Knead on Benson — Restaurant in Ōrākei

I always drive past this place on the way to work and it was always busy. I decide to stop and try it one day. There is quite a bit or street parking around the area. The place is quite small with most of the seating on the outside. There are a few tables inside too. The cabinet has quite a few tasty treats and there is a smaller cabinet below the counter for some sweet items. they also did have a food menu but I ended up just grabbing a few things to take away. It did take a while to get the items since they did heat them properly so everything was still crispy. The pie of the day was beef bulgogi and that was very nice. Nice bits of beef as well as a tasty, sweet gravy. The prosciutto and cheese roll was also quite nice with the items rolled inside a croissant dough. I did like their almond croissant since it had a nice crispness to it. The rosette was almost like a coffin but did feel lighter and filled with custard and passionfruit. The food was actually quite nice. Their menu items did look interesting so I would also be interested in trying it out but they seem to always be busy and full so timing...

Update 2024- great array of cabinet goodies. Comparable to the other new bakeries that have popped up in Auckland. Almond croissant relatively the best one to go for, some of the cheese items are yum too. A few items can be hit/miss as the filling ratio can be off and the pastry not very crunchy. However overall worth a try. Space small so a bit of a squeeze to dine in but relatively friendly atmosphere in the area.

Awesome local vibe, always poppin with people on weekends so if you want to dine in got to be vigilant. Their cabinet food is delish, everything is very crisp. Tried a decent array of what they had to offer -and can’t go wrong with the almond croisssnt-on the softer mushier filling side if that’s how you like your filled croissants. Shoutout to croque Monsieur and truffle item, great bakery goods to be shared amongst friends to try a variety. Think if I had to eat one thing on my own probably wouldn’t have been as great of an experience so if you have a variety defs worth going with pals and trying...

This was a tough decision to make, but Knead on Benson has so easily won me over as my current favourite spot over everywhere else. The service is always excellent and the staff are so friendly and polite. I'm not a local to the area, so it's a bit of a journey to visit; however always worth it. I awkwardly asked regarding the items in the beautiful food cabinet at the counter as they are so delicately displayed but unlabelled! I was humbled by the staff member there as she was so excited to pop out her "cheat sheet" which I found quite sweet and humorous. And with every description I was left almost drooling with so many options; the flavours all seemed perfectly paired. I couldn't settle on just one, so I settled for 4. We ordered a sit down breakfast and wow was I in for a surprise. Everything was as I had imagined and dreamed it would be; exceptionally perfect and well above expectations. I highly rate this spot, add it to...