Pikuniku Cafe — Restaurant in Albert-Eden

I visited this cafe with a Chinese friend who wanted to go. The food was ordinary, and the service didn’t feel very professional. The coffee prices seemed a bit high, but I ordered a cold brew since I wanted something with low caffeine. After paying upfront, they told me the cold brew was sold out and asked me to switch to a decaf iced Americano, which is the same price, so I agreed. Later, another staff member came and asked for an additional $1 for ice, which left me disappointed with their service. If the decaf iced Americano had cost more than the cold brew, I would have canceled the order entirely, but I just paid to avoid further frustration.

When the coffee arrived, I asked if it was indeed decaf, and they confirmed it was. After a few sips, another coffee came out. I asked again, and they took it back, saying the first one was correct. Then a different staff member came and said the first coffee was wrong and switched it out for a new one as if they were doing me a favor. I felt really upset—especially since I ordered decaf to avoid stomach issues later. In the end, I paid more and drank caffeinated coffee, had an uncomfortable meal, and ended up with a stomach ache that night.

I wouldn’t visit again. While the staff weren’t unfriendly, their inability to handle situations outside their normal service made me feel uncomfortable. I recommend confirming whether the menu item is available...

The cafe is located on Great South Road, close to the Greenlane intersection. They do have parking around the back of the building off Momona Road. Otherwise, there should also be street parking around. The cafe has a fair bit of seating and you are supposed to wait to get seated. Like most cafes they have cabinet food ready to go. There is also an ice cream bar on the end of the counter by the toilets. They came to take our order and we grabbed a few things to share. They also have some interesting drinks like the sesame latte. Of the savoury items, the miso udon was the best. It had a nice flavour and was really silky and smooth. I quite liked the tako omurice and the salmon soba too. Both had a nice flavour and were quite interesting. The karaage open sando was also nice with tender but juicy and crispy chicken. We also had the dorayaki and croffle and I did enjoy both items too. The Japanese influence is obvious in the menu and the food here was quite tasty. They also did have standard cafe fare like eggs benedict. Definitely a nice place for some tasty and unique Japanese food. Something to note is that they are cashless so you will need a card of some sort...

We went following videos from social media, which raised our expectations about this cafe. What we found was an average local cafe located in Epsom.

We had two dishes. The Tako omurice was a bit too overpowering from the different characters of the sauce. The octopus pieces inside were quite chewy, and tasted as if it was overcooked.

Also we had the miso creamy mushroom udon. The flavours of cream and truffle overpowered this dish. It was lacking the taste of miso, which should give umami. It was hard to find the japanese in this dish. The texture of the noodle itself was pleasant.

The highlight was the black seasame latte. You could taste the nutty flavour and you could see the real grinded seasame in the drink towards the end. It was a pleasure using the teaspoon to finish this drink. And it was perfectly sweet as well.

The service was okay, i think having a clear means of whether to wait to be seated or finding own seats would help customers on arrival.

It wouldn't be a cafe that I would travel out of our way to go to, nor wait a long time as stated by...