Heaven Scent

Being an Elite Unilocaler, one of my goals honeymooning in beautiful New Zealand is to try one of the country’s unique food staples each day. So on Day 2 of our trip, our agenda pretty much looked like this: 1) hike up a volcano, 2) go through some lava caves, 3) GET A MEAT PIE.
While I’m sure you could probably order a meat pie at any of Auckland’s many restaurants, I wanted to find a place that really focuses on these pies. Enter Heaven Scent (S/​O to good ol’ Unilocal,saving the day even when I’m halfway across the world!). This cozy café is a little tough to find: it’s located on Albert St., but its staircase entrance is actually around the back near neighbor Sumo Sushi’s patio. Once you find it though, it’s the cutest place ever! There’s plenty of seating (try to snag one of their cozy window sofas!), natural light coming in through the roof, and great reading material to peruse. Food selections are perfect for breakfast-​brunch-​lunch: from soups, salads, savory pastries, and meat pies to brownies, cookies, and cakes. I opted for their Beef & Blue Cheese meat pie, hubby ordered the Lamb Shank meat pie, and we shared a miso soup w/​soba noodles and bok-​choy. We decided to skip dessert (I wasn’t about to let that brutal 2hr hike be for nothing!), but I hear they’re heavenly. The pies were both awesome — flaky, buttery pastry on top; steaming hot braised goodness inside. We finished every bite, and even hung around for a bit to enjoy the ambiance. Thanks Heaven Scent for introducing us to this delicious NZ favorite!

Everything in the cabinet is delicious; every pie is delicious; the coffee is delicious. My favourite things are the afghans in the jar by the till. The window seats would be the perfect place to while away an afternoon with a book or a laptop if you had time to kill in the city. The old wooden floors make the place feel like an old ballet studio and the windows open out onto beautiful old St Patrick’s church.
The service is super slow though. If you order a muffin or cookie to go, they will take five minutes to put it in a bag and bring it to you. Then your coffee will come ten minutes later. There are often big groups from the nearby offices in the morning, so check if they’ve just ordered before you if you’re in a hurry.
The stairs are killer, too. There is no way you can get down them gracefully. Prepare to clomp down them and make a racket.

Don’t let the address deceive you. You’ll need to head around the back and ascend a flight of stairs to discover this bright and big space. There’s plenty of vintage tables and chairs and a service area that holds a giant case of house made cakes, sweet treats and salads. Then, the Pièce de résistance, the pie warmer filled with what looked to be some of the most unique flavour combinations I’ve ever seen (Coconut chicken and cashew anyone?).
I only visited for a coffee (it was okay) but really enjoyed the friendly and eager service. Working in the bright welcoming space for a little while was a real pleasure.
Next time I will only have eyes for the pies!

The best pies I have ever eaten. I know, big call but I’m sticking to it.
Before I go any further, I just want to warn you that the pies here are expensive (around $ 9), but with flavours like lychee duck curry and truffle mash & venison, it’s not hard to understand why and in my opinion, they’re worth every penny.
The biggest problem at Heaven’s Scent isn’t the price, it’s deciding which pie (s) to choose! In the end we opted to share the pork belly and the port wine beef & blue cheese but if the two we ate are anything to go by, I don’t think you could wrong.
As we all know, one of the keys to a good pie is the pastry and theirs was spot on. Buttery and flakey — just as it should be. The pork pie had a subtle spice — a bit of a Moroccan vibe — and the meat was incredibly tender. But the beef pie… oh my goodness! The combination of blue cheese and beef was genius — the cheese adding a sharpness to the rich, braised beef. At the end of the day, the decision was unanimous, beef all the way!
We ordered our pies to takeaway but the space itself is pretty cool. The café is upstairs behind Albert Street, in a large open plan loft (it would make a killer apartment… if only). The have plenty of cabinet food, other than pies, and a small menu as well. Coffee is Eighthirty.
The staff are lovely too. I met the owner and we chitchatted away. Turns out they started off selling their pies at markets around Auckland and it just took off! Now they do catering as well and are planning to open a small store upstairs, which will sell local artisanal products as well as their pies family size.