Benediction has been an Auckland favourite for a number of years. Combining a convenient inner-city location with relatively hassle-free parking makes it a rather easy pick. The bold logo that adorns the front of house renders it instantly distinctive.

Today we were taking in a late breakfast right in the midst of the lunchtime rush. Despite a sizable line, the service kept it moving quickly and our drinks arrived under 5 minutes since ordering.

For drinks, I chose an espresso milkshake and an orange/lemon juice. The chocolate espresso milkshake balanced its two namesakes in a most wondeful fashion. Generally the bitter espresso overpowers a milkshake, but this was not the case. The orange and lemon juice was similarly well mixed.

To the mains: I chose the Red Flannel Hash, which had two pieces of heavily crusted white toast with copious amounts of butter, rustic diced garlic sausage, roast baby potatoes, fried tomato and poached eggs. It was indeed a generous portion.

The eggs were well-poached, but a little cold. The garlic sausage was perfect and the roast potatoes were close to it. The tomato had a slightly greasy “fry-up” quality to it, but it was shared around and enjoyed by most if not all.

Becky had mushrooms on toast, which had a little of the wild taste that you find with great mushrooms and were cooked well. Her portion was easily shared amongst our two friends. For both of our meals and all drinks, it came to only around 40 dollars, which is incredibly affordable, especially by most city cafe standards.

Our friends were similarly impressed with their bacon salad and spaghetti. I’ll have to try the Creaming Soda milkshake on my next visit.