The Longroom

The Longroom

114 Ponsonby Road

Ponsonby

I was ready to slag The Longroom off the first time I drove past it.

A new cafe/bar/restaurant/wank hangout that was built in the same space as the old Safari Lounge on Ponsonby Road. Sure, I welcomed the brand new renovations and didn't miss that horrible paper mache jungle collage that sat at the front of Safari. What I couldn't get past was that The Longroom seemed to add to an abundance of full-of-myself bars that populate Ponsonby and erred on the side of trying-too-hard.

But that's me. Quick to judge without even giving the poor place a chance. So off we went to The Longroom one morning, as we had found out that they had recently added a breakfast service.

When we arrived, we were quickly seated in the spacious courtyard by a very friendly Maître d'. She brought some water over along with some menus. We couldn't decide what to get for ages - the menu was quite interesting and offered some dishes that I hadn't seen on any other menus.

He ordered the Croque Madame and I ordered the Baked Eggs with tomato, bacon and feta. We ordered coffees which arrived promptly, and were hot and delicious. At this point, I was pretty much eating my hat. The service was very good and I was enjoying a bit of sun and good coffee in this spot.

The food arrived after a little while and we tucked in. The Croque Madame would have been good if it wasn't soggy, according to the male. We deduced that it was a mustard placement issue, but unfortunately it let the whole plate down.

My baked eggs were promising, served in a nice little ceramic dish and filled to the brim with breakfast goods. It even came with a bit of toast on the side, which I didn't order and was a nice touch.

However, as I tucked in, I discovered bits of clear egg white around the place. Come on! Undercooked baked eggs!? Are you kidding?

It wasn't too bad, there were bits that were cooked, so I ate around the uncooked. Couldn't taste much feta really, which was a shame. The rest of the dish was mostly very nice, although at the end, with all the tomato and undercooked egg, I was left with this weird, gazpatcho-esque breakfast soup. Not the best really.

Also, during breakfast, we watched the friendly Maître d' tell two wasters sitting next to us that she couldn't serve them any more alcohol unless they drank some water. At 11am. Isn't that what Supper Club is for? I don't mind if people want to drink all day, but there are places for that and it's not where I eat breakfast.

So much potential, but The Longroom was a definite miss. They have great coffee, and great service, but the food was a bit lack-lustre and there were dero's drinking the pain away next to us.

If they sort out the small food issues that they have, and get rid of the hospo drunks before the breakfast crowd roll in, The Longroom would be a great place to eat.

Reviewed by B.