teed st larder

I was prompted to write about Teed St Larder, when I saw they were also reviewed (5/5!) in the paper today. I have a fondness for their home-made crumpets served with lemon curd (crumpet and lemon curd, a revelation!). The cafe itself is large and slightly cavernous, and I think they haven't quite got it right, in terms of space.... But it would be my current top Newmarket pick, and they do have a pretty good loo.

Well, in fact they have two - and relatively unusually for Auckland cafes, these are sex-segregated... no dirty boy germs in the girls' loo; no dirty girl germs in the boys' loo! So I can't speak for the men's, but the women's is good. Although it lacks natural light, it is spacious with a maidenhair fern evoking the great outdoors. It's aesthetically austere, all white walls with no art, but it works as an overall aesthetic alongside the 'beer crate' design that flows through from the cafe.

The amenities: a large if plain mirror, domestic loo roll, non-commercial soap, paper towels for the hands; incense sticks.... The one flaw, from an aesthetic experiential point of view, is that the space also houses the baby-changing table, which disrupts the clean lines and minimalist design of the space. Otherwise, it's not bad at all, a nice accompaniment to a nice cafe.