Our desire to visit this particular cafe came from a customer at work who mentioned that her company had just opened a Mojo Garage Cafe in Newmarket; the first of its chain in our city. Sceptical, due to the sheer amount of existing cafes and eateries in the area, I asked what this one’s point of difference was. Her response was simple: “we are cool”.
Since making our own visit to the cafe on a Tuesday morning, Nic and I have had to concede – she was right. Everything from the refurbished shed which houses the cafe, the hand-painted garage signs and old school music, right down to the simple 50s style crockery and glassware, makes this place the epitome of “cool”, particularly in today’s cafe culture. Simple and sweet, with a little attitude (which you’ll soon realise is what we love here at Chasing Her Smile).
The atmosphere was friendly, yet professional; we witnessed many a businessperson contently carrying on with work or holding informal meetings, and doing so while being left relatively undisturbed. I use the word “relatively” because we did find the service to be a tad overattentive. While attentive service is far better than the alternative, overattentive service is somewhat of a pet-peeve of mine (having extensive experience in hospitality myself). The casual removal of your dishes mere seconds after you have finished with them often leaves you with the uncomfortable feeling of being watched. Well, that’s how we felt at any rate. Don’t get me wrong though, we did also appreciate how friendly and welcoming the staff were.
We purchased raspberry and white chocolate muffins, a scrambled egg mini bun, and a mochaccino each, and found the food to be both delicious and good value for money. The mochaccinos were strong, well-made, and tasted great, but were admittedly not quite as hot as they could have been. They also came with marshmallows, much to our delight.
We particularly loved Mojo’s attention to detail, because many cafes now appear to place far less emphasis on this – like the marshmallows with our coffees, the automatic service of sparkling water upon being seated, and the little anchor butters which are included without question when you purchase one of their delicious muffins. The appearance of the marshmallows with our coffees actually made our day, and caused far more excitement than it had any right to. But these days the little things are becoming a rare occurrence, and it’s the little things that make the difference in such a competitive industry!
Ultimately, we think this cafe succeeds in bringing a creative and alternative attitude, that only a Wellington-born business could inspire, into the heart of Auckland’s business community. It provides locals with a place to escape the pressures of Auckland’s sometimes all-too-modern, fast-paced society.
In other words, we love it!
Chasing Her Smile 