Ruby Red Cafe

Great cafe, great food, great coffee and a great place to spend a sunny summer day!

Came to Ruby and discovered my old friend from Ultra in Onehunga so that was a nice surprise. Had been to the park for a bike ride and was starving so came to the Mangere Bridge shops to find something to eat. Had a second coffee and needed something to go with it, hence the slice of chocolate cake I'm halfway through in the picture. It was ever so slightly overcooked and a bit dry but I've heard the owner bakes all the cabinet food herself so I'm guessing this was just an off day. We all have them. 

Ruby and I didn't get off to the best of starts. My friend and I arrived with two minutes to spare before the kitchen closed (at 2pm) and after they checked with chef that we could still order a meal, we were told they'd run out of mushrooms. Dang! After two hours riding around Ambury Park, I was hanging out for mushies on toast. Then they said "actually, we've run out of a few things", which was a little worrying as there wasn't that much vege stuff on the menu to start with. However, there were more vege things in the counter - pasta salad, quiche and spinach filo. I had the free-range scrambled eggs and my friend went for the filo. The filo was a decent size and was served with tomato relish. Forgot to ask if it was homemade, but I suspect it was. It was delicious! I ordered soy milk with my hot drink but it came with cow milk. If you're a cow milk drinker and find soy milk disgusting, this is how I feel about cow milk - gag. They provided extra hot water for my tea when they replaced the milk, which was thoughtful.  Love the old crockery and the little bottles of fizzy pop in the fridge.

Ruby Red is a small and funky café in the Mangere Bridge township. The décor is very ‘cool’ and probably more typical of a CBD café. The range of counter food and menu items is very good, and our first dilemma upon arrival was deciding what to order – everything on the menu looked great. The actual space is warm and cosy, and was very family-friendly with a small inside play area that seemed to be popular with the locals, as well as a lot of outside seating on a pavement outside. As well as serving a wide range of excellent food, the café boasts excellent customer service, something many Auckland cafes are a little lacking in.