The Grounds

4 Reviews on “The Grounds”

• Kieran

  For a while now I’ve thought that New Zealanders need certain books and guides in their life to help them make good food choices when out and about. Below are a few of the titles I’d like to see.1. A guide to NZ’s best pies2. A guide to NZ’s best curries3. A guide to NZ’s best burgers4. A guide to NZ’s best Peking Duck5. A guide to NZ’s best Big BreakfastsI’ve wanted to write a guide on Auckland’s best breakfasts for a while. There are certain staples to a brunch menu, you’ve got your Eggs Benny, you’ve got your Pancakes. French Toast, Birch Muesli for the more health conscious. Then you’ve got your Big Breakfast.Big Breakfasts are separated into 2 categories.There’s the I’M GOING TO IMPRESS YOU WITH MY SHEER SIZE AND DROWN YOU IN FOOD! type. These are enormous plates of food, generally served with 2-3 slices of bread, sauteed potatoes or hashbrowns, more bacon than you know what to do with, cheap sausages, tomatoes and the rest is made up of eggs, beans or whatever else the kitchen can fit on a plate. These are intimidating plates of food which will leave you with meat sweats, a food coma and a general hatred of life.Then there are the Big Breakfasts that tick all the necessary boxes of Bread, Bacon, Sausages, Toms, Onions, Mushrooms, Eggs, but do so in a much more gentle and polite manner. They’re impressive to look at, almost pretty, great care has been taken in their preparation. Elements are more likely to be hand made rather then from a packet (i.e hashbrowns), you’re more likely to get some form of relish or pickle to help cut through the starch and protein on the plate.The Big Breakfast at The Grounds is exactly this, pretty, well made, hand crafted and just enough food that doesn’t have you reaching for the couch to sleep it off.I live out west in Avondale, this is the first time I’ve traveled further west to get brunch, but it’s worth it.One catch though, this place is VERY child friendly. There’s a giant playground right next to the cafe and the little shits are running amuck. See how many you can take out on your way back to your car.

  August 6, 2019, 10:28 am

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• Ethan Liaw

  To start off with the positives; its got an amazing playground for kids, its prob the best kid friendly cafe I have been to. And there is nothing I do not love about the interior design. It is modern and sleek (we were placed in the area call the library! How cool is that.) Food however were very average, only plus side would prob be the fact the ingredients were fresh? Menu was interesting, but of Asian fusion going on with Italian food as well as your usual cafe food. I had the brunch burger, I only remember the bacon taste as it had over power the whole burger. My lovely wife ordered fucille pasta; pasta itself was decent (freshly made), but the taste was a bit blend no depth of flavour. This place is perfect for those family or friends with kids catch up! With lovely indoor and outdoor setting to suit all family. But for foodie wanting that special tickling feeling on their palate, this is not the place for you! IG worthy: 4/5 interior design is good but food presentation is rather home cook likeFood: 2.5-3

  July 21, 2019, 10:28 am

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• LiLi Bee

  The venue was perfect our group that had children. We ordered the set lunch menu. Taste and variety was good, each dish was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The only let down were the portion sizes. All the courses arrived on shared plates. Each person practically only had a bite size portion from each dish. Other than that the staff were nice, and restaurant is very family friendly. We were allowed to bring our own birthday cake with a plate fee.

  June 24, 2019, 4:24 pm

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• Jasveen Kaur

  Such an awesome place for families that just want something a bit nice without boring the kids. Mr 4 had an awesome time on the obstacle course (yes you have to pay) and us parents had a delicious Ben Bayly quality meal. Winning at life. I particularly like the thought into little things like a little laminated voucher for the kids ice cream (amazing hand made little gems on a stick in 2 different sizes!) so they could have it after theyve been running around for a bit. Their summer gin menu is a winner too. An awesome place to spend the day as after youve had your main meal in the restaurant, you can go play for a bit, then come back to the tuck shop, have some chips and a burger, buy a drink, and chill lax for a while. One of my new favourite weekend places for the family.

  April 30, 2019, 1:44 pm

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