The Apothecary

Love this place! Get my coffee and muffin in the morning without fail! Weekend brunches are a must. Also great evening eating or just drinks at the bar. Friday night drinkies with a pizza could easily become a habit. Love the surroundings and great staff. So pleased they are just down the road.

Came here on saturday afternoon for a glass of wine. Great vibe, music, feel very intimate and cozy with overall interior and lighting. Will come back for meal next time. Highly recommend for relax and chill afternoon.

Been to this restaurant a lot over the years it has been around and always enjoyed it. Cool décor and good service. So today was a total let down, appears it is under new ownership and service went out the door with the previous owners, along with cooking skills.
We had our two small dogs with us and so sat at a recently vacated table on the sidewalk, 3 waitresses walked past us, ignoring the empty coffee cup and water glasses left behind, they seemed not to notice us trying to get the table cleared and menus. Then we were told they couldn’t take orders we had to line up inside, don’t remember having to do this in the past!
Then we ordered three breakfasts, one came 10 mins after the other two?
The tomato side orders came cut in half, with the core still there, I do a better presentation when I make my wife breakfast and I’m no master chef.
The bacon was too fatty, some was crispy some not?
The waitress who did serve us was trying really hard although a little inexperienced, she kept apologising for the delays, the cold poached eggs and the lack of sauce, she even went to a nearby shop for more, although struck out.
The new owners need to work out what they are doing or things will get quiet at that end of Howick. We certainly won’t be rushing back, pity because we used to like it there.

Let’s talk about the service and then the food. We live locally, have never been here but have heard good reports. We decided on a brunch on a Sunday recently.
It was busy but the team had all of that under control and we didn’t have long to wait for a truly amazing big breakfast and great beverages.
We would recommend this very unique and retro venue for a visit. You will not be disappointed

I am madly in love with the décor of this café. Gorgeous vintage touches, a bit masculine and very classic.
There are gorgeous old signs from an old pharmacy, and a beautiful apothecary wall, with pull out wooden drawers. I couldn’t stop taking pictures while we were here because I was so in love with the décor.
There was a beautiful cooler and shelving full of fresh salads, pastries, and the most delicious looking sausage rolls. They were pretty reasonably priced too ($ 5.50 a roll) and I was very tempted to buy one of pretty much everything.
Alas it was a coffee run so the three of us ordered some flat whites to go. They served an espresso that my coffee-​snob brother-​in-​law had never heard of before so naturally he had a million and one questions about it. The espresso tasted pretty good — a bit sulfury, and the milk was a bit too hot, but all in all the flat white was quite nice. It wasn’t AS nice as one we had at Bucklands Espresso Lounge a few days earlier, but between the two I think we would probably pick this one for a nice date spot.
On our way out Jordan saw a little cocktail lounge style room to the side. We peeked in and it reminded me of a gorgeous underground Gatsby-​esque cocktail bar. That made me definitely want to go bak there as soon as possible, both for the sausage roll and a little cocktail.
Definitely an adorable little addition to Howick Village

The village in Howick is great for a day out. You can walk the streets and window shop for antiques, flowers and fashion. You can go for a massage and enjoy a cake on the high street. Howick is a beautiful part of town, and is also home to a beautiful eatery with old fashioned charm.
And if you thought the layout looked like an antique store, then you wouldn’t be far of the mark, as this fine dining destination was brought to you by the guys next door at the Antique Shop.
Howick is richer by having this great new destination, and she’s licensed to go, a firm favourite when I’m this side of the bridge.

Growing up in Howick, I would often stare at the old antique shop that used to be where Apothecary is now and wonder why anyone would go in there. Dusty old crap was spread out onto the street for all to see how dusty, old, crap and overpriced it all was. This place still plays home to awesome antiques, but it’s now one of the most innovative businesses Howick has to offer — Apothecary.
When you think of Howick, you don’t exactly think «cool», but that’s exactly what this place is. Big comfy couches, a vintage-​inspired coffee machine, taxidermied heads that watch over you while you eat — this place reminds me a lot of downtown bar Smith… and it’s in Howick. Sometimes I’ll walk around Apothecary and marvel that someone had the stones to open something like this in a place like Howick.
Make sure you have enough time for a sit-​down brunch and a Bach Espresso at Apothecary — everything this place touches turns to noms, which turns into happy belly pretty quickly.

The only drawback of going here is that I instantly and unwillingly think of that episode of Friends when Jennifer Aniston tricks Phoebe into thinking that the ‘Pottery Barn’ coffee table she bought was really an antique apothecary table.
Aside from that everything is brilliant about Apothecary. Perhaps the coolest part is that over the past year or so, the whole shop has morphed slowly from an antiques shop jammed full of incredibly beautiful stock, into a chic café and bar scrambled with remnants of antiques.
Note the beautiful chandeliers, the bunting, the stag’s head, the leather seats, the birdcages, the glassware, mirrors, and vintage toys… needless to say I really love the decoration, which actually doesn’t even feel like decoration, it just feels like what this place is.
Coffee and food? Oh yeah, they’re excellent too.