Twenty Three

Food is good and staffs are generally very nice. A bit expensive. If you grab a seat inside usually get better service. One time I was there by myself and watching my coffee was sitting in the counter get cold but one one pay attention to it.

Birthday brunch wow !! the ¾ chicken &¼ Beetroot salad fantastic. Friendly smiley service and mentioned it was my birthday and they produced a free carrot cake with candle. Surprise, sat next to us one of nz top radio and television personalities who is on the web as well. Trim latte good strength and full of flavour good barrister

I just saw this driving past so popped in. The décor is very stylish. The service is friendly with an interesting menu. It’s almost wan*y but manages to stay this side of hipster overload. It’s light and airy out the back which the corner store by night. The coffee was delicious and my pesto chicken toasted sandwich was awesome.

I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed by this café. We stumbled on twenty-​three early-​afternoon on a Sunday. Upon our entrance to the practically empty room, we stood and admired the fabulous old photos on the walls — the woman at the counter eye-​balled us and didn’t speak. She then directed us to the back of the café through a door to the covered area. Not sure why, maybe we didn’t look the part to sit front of house!
Anyway, maybe she’d had a big night on the tiles and wasn’t feeling up to smiling so I wont be too hard on her, but why work in hospo if you are grumpy? She brought us some menus and water and we ordered — I had the Pastrami Salmon, potato rosti, crème fraîche, capers, soft boiled egg ($ 16.50) which was very good. My partner in crime had the very aesthetically pleasing roasted vine tomatoes, crushed avocado, harissa on sourdough (14.50) and pronounced it delicious.
My flat white tasted great but was way too small and it was gone in about three gulps! I like a decent-​sized cup of coffee. And those damn cups with tiny finger holes are SO hard to hold! What’s up with those anyway? Are they made for very small
people? Or do people in NZ just have giant fingers?
Our bill was about $ 85 for four of us so pretty reasonable really. Not sure if I would return here, but if I’m up that way again I just might.

After having been at the beautician I certainly felt like I needed a coffee, so up the road I went to Twenty Three. It was the first time I had been here however I had heard many good things about this place. From what I could see all the reviews I had heard were correct.
Located at the top end of Mt Eden Road, closest to Symonds Street and New North Road, this little café is very conveniently close to Auckland’s CBD. Twenty Three is placed directly opposite a large car park and also has street parking available.
Unfortunately for me I didn’t purchase any food, however their sandwiches and rolls looked fan-​tastic! The slices looked amazing and I would love to go back and try the chocolate caramel slice or the chocolate cake, YUMM. I did however get a coffee and to be honest I wasn’t the biggest fan. I felt the milk was far too hot, also I didn’t find the coffee itself that enjoyable to drink. I have tried coffee supreme coffee before and have enjoyed it, but there was something not quite right about this particular one.
However I wont let this put me off going back as the food looks delicious and I would really love to try what they have on offer.

I would ALWAYS stop in here for my morning coffee on my way to uni because I knew it would be quick and I knew that it was delicious (they use supreme). Sometimes if I was feeling really sorry for myself on an early morning I would do what I like to call a ‘treat me’ with one of their mocha’s which always picked up my mood! Since I finished uni I forgot all about this place and when I went back yesterday I remembered why I love it so much. It’s a cool café to sit in really modern and relaxing. Their cabinet is chocka with delicious food but my favourite is their toffeed brioche it is SO nice and so far I haven’t been able to find anything like it elsewhere. It’s like a sticky brioche made with organic raw sugar (which I like very much) and then served with a citrusy cream and blueberry syrup but with whole blueberries in it, it’s really really good and filling to! The people who work here are great and I often manage get a street park right outside, love that.

I am giving this café four stars for great coffee, great hot chocolates and great service. I use to work nearby and it would be my place of choice for takeaway coffee. All the staff were so friendly! — It was almost like they had training in niceness. They would ask questions, and not just the generic «how are you?», they would look you in the eye, they would smile, they would treat you like a real person! And although this is common in Auckland that I have found, they also did that really yummy consistent coffee. Actually, I also like their art on the wall, long black and white photographs in light boxes. I am partial to the light box look. Keep up the good work guys:)

When I first came to Twenty Three I had high expectations because I’d seen a good review of it earlier. I went with some girlfriends of mine and we had a great time. We ordered coffee, tea and afternoon tea.
They have great salads, cabinet food, and an awesome breakfast menu. It’s all for a pretty reasonable price too. We weren’t there for breakfast but next time I definitely want to try the Egged Brioche. It’s sautéed in organic raw sugar, served with sweet citrus mascarpone and blueberry compote. Oh my, oh my, it sounds a-​mazing.
They also do beer, wine for the afternoon and champagne, which would be great with the Egged Brioche.
The staff weren’t extremely chatty and left us to our own devices which is sometimes a really nice change from pushy customer service people. It’s also in a great location to pop in before Uni or work for breakfast or a takeaway coffee.

Twenty Three Café is a stylish little café, on the cusp of looking like a Hollywood Café with it’s lime green and pine wood paneling. A nice roadside bar and interesting sepia photos of Auckland give it some character, pulling it back from looking like a kit-​set (although the squat boxes used for footpath coffees are very unappealing).
I was impressed to start, when I was given an entire bottle of water to accompany my espresso (it was a typically muggy Auckland day). Then my glass was inspected in front of me by the staff member and rinsed and returned without being dried. But by then I didn’t mind to much about that because the coffee was so horribly bitter, I realized why you are given an entire bottle of water. Disappointing enough not to stick around any longer than that.

Twenty Three is kind of near where I live. It’s a café at the top of Mount Eden Road that I frequent. I have probably 5 – 10 cafés on rotation and it’s one of them.
There’s all day breakfast (the kitchen is open ’til 2:00pm on weekdays, and 3:00pm weekends) — I’ve had the scallops on toast and the free range eggs on toast before. Both are good choices. Next time I’m there for breakfast I want to try the toffeed brioche or ‘Eggs Royale’ (hash cakes, eggs, bacon, hollandaise… yum).
I mostly go to Twenty Three at lunchtime though. The cabinet food is really good. There’s sometimes pizza which is always a win, and really great turkish sandwiches — chicken, brie, pesto, lettuce is my favourite at the moment, toasted. The salads are also good. There’s a caprese type tomato, mozarella, basil, pasta one and a green bean, broccoli and almond. I always choose one of those or the caesar. Or both — they let you choose a couple of flavours.
All in all, a pretty stand up place. Highlights (aside from the above dishes) include: an outdoor semi-​covered and enclosed courtyard for al fresco dining, cox’s apple juice, the ‘apple nut tea’, crate seating on the street for those who just want a place to drink their takeaway coffee, friendly staff and those ‘buy 9 get your 10^th free’ coffee cards.
Note: They’re fully licensed so you can have a beer in the sun, and there are plans for them to start opening late, so watch out.