Here’s the list so far, in chronological order, from the day I walked into a cafe & complained about the heat while I was trying to make up my mind about my drinks choice, and the staff member suggested I try an iced coffee:

Richoux, Ellerslie
Classic frappe. If you live/work in Ellerslie & are lamenting the lack of Starbucks outlets: a) are you on crack?? Don’t you KNOW how many cafes and lunch places there are in the area?? There are, like, 29 within a five-minute radius! I’ve counted! OK, so that includes pizza hutt, and the bottle store, but I’m not counting the superettes. b) order an iced coffee from Richoux. Better than their normal coffee, and BIG.

Il Forno, MacKelvie Street
Ponsonby’s best-kept secret. They make their own pastries, and about half the days of the week you can get a ring doughnut fresh like the old days when you’d dig into the white bread straight out of the brown paper grocery bag, but like deep-fried & covered in sugar. I ordered an iced coffee and the staff-girl asked me if I wanted sugar. I was a bit puzzled, but sure enough, iced coffee from Il Forno is coffee, with ice in it, and cold milk. Iced coffee for purists, for sure. Whipped cream optional, depending on who’s at the machine.

Altezano, top of Symonds Street
Don’t do iced coffee. WTF?? However, they do supply doughnuts from Il Forno, and James Duncan works there (swoon), so what they lack in iced coffee, they make up for in rock points.

Shaky Isles, Kingsland
…not so much. The coffee bit at the bottom was good, but there was a mammoth scoop of icecream in it, and whipped cream on top to boot. The result was way too sweet. Probably didn’t help that I was consuming it with the most divine bircher muesli ever, with a lot of fruit & sweetened with maple syrup, but more about that later.

One thing I’m pretty sure all these places have in common, although I’m not entirely convinced this is the case at Shaky, is that the iced coffees are made with shots of real coffee. One would think this goes without saying, but apparently there are still whole areas of the world where iced coffees are made with fake coffee essence. However badly you’re doing, just remember, somewhere in the world someone is drinking a chicory-syrup milkshake, or worse.

Next Action: work my way through every iced coffee on offer in Kingsland.

Reuben
(36 Lorne St, City)
As a standard-setting breakfast, this ranks very very high. The bread is a baguette, egged only on one side, which is ideal as a gateway drug for the non-believer. It’s served with grilled banana, served in the half-shell, and stacks of crispy bacon, with a jug of maple syrup in addition to being pre-drizzled. The coffee’s great at Reuben too, and the balconies divine, so it comes very very highly recommended.

Gloria
(97 Anzac Ave, City)
Gloria has a lot going for it as a cafe – an interesting space, lots of reading material and fast service, but their French toast, sadly, is not attractive. It’s made from brioche, which sounds tasty, but ends up being too eggy, too stodgy and just sort of tasteless. The bacon could be crisper as well. Order something else if you come here.

Occam
(135 Williamson Ave, Grey Lynn)
If you’re not a maple syrup, bacon and banana fan, or just feel like a change, Occam is the place for you. Their french toast is made from thick, rich bread, sandwiched together with CHOCOLATE, and served with raspberry compote and vanilla marscapone. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm! It might be a bit sweeter than some people can deal with in the morning, but damn it’s good.

Where do you get your french toast from? Or is there some other breakfast wonder that the Aucklandista should be investigating? Let us know!