Claudes Kitchen is a cafe on Ferry Road in Woolston, Christchurch, rated 4.8 from 342 Google reviews, with customers talking most about the pies, vegan options, custard slices and Portuguese egg tarts. One reviewer ranks the Afghan biscuit among the best they have had anywhere in the country.
In a good cafe bakery, the pie is the honest test of the kitchen: pastry made on site, soft and buttery rather than tough and mass-produced, around a filling of proper chunks rather than mush. The cabinet matters too, since slices, tarts and biscuits are usually baked in small batches that change through the week. Regulars know the unwritten rule: arrive early, because the popular lines sell out and there is no promise of a second bake.
On Ferry Road in Woolston, Claudes Kitchen sounds like exactly the kind of place where arriving early pays off.