 Article from Taste magazine May 2006
A Place To Fall In Love
Alimento strives to bring all members of the Tauranga community together over good food in a friendly environment
By Sue Hoffart
Hearing aids and baby buggies are a measure of success at Tauranga's Alimento café. Proprietors Catherine MacLoughlin and Hamish Carter like to see work boots alongside the heels of lunching ladies who linger beneath the century-old karaka tree in the courtyard.
''We don't want to be trendy,'' Catherine says. ''None of the staff has that 'I'm too cool to serve you' attitude. I hate that. You can bring your grandmother here and we always make a big thing of talking to older people, making sure they feel welcome.''
Clearly, this is not mindless rhetoric. The mother of two is sitting at a corner table with newborn son Rupert tucked into the crook of her arm. "I just think family is really important. And so is the community.''
Egalitarianism aside, Alimento - Spanish for nourishing food - dishes up consistently gorgeous food that uses prime ingredients, together with properly-made Coffee Supreme brews.
After more than three years, the café remains unfailingly busy as diners devour stunning salads or succumb to the temptation of wickedly divine desserts. Salad options include smoked chicken, blue cheese and pear or halloumi and marinated mushroom salad, while the Israeli couscous and chorizo sausage is world famous in Tauranga.
Vegetable wraps are filled with pympkin, feta and hummus, served warm with tzatziki and greens. The brunch menu includes homemade muesli with fresh fruit and Greek yoghurt sourced from Matatoki Farm in the Coromandel.
The couple honed their culinary passions in Melbourne, where they also found the pre-loves scooters and industrial pendant lampshades that now adorn the former Masonic Lodge building. A line of shelves is stocked with specialty food items and the small deli counter allows customers to take home gourmet meats, cheeses and smoked seafood.
''We wanted the café to be like Tauranga's Italian piazza,'' Hamish says. ''We want to be the heart of the community, the meeting place for young and old, for family and friends, a place to make business deals, to fall in love.'' |  |
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