Review: Hopin Stopin Café
Claudia Aalderink peels the family from bed on a chill morning and after a bit of work, takes them out for a treat.
On a cold, foggy, winter Sunday morning, we decide to go out for a walk and deliver our little flyers for our planned Garage Sale next week.
Geared up in a hi-vis vest we start our trip. It is a beautiful morning and even though the world looks small it still shows plenty of beauty from up close. It is very quiet in our street and we imagine everyone still tucked away under a pile of blankets or a cosy warm duvet.
We make our way to our destination for today: The Hopin Stopin Café in Taupiri. In the eight and a half years that we’ve been living in Taupiri we have never visited and because people talk wildly about it, thought it was an excellent reason to pay a visit and enjoy a nice breakfast. One tends to overlook quality cafés right on our doorstep for some reason. I have no excuse why it took us so long to get here.
When we walk in we are greeted with a smile by the staff. They look busy organising various groups of people. We are directed to the colourful menu on the wall and the options vary from small, snack-sized meals to the average meal for, what I imagine, a farmer or a builder.
The café is painted in bright green and orange. The latter a colour we, as ‘Dutchies’, feel very happy with. Looking around I see a variety of art decorating the walls and one is just being sold to a satisfied customer.
We order our breakfast and the staff are friendly and accommodating for vegetarians. Anything on the menu that has a variety of meat in it is offered to us with a substitute of mushrooms, hash browns or similar.
Our drinks, cappuccino, latte and a hot chocolate, are brought to us within five minutes and the quality is good. I always like to have my drink at the same time as my meal, but I did not mention that to the barista.
When our meals arrive I see bacon on top of my creamy mushrooms and bacon on the eggs benedict. Clearly a misunderstanding in the kitchen and without hesitating the waitress takes it back to change the meals. She apologises again for it later and makes sure we’re ok.
The size of the portions is more than enough and the food is tasteful, warm and good, a great tummy-filler for a chilly Sunday morning.
Our overall experience at the Hopin Stopin cafe was good. The ambience felt good, the staff were very friendly and accommodating and if we would consider rating this café it would get a big 7 from us.
The Hopin Stopin Café can be found at 2/60 Great South Rd, Taupiri.
PS Our Garage Sale is on 5 July from 8am to 1pm- 226 Kainui Road!
Claudia Aalderlink writes Claudia’s Corner exclusively for N8N. A whimsical, weekly photographic column on anything that takes her fancy.
