This place caught my eye a few times before I ventured inside and found it was a perfect little spot to grab a drink or bite to eat, and then kick back with something to read. Remedy has a range of seating options, a warm vibe, good music and original decor – all of which I’ve been missing in our city-centre cafes.

K Rd has plenty of options: the new version of Verona, Revel, the Hard Luck Cafe, Theatre, DOC, Coco’s… But what does the city have? Federal and Wolfe is decent but it’s usually busy, often with corporate types, and it’s noisy with no nooks to hide in. I can’t think of any others… Auckland has become overrun with bland chain-cafes, or cafes so impersonal and over-priced they may as well be a chain. One near my work has a nice lay-out but the food is uniformly poor. Others are just too twee to take seriously.

For me, the heyday for city-centre cafes was in 1996 when I was a student at Senior College. The school had no grounds and we weren’t required to be on site outside of classes so we roamed around: smoking behind the library, lying on the grass in Albert Park, doing shots in dodgy bars on Fort Lane, and drinking endless cups of coffee at cafes along Lorne and High streets. There was one where we called the waiters babe, super-babe, and semi-babe. I don’t remember anything else about it. Another fav was downstairs on the corner of High and Vulcan where they did quality pesto/parmesan bread for $3. Then of course we would trek up to Brazil on K Rd and hide upstairs with our Long Blacks and Camel Lights, having just traded some CDs at the exchange next door…

Anyway, this is a ramble. But I recommend Remedy. Find it at 1 Wellesley St West, opposite the Civic.