Schnitzel on Crumb - like dining at a friend’s house

If you come from a family or culture that welcomes people with a ‘more the merrier’ attitude then you’ll probably carry it through life. And this fairly well sums up the vibe in Takapuna’s latest foodie cafe, Schnitzel on Crumb.

Owners Mark and Donna Bradman come from families with great European traditions, Donna’s from Italy via Wellington and Mark’s from Poland via Geelong – as Mark puts it, ‘‘when our families get together, great food and hospitality always abound.’’

So when they decided that Donna’s passion for a cafe of her own could wait no longer, they went back to their families’ roots and established Schnitzel on

Crumb.

Schnitzel is definitely the centrepiece of the lunch menu, although there are many other stars sharing the billing – homemade salads made fresh each morning, satisfying breakfasts served until 10.30am, sweet and savoury muffins, cakes, brioche, frittata, schnitzel sandwiches, baps – and great coffee prepared by baristas Teyana and Donna’s son Hayden.

The secret to their food quality is simple: it’s all their own fresh-made produce. Before opening the cafe, Donna gained a following for her artisan foods on market stalls at Coatesville, Grey Lynn and elsewhere.

Germany no doubt claims the schnitzel but it’s a part of European and Mediterranean cuisine from Switzerland to Iran, and may have originated in Italy around 1AD. Schnitzel on Crumb offers eight schnitzel varieties, plus half sizes for smaller appetites and a ‘bambino’ portion for children. They’re served with a choice of sides. A favourite is La Nonna beef schnitzel, a recipe handed down to Donna through the generations by her ‘nonna’, or grandmother.

The salads are so good looking and tasty they deserve their own billing – always seven on offer including roasted kumara and pumpkin with coconut cream and sweet chilli; a beetroot, feta and spinach; and a brilliant Caesar, prepared fresh daily by chef Andrew.

They start serving coffee from 7am and have a special breakfast menu. There are lots of gluten-free and dairy-free options on the menus, and they try to accommodate special requests.

The cafe, which now opens Monday to Sunday from 7am to 3pm, has been operating for a few weeks and already has its committed regulars including local business folk. The cafe’s official opening celebrations are this Saturday, March 4.

Schnitzel on Crumb is at 8 Huron St, Takapuna. www.schnitzeloncrumb.co.nz Facebook/SchnitzelOnCrumb