Little Bird Unbakery

Cute little café that still managed to fit our small group of five girls out for a lunch catch up on a recent summer Sunday.
The only coffee served was a cold brew with vegan nut milk (optional) — was tasty, I recommend! My lunch was the courgette ‘pasta’, nice, but not great. My friend who ordered the same thought the same, she wanted salt, I wanted, well, something else! It was nice, but more of a ‘side dish’ for my liking. The dessert however was perfecto! And I tried two! Raw cheesecakes etc are their specialty.
Overall limited options, but it is a specialty café, catering for people on specific diets, including raw and vegan. I liked the retail option included — a few shelves filled with artisan and organic products ready to be purchased and tried at home. Nice touch.

If your into being organic and vegan and everything else then this is the place for you. It’s healthy and at the moment that’s the thing people like to eat. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. Waffles that were vegan. Only because I understood how difficult it was to make. My meat eating husband was less impressed with his coconut bacon. But he can shove it — I enjoyed my meal. Smoothies are incredible and the dessert bakery is to die for. They have some pretty awesome cookbooks as well if you are into all of that.

This is where the raw food revolution started for me. As far as I’m aware, it was the first fully raw café in Auckland that didn’t just serve juices and salads but rather full meals that I no idea could be made solely with raw food. Things like pad thai and even waffles (.which I hear are ahhhmazing).
On top of this Little Bird’s food packs a punch in the flavour department. My favourite to date is their kimchi pancake, which is served with a delicious peppery watercress salad and cashew aioli. The best thing about it? Despite the generous serving, it didn’t make you feel like you needed a nana nap afterwards.
There’s also a cult following for their raw cheesecakes, but if I’m being honest, they’re not for me. Too much coconut and the texture is nothing like a normal cheesecake — I’d rather hold out and eat the real deal once a month, but if that’s your buzz these ones are supposedly up there with the best in the business.
I feel obliged to also add here that the for a vegan, raw food café, Little Bird could be perceived as expensive, but considering the processes behind what they do and the quality of the ingredients they use (soooo many raw cashews!), I think the price is justified for most dishes.
Also, worth noting that this place is incredibly popular in the weekend. It’s my favourite of the three stores but it has waaay less seating than their Ponsonby location so keep that in mind.

This is the most overrated and expensive eatery in Auckland. Compared with any other raw eatery I’ve been to this is very disappointing. The meals we had were super simple to the point of being laughable. Green salad like what you get bagged at a supermarket along with smashed avocado and a thin, average tasting bread replacement is not worth $ 16, nor is a small berry banana smoothie worth $ 12. It was labeled as a fejoa green tea smoothie but I had to search my taste buds for traces of these flavours. At that price the smoothie should be a replacement for a small meal, not a side beverage. Throughout the menu we could not find the exotic ingredients or novel meals which characterise other raw food places. Very disappointed, didn’t match the hype. Ended up visiting the Raw Kitchen afterwards for a meal I would enjoy (at half the price too).

Favorite place of the year, if not decade. Just can’t say enough about the delish and healthy food. The even had kombucha! Everything sounded so good, I wanted to try it all! Little Birdie Bowl was out of this world.

I’ve had a week of ongoing birthday treats and, today, Little Bird Unbakery, Kingsland, capped it off. Little Bird fills a spot no other place does with its pure, healthy deliciousness. Not only do you eat well and leave the place satisfied but you get to feel so damn righteous!
My friend and I both ordered a Bird Bowl. Never disappointing, today the mix of tastes and textures hit the food «g» spot. Who knew that pomegranate seeds could even make couscous sexy? The fennel and orange component of the bowl crunched and squirted goodness over the taste buds while the avocado, asparagus and watercress sent them to heaven and back. Really.
I prefer Kingsland Little Bird to the Ponsonby one. Somehow it’s more real.
Try the Matcha tea.

So on a chilly spring day we decided to have lunch at this busy unbakery — where nothing is heated above 40 degrees –everything is mixed, chopped, blended. Take a peek into the kitchen, and you’ll see no stove, no microwave, nothing that would give a hint of heat.
Even their coffee is cold (if you’re a coffee drinker, you might want to give them a try). I would never think of having a cold brew coffee, especially in NZ, but it seems these guys are here to make it happen. Bear in mind, we’re not talking about iced coffee, we’re talking about cold brew coffee. According these guys, cold brew coffee will be less aromatic than a hot brew, but will also have less acidity. And compared to iced coffee? It tastes fresher since iced coffee is hot brew poured on ice and will tend to taste old.
With a menu that changes weekly, I think this would be The Unbakery’s biggest flaw. Imagine trying something awesome (like an organic pad thai) one week, and then being disappointed with the menu the next because there was nothing that interested you.
We started with dessert — a chocolate tart and a raspberry cheese cake — rich and creamy but you won’t feel it to be too heavy because of how cold everything is. Though looking at their cabinet, I’m tempted to back to try everything else.
This was followed by a Mexican salad — the portion was definitely generous, with a guacamole and home made tomato flax crackers — a tasty and refreshing mix but we found we just couldn’t finish!
And to drink, after asking the nice Brazilian waitress what she’d recommend — I went for the cacao super smoothie, intrigued by the mix of ingredients: almond milk, banana, cacao, vanilla, dates. If you like trying new things — you’ll love this — bitterness of cacao with the sweet thickness of banana and dates.

* Not bad for a place that can’t be f***ked cooking

Without dairy, meat, and gluten, Little Bird finds all kinds of delicious fresh things and packs them in to make food that is bursting with amazing flavor.
I’d had the chocolate macaroons last weekend, and I was totally blown away by the bliss the ensued. Note: it’s cheaper to buy them at the unbakery than at Harvest Wholefoods — I know where I’ll be going to stock up ASAP.
Finally made it to the unbakery in Kingsland today — NOW OPEN SUNDAYS!!! Tried out the mexican plate — everything was fresh and delicious, a little spicy, and nice interesting textures. It was great, but I’m so glad I didn’t pass up on dessert, because that is what this place does best. DON’T SKIP DESSERT!!!
Tried their raspberry ginger tart — it had a nutty coconut crust with a delicious creamy filling with raspberry on top. Not heavy on the ginger, but I was very happy with the result nonetheless. Get it while it lasts!!! Yummmm…

Get one of their kale coriander and ginger juices to help fight winter colds. They really work!

Ignore any naysayers out there, this place has to be appreciated for what it is — a unique endeavour to make food in a different way. This is the little bird that could.
We went here for a late breakfast. I had Carter’s sprouted bread (buckwheat) with creamy balsamic mushrooms, plus the chocolate donut and cold-​drip coffee on ice. My wife had the apple crumble, which was «just alright» and tea. No standard hot coffee, unfortunately.
They had a while cabinet full of desserts — I want to try them all! For the next time.
I love the flavour and the idea behind them. This is food that is not just about the moment of taste, but the entire story of ingredients, effort, philosophy, and the long-​term view to make this whole project meaningful.

When it came to raw food, I was an unbeliever. Barring the obvious fruit and veges, what could possibly await me? After a visit to Little Bird, I’m a changed man — and at the price they charge, I think I could become a full convert to the way of raw… if I had one meal a day. They serve an excellent slow dripped coffee, which is fast becoming one of my favorite ways to enjoy my favorite beverage. They also sell a lot of items available for takeaway, my favorite being the cultured cheese.

I always like to choose gifts for my family that they won’t get elsewhere. When it came to Christmas last year, I couldn’t look past the Little Bird Unbakery, which sells beautiful little raw and organic treats. I made my sweet-​toothed Grandmother a basket of goodies inspired by her deep love for dark chocolate, and made sure to include some chocolate macaroons from Little Bird. I even went out on a limb and grabbed some cacao and raspberry macaroons to bulk up her gift. While Little Bird Unbakery isn’t the cheapest bakery in Auckland, it is worth the expense.

If you’re unsure about going raw… just give it a go. It’s not on the main café trail and there is no prominent signage so it’s not a café you’d simply stumble across. But the flavour combinations and dishes that come out of this little kitchen are truly inspiring, and healthy to boot. I still cannot understand how an unbaked, dairy-​free cheesecake (?!) can taste so good.
If you need your caffeine hit and the range of herbal teas and mock coffees don’t do it for ya, you can also get slow dripped coffee (Kokako) which is served with a tasty nutty milk.
Clean eating, everyone!

Raw vegan food anyone? I wasn’t totally convinced at first, but the unbakery turned me round. The food is fresh, clean and simple but innovative. Good eating with the added bonus that everything natural, unprocessed and organic.
I have found the food to actually be really rich and filling due to all the nuts they use… I had brunch there the other day and shared a berry macadamia tart thing with a friend and I actually felt pretty ill afterwards! Had to eat an orange to cleanse myself. The macadamia sushi sounds better than it tasted; the dolmas (aka dolmades: macadamia rice wrapped in vine leaves and stuffed with other goodies) were really good though. For the future, I shall stick with the savory stuff. (Oh. But I do want to try their ice cream sandwiches…). For drinks they have on offer, a range of different nut milks, smoothies, milkshakes and cold filtered coffee.
The place is pretty small which adds to the cuteness of everything and they have a little herb garden out the front along with parking.

This is truly one of my favourite places to come, a little out of my way but worth the trip. The Unbakery is home to where beautiful desserts, cakes and tarts are crafted lovingly from raw and organic where possible ingredients. Everything is natural and being a vegan who does not eat processed foods this place is pure bliss. The Little Bird range is also sold here along with teas and other raw and organic food products. Cabinet food changes often as does the menu which is posted on their Facebook page
.
On my last visit I was pleased to see Little Bird had finally added coffee to the menu. This is cold brewed dripped coffee provided by Grey Lynn roasters Kokako, it was beautiful. The coffee comes in a beaker, served over ice or with nut milk and makes a refreshing change to the usual espresso. Food wise, the raw carrot and cacao logs are my favourite as well as the grawnola and nut milk which is absolutely scrumptious. Do your body a favour and try Little Bird for some organic, raw food goodness.