Scoff but don’t scoff at
A ‘solid’ local does the basic brunch fare well
SET UP & SITE
At the end of a small, shop-lined carpark on Titirangi’s main street, Vevo Foodstore’s longevity is a testament to qualities other than its location. Inside, it has the aesthetic and feel of a diner in the American Midwest — and not in a smirking, ironic, hipster-type way, but in the way of “this was the decor that was a) already here or b) readily available, so take it or leave it”. It’s not unpleasant — it’s actually kind of charming — but it’s either your thing or it isn’t.
SUSTENANCE & SWILL
The menu is diverse and is solid, catering to most tastes. I ordered the Vevo breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, hash cake, mushroom, tomato, hollandaise, $19.50) to get the measure of the place and my wife ordered the house smoked salmon (hash cake, poachie, wilted spinach, basil, caper, hollandaise, $18.50) because it sounded good and because she has spent much of the last few years pregnant and therefore the opportunity to eat smoked salmon is not something she now passes up easily. The Vevo breakfast was a good size, with two particularly generous slices of oiled and excellent sourdough and a greatsized side dish of hollandaise. The hash cake was particularly thick, which meant quite a low proportion of crisp outer to soft, hashy inner. Either that’s your thing or it isn’t. The food was hearty, if not outstanding, and the plate wasn’t beautiful to look at, except from the point of view of the very hungry. This is fine, it’s kind of what you expect from a big breakfast, but a little bit of greenery, for instance, might have been nice. The salmon was also an especially healthy slab. It sat on, and was surrounded by, a thick bed of greens, and had a good coating of hollandaise. The smoke/green/cream ratio was spot-on and the plate came with an unadvertised circular border of relish, which provided extra character and depth. It would have been a winning dish in any cafe.
SERVICE & OTHER STUFF
The staff were extremely friendly, the food arrived quickly, the coffee was great. Everything about the place spoke of a solid local that does things mostly right and sometimes very well. These are qualities not to be scoffed at.