They say you eat with your eyes first. Well, Dear Jervois will have you salivating. The presentation of meals here is beautiful. Plentiful portions sit atop weighty stoneware plates and bowls, adorned in some cases with edible flowers, and in all cases with that extra five percent of magic you hear chefs talk of. Everything is just so fresh and so flavourful.
Dear Jervois chicken salad.
The thick, sweet waffles are a favourite menu item – adopted from Dear Jervois’ sister café Little King – liberally topped with goodies like banana, walnut and almond with a scoop of manuka honey gelato, all drizzled with caramel syrup. As indulgent as all that sounds, Dear Jervois is possibly most well known for its impressive selection of healthy options, including lots of choices for vegans and those who are dairy, gluten or sugar-free. Try the portobello mushrooms, fragrant with rosemary, alongside a rustic potato hash stack, wild rocket salad, parmesan and basil pesto. Wash it down with an organic super-food smoothie.
The Be Good Vegan is a flavour explosion, with pillowy brown rice, quinoa and roasted vegetables leavened by spicy-sour kimchi and lovingly dressed with lots of fresh herbs and lashings of cashew aioli. That owner David Lee has offered up the recipe for this divine dish is testament to the kind of generous hospitality Dear Jervois has in spades.
Exposed brick and plaster walls and vintage chairs are a feature of the café.
The coffee is Supreme by name and nature – grab one to go, and while you’re at it, maybe one of the daily-baked cabinet treats (come at 7.30 and they’ll still be hot from the oven).
The boldly coloured La San Marco espresso machine.
The emphasis here is very clearly on an experience that is top-quality yet completely unpretentious, and the interior fit-out – designed in the main by David himself – reflects this hip yet humble attitude perfectly.
Plant pots decorate the conservatory area.
Vintage counters and an antique cabinet sit alongside a bright yellow La Marzocco machine. Industrial steel shelving is laden with terrariums and other botanics, and the exposed brick and plaster walls play backdrop to vintage chairs painted in pastels and huge old factory lights. The main dining area makes a stylish statement with its gloss black tiles with flashes of exposed copper pipe, and there’s a bright, light plant-filled conservatory area in the back.
The Be Good Vegan dish.
Several times a week, David’s wife Sue fills Dear Jervois with flowers, arranged on every table in amber apothecary vessels and vintage jars. Another love letter to this café and its customers.
234 Jervois Road, Herne Bay
Auckland
Words by Alana Broadhead
Photography by Rachel Dobbs
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