Art of Food sits on Main Street in Upper Hutt Central, a café-restaurant that runs the full day: breakfast and brunch to start, wood-fired pizza as the headline act, and all-day and dinner entrée menus in between. The coffee list is equally serious, running from flat whites, cappuccinos, lattes and mochas through to short blacks, long blacks and affogatos.
Cold drinks get their own spotlight — iced coffees and matchas built with crushed ice or cubes and your choice of sugar, seven ice cream milkshake flavours, and smoothies blended with yoghurt, fresh cream and milk. A proper tea list and hot chocolate trio round things out, and trim, soy or almond milk can be swapped into almost any cup.
Ordering is made easy with online ordering on the website and delivery through Uber Eats, Delivereasy and DoorDash, plus online reservations, eGift cards and a loyalty programme. True to the name, there is an Art Shop on the site alongside the menus, a Khmer-language 'Angkor Supermarket' category, and a page of upcoming events and experiences.
On Main Street in the heart of Upper Hutt Central, Art of Food covers a lot of ground for one café. It pours serious coffee, shakes thick milkshakes, fires pizzas and runs menus from breakfast right through to dinner — and it does it all under a name that hints at the bigger picture. True to form, the website pairs the food menus with an Art Shop, making food and art equal partners rather than a gimmick.
The drinks list is where the depth shows. The espresso menu runs from the local staples — flat white, cappuccino, latte, mocha and chai latte — through short black, long black and americano for the black-coffee crowd. Sizes run regular to large across the milk-based drinks, and trim, soy or almond milk can be swapped into almost any cup, so nobody in the group gets stuck.
Hot chocolate drinkers are looked after twice, with a classic version and a white hot chocolate, plus a salted caramel option for anyone who likes sweet and salty in the same mug. A lemon, honey and ginger brew handles the soothing end of the scale, and the affogato — espresso poured over ice cream — blurs the line between drink and dessert. There is even a fluffy on the list, the small frothy classic that never really went out of style.
The tea list is proper too: English breakfast and Earl Grey served with milk, trim milk or no milk, plus green tea, chai and peppermint, with caffeine-free options called out on the menu.
Iced drinks get a whole section and their own customisation. Ice coffee, iced chocolate, iced mocha, iced latte and iced long black can be built with crushed ice or cubes — your way — and sweetened with one, two or three sugars. Iced peach tea and iced passionfruit add a fizzy lift, and matcha turns up twice: an iced latte matcha and a straight iced matcha made with milk and crushed ice.
Milkshake lovers are the real winners — chocolate, caramel, raspberry, banana, lime, strawberry and vanilla, all made with ice cream. Smoothies round out the cold list; the banana version blends yoghurt, fresh cream and milk.
On the food side, the menus run across the day. Breakfast and brunch open the morning, wood-fired pizza takes the headline slot, and two entrée menus — one all day, one for dinner — fill in everything between. Practically, that means the same address works for a flat white and a bite at ten, or pizza and plates at seven.
Pair whatever lands on the table with something cold from the iced section — the fizzy peach tea and the iced mocha both earn their spot.
Art of Food makes itself easy to reach. Orders can go in through online ordering on the website, or arrive by delivery through Uber Eats, Delivereasy and DoorDash. Tables can be booked via the reservations page, and regulars have a loyalty programme to join — or can send an eGift card to someone who deserves a coffee on them.
The shop side of the site is worth a browse as well. Alongside the food, there is an Art Shop and a Khmer-language 'Angkor Supermarket' category, an extra you will not find at every café on Main Street. The website also keeps a page of upcoming events and 'Experiences', and the team posts updates on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, so it pays to look before you visit.
You will find Art of Food at 36 Main Street, Upper Hutt Central, Upper Hutt 5018, and the team can be reached on 04 974 5522. If you are ordering in, the online ordering page is the quickest route; if you are heading in for the pizza menu or a dinner sitting, a reservation is the safe move. Check the events page for what is coming up next.
For a single Main Street address, that is a lot of range: a full espresso programme, teas taken seriously, iced drinks built to order, seven milkshake flavours, wood-fired pizza and menus running from brunch to dinner — with a genuine streak of art running through it.