Upstairs Cafe & House Bar

Vibe

The new hotel cafe on the first floor of Quay West, Upstairs services the hotel but is also open to the general public. Quite why you'd choose to come here if you weren't staying at the hotel is an obvious question, but forgetting that it looks smart and comfortable if still quite 'hotely'.


Food

Upstairs Café and Bar has an all day breakfast menu which is short but has all the usual suspects, so should suit everyone's taste. We gave Upstairs the ultimate test with the Eggs Benedict ordered with a side of hash browns. These came out quickly but were literally smothered in hollandaise. Most of this had to be scraped off, and what was left tasted more like thick butter than the sharp tang that you should expect. I strongly suspect that there wasn't a drop of lemon juice in it. The ciabatta underneath wasn't toasted so just went to sog. It also came with spinach, so was an odd hybrid of Benedict and Florentine. The bacon was good though.


Drinks List

We had some good coffees, but beware - you'll be paying $4 for a single shot flat white. The reason for this was apparently that the cups are small... fair enough, but then why the cost?


Service

Good, but then we were pretty much the only people there.


Highlights

The pile of NZ Heralds waiting for you on arrival. Being part of a hotel, these were in a lovely neat pile but were quickly picked apart. There's also a tapas menu which can be enjoyed in the evening.


The Bottom Line

If you forget that you're sitting in the middle of a hotel, then Upstairs isn't too bad. Unfortunately, the food doesn't do it too many favours and the surroundings make it just a little dry. Fine for a one-off experience but I've got no plans to return.

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