The Parsley Pot Cafe is a family owned garden cafe tucked away on Sandspit Road in Mahurangi West, near Snells Beach, just north of Auckland. It serves a variety of fresh, homemade goodies from breakfast through lunch, alongside Organic and Fairtrade Kokako Coffee. Dogs are welcome, and a large grassy area gives the little ones room to run around.
The menu covers proper cafe breakfasts — the PPC Breakfast in full or half sizes, Eggs Benedict, brioche French toast, sweet corn fritters (with a vegetarian version), omelettes, eggs on toast and a soup of the day — plus dedicated vegan and vegetarian breakfasts. A daily cabinet adds filo rolls and tarts, pork and bacon sausage rolls, pies and roast vegetable salad, with a sweet treats collection of cakes, muffins and tarts for dessert. Toast comes in ciabatta, wholegrain and pide, and vegetarian or gluten-free options are available on request.
The cafe opens Wednesday to Sunday, 8am to 3pm, with the kitchen closing at 2:30pm while coffee and cabinet food stay available until closing. Drinks stretch from Kokako espresso to iced coffee, mocha and chocolate, smoothies, Kerikeri organic tea, iced tea, organic juices and soft drinks. One note for allergy sufferers: gluten-free and other allergen foods are prepared in the same kitchen, so cross contamination is possible.
The Parsley Pot Cafe sits down a quiet stretch of Sandspit Road in Mahurangi West, a short drive from Snells Beach and roughly an hour north of Auckland. It is a family owned garden cafe — the sort of place where the food is made fresh on site, the welcome is personal, and nobody minds if you turn up in walking shoes with a dog on the lead. From breakfast through to lunch, the kitchen turns out homemade goodies, all of it well matched to the cafe's Organic and Fairtrade Kokako Coffee.
Everything the cafe promises in its own introduction shows up in the details: a varied cooked menu, a loaded daily cabinet, and a large grassy area where children can burn off energy while the grown-ups finish their flat whites. Dogs are welcome too. It is a simple formula, and it is exactly what people make the drive out to Mahurangi West for.
The cooked menu covers the cafe breakfast canon with a few house twists. The PPC Breakfast, the namesake plate, comes in full and half sizes, and the PPC Vegan and PPC Vegetarian Breakfasts make sure plant-based diners get a proper feed rather than an afterthought. Eggs Benedict is offered full or half, as are the Sweet Corn Fritters, which also come in a dedicated vegetarian version. Omelettes, straightforward Eggs on Toast and a rotating Soup of the Day cover lighter appetites, and Brioche French Toast is there for the sweet-toothed.
Toast choices include ciabatta, wholegrain and pide, and the team asks you to simply check in for vegetarian or gluten-free options — a gluten-free supplement applies. Avocado, a cafe staple, is subject to availability. Several dishes come in half portions, which makes it easy to pace a visit or share a couple of plates.
Alongside the printed menu, the cabinet is a genuine drawcard, with items subject to daily availability. Regulars keep an eye out for the pork, fennel, apple and cream cheese filo rolls, the salmon and cream cheese filo tart, pork and bacon sausage rolls, roast vegetable salad and proper baked pies — mince and cheese among them. A sweet treats collection of cakes, muffins and tarts rounds out the offering, made to be enjoyed with a coffee in hand.
Coffee is taken seriously here. The Parsley Pot pours Kokako, an organic and Fairtrade roaster, and the drinks list stretches well beyond the flat white: iced coffee, mocha and chocolate, smoothies, Kerikeri organic tea, Fuze iced tea, Most organic juice, Phoenix organics, Bundaberg brews, Almighty drinks, Charlie's kids drinks and Coca Cola.
The garden setting is the other half of the story. Dogs are welcome on site, and the large grassy area gives little ones room to run while parents keep an easy eye from the table. That combination — homemade food, good coffee, space for kids and dogs — makes the cafe an easy stop for Snells Beach locals and for anyone exploring this corner of the coast.
Practicalities are straightforward. The cafe opens Wednesday to Sunday, 8am to 3pm, and is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The kitchen closes at 2:30pm; after that, the coffee machine and cabinet food carry on until closing time. You'll find it at 786 Sandspit Road, Snells Beach. One note for allergy sufferers: gluten-free and other allergen foods are prepared in the same kitchen, so cross contamination is possible.
The website is still under construction with products being added, so the fullest picture of what's on offer on any given day comes from the cabinet and the specials in store. Whether it is a long breakfast, a quick cabinet lunch or simply a coffee while the kids and the dog take the lawn, The Parsley Pot keeps things homemade, unhurried and friendly — a garden cafe in the best sense.