SCONE SECRETS

The scones from Wellington’s Pravda cafe are so popular that bookings for the restaurant’s how-to classes caused the Wellington On A Plate website to crash, general manager Glen Houston said. ‘‘We definitely do the best scones inWellington and we’ve been told they’re the best in the world ... I think $4.50 is a fair price for a scone but $5.50 is getting up there.’’

They don’t have cheese scones in Iraq, where Samy Yousif (pictured top) grew up, but they’re a hot favourite from his Porirua Cake Society cafe. ‘‘We have other comfort food but the scones are a New Zealand thing.’’ He sold his own scones for $4, and expected something extra for $4.50. ‘‘There should be something like a salad on the side of a cheese scone if it costs that much.’’

In Tawa, Lisandro Walfisch (pictured right) knows what goes in to making a good cheese scone: his cafe El Porteno has made 44,000 of them. Retailing at $4.50, the secret was consistency, he said. ‘‘You grow up eating them and they taste like home.’’

Enzo Peace, manager of Ministry of Food in Wellington, said scones were especially popular in the Capital. ‘‘It’s such a Wellington thing. I’ve never been anywhere else where it’s such a big thing.’’ The Ministry’s scones, made from the owner’s grandmother’s recipe, sold for $4.50, which Peace felt was just right. ‘‘For what you pay it’s a very filling product.’’