfectly cooked and still runny in the middle. They didn't skimp on the bacon, either, with a variety of crispy and well-cooked strips.
However, the hollandaise sauce did become a bit too much after a while - generally a downfall of the dish, not the chef.
Bernard was spoilt with his massive brunch and, as a keen lover of bacon, he ensured there was not a single wasted scrap on his plate - an effort made harder by the generous servings of the chef.
He enthusiastically attempted to polish off the whole meal but in the end, he was outdone by the Big Breakfast.
We left feeling satisfied from our brunch fix and have put Alimento at the top of our list next time we meet friends on a Sunday morning.
While the prices may be slightly higher than some for breakfast, the quality and size of Alimento's meals make them well worth the extra cost - you can taste the care put into each dish.
Mr Carter said Alimento's aim was to make customers feel welcome.
``A place you'd bring your grandparents or kids, where you could stitch up a business deal or fall in love,'' he said.
Well, I could certainly fall in love with Alimento.
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