Looking for love? You might find it on the beach in Sumner but don’t get your hopes up. It seems that online dating is all the rage nowadays!
However, the chances of finding real-life, tangible food-related happiness when promenading along the Sumner waterfront have increased immeasurably since the changing of the guard at the little café by the clocktower. Scarborough fare, as it was previously known, underperformed notably for a number of years but new owners have renamed it Ocean Café & Bar.
The difference in service was immediately apparent to me as I laid claim to an outside table, expecting then to have to line up at the counter inside to select from the menu and pay for my choices before returning to sit down.
I believe the new owner is a lady named Jules ; she exuded confidence and possessed a natural, friendly disposition, making me feel very welcome. She took my order at the table and advised that the ordering procedure was one of the first changes she made on taking over in November. I was, of course, as pleased as punch… paying up front before receiving a product, especially a consumable one, has never excited me.
A pot of English Breakfast tea was just the ticket in the mid morning sunshine, and delivered with a smile and some conversation – this lady was a natural and is the type of individual who should be in this business, he boldly states after such a brief encounter. She had success written all over her…
The menu is simple and easy, with the usual café fare but that’s ok as that is all some of us want after a brisk walk around the bay; the five star fare can wait until later in the day.
Eggs Benedict with salmon and spinach, the last mentioned a side or addition because I love the stuff so much. Do you blame me? Of course not, it’s an exceptional vegetable by all accounts.
I’m always on the lookout for some point or points of difference when dining at a new place and although I have mentioned, nay laboured, the proprietor’s bedside manner above I do need to advise that the salmon portion in my breakfast was tantamount to an act of exceptional benevolence on the part of the restaurant. A beautiful chunk of the Omega-3 superstar graced my plate and what a change from the packet slices of salmon so often used in cafes.
As I watched the cyclists glide by, their muscular minutiae overtly visible for all to see underneath their hard-packed spray-on lycra skins, the surfers out in the cold southern waters and the hoi poloi on hoof along the walkway, I luxuriated (yes, it’s true, I love the word and use it often for that reason)in the great lake of gratitude for being in such a paradisiacal place in the world. Be there or be square.
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