Umu Cafe – https://m.facebook.com/umucafe/#_=_

Reviewed by FiFi, January 2018

The Place:
There is plenty of seating inside and outside.  The walls are lined with Maori art for sale which added some appeal to the cafe.  There is a kids menu, cabinet food and plenty of breakfast options to choose from.  Breakfast only has a 2.5 hour window from 9am through to 11.30am when it swaps to the lunch menu which includes a pizza menu and the place is also licensed. There was soft music playing in the background.  Although the place was pretty full with tourists from all corners of the earth there really wasn’t a funky vibe going on.

The Service:
The service was friendly and the staff were all very nice.  The coffees and food came out really fast considering the business of the place.

The Presentation:
The dishes looked appealing with the avocado and salmon coming in mini side dishes.  The sprig of greenery on top of the meal added some vibrance to the plate.

• The Benedict and Montreal – the meals were expensive and bland.
• The Eggs –  were runny and were the best part of the dish.
• The Bacon – there was a goods serving of crispy, tasty bacon.
• The Salmon – there was ample salmon in the side dish.
• The Avocado – there was a wee bit of avocado and it tasted fresh.
• The Spinach – was creamed.  It was pretty bland and ‘gluggy’ to be honest and some of the spinach was stalky.
• The Hollandaise – straight from a bottle.  The quantity was spot on though.
• The Bread – the bread was cooked nicely.

Would We Go Again?
No, I thought it was ‘meh’ and expensive.

Scorecard:

Style: 5/10 – Classic

Taste: 4/10 – pretty bland.

Originality: 3/10 – The one saviour to this dish was that it had creamed spinach.

Value: 1/10 – for a Florentine it was okay at $14.50 but if you wanted to ‘Bene’ it then you need to add on another $5 for bacon or $6 for salmon.  We added avocado at $4.50 so both ours came to $26 and $25

Eggs: 6/10 – were runny and warm.

Overall score: 5/10

22 Wharf Road, Coromandel 3506