Tartines Cafe — Restaurant in North Island

Wowsie!!! I heard a lot of praise for this french cafe in Eastbourne. What an amazing experience we had hi... from the great service, to the absolutely delicious food, and the delightful decorated courtyard dining area... feels like you're at a cafe in France... every now and then you can hear someone speaking in the french accent, it's music to my ears. We got there late, so couldn't order off the menu, but fortunately we could get food from the cabinet. We both had the quiche, with salad, and a smoked lol salmon crossiant. OMGosh the first bite of the quiche I was in quiche heaven!!! So tasty, and melt in your mouth delicious, accompanied with a simple lettuce salad,,, even that was delicious too. Crisp cool lettuce, with tomato, a sprinkling of pickled red onion and dressing... simple but so refreshing with the quiche. The crossiant was delicious too, a good serving of smoked salmon and salad (I see on the menu that they smoke their own salmon, fantastic! We brought an interesting sized orange, and blueberry cake, decorated with a gel like icing with fresh blueberries on top. It's not your usual round, or square shaped cake...it was sorta oval shape and about the length of a hand, I'd never seen a cake of this sort before (much later in the evening when we ate the cake, it was a type of brioche texture and taste, quite a heavy cake... nice to have with a cup of tea). We will try very hard to get here next time before the kitchen closes. The menu looks so inviting. We noticed a little shop next to the courtyard dining area...they advertised french cooking classes...how wonderful! If only I lived closer...I might have joined in one of the classes. We had travelled about 45 minutes to get here, based on a friend's recommendation. By the way...I took home the last 6 slices of the delicious quiche, for easy future meals, saves me having to cook... soooo looking forward to eating it again. Merci (only french word I know). Thank you 😍

So I managed to visit this cafe again, and we got there at lunch time this time. Once again, a busy cafe with plenty of customers. A few changes, they have taken over the front shop... which serves as a deli like store. A cabinet of pates, cheese's, salami/meats, cakes, breads, coffee etc. We brought the sourdough cobb, had it this evening at home... OMGosh I've eaten plenty of sourdough bread, and this by far stands out...mmmm soooo chewy, I love it!!! Ohh I forgot to mention, in the cabinet, they also sell their ready made meals. I brought another whole Quiche Lorraine $65.00 I love love love their quiche 😍 Today I had the pumpkin carrot soup, very creamy, with a salad... gotta have the salad again, so yummy. My sister ordered the fish pie on a potato mash, with a salad. She enjoyed both dishes. They offer a good alcohol selection as well. Love this cafe, will definitely come back to dine, and take a whole Quiche home with me again. Did I tell you that I love love love...

Randomly stumbled upon Bastille Day on Sunday when we decided to try out the lunch menu at Tartine French cafe in Eastbourne. They had a two course and three course offering for a very affordable price, our table tried a variety of most of their offerings. I went with the French onion soup, the macaroni cheese with chicken and the Apple tartin dessert which is the only dessert they had on the menu. The French onion soup was my favourite. Usually I don't like them because most places make them very sweet, but their soup was not at all and had a beautiful flavour, however it was not piping hot, I would say it was more like 70°c, it was not so cold that the cheese went solid so that was still fine though. Some of us ordered the steak which was cooked perfectly with a very nice peppercorn sauce on the side, the pork was a popular dish at our table however the breadcrumb dominated the dish which made the whole dish on the dry side, even though the pork was tender. Our chicken was on the dry side as well, even with chicken thigh. The chicken i was served has a piece of broken bone which is was not aware of, so I accidentally bit into it, can't say it was that pleasant 😕 the macaroni was extremely flavourful and was the best part of the dish, next to the fluffy bread that's perfectly toasted on the outside. The dessert was very big but we felt the apple was a bit too much and the sorbet which accompanied were not very refreshing, personally I would have preferred a bit more tart base, more ice cream and less apple, did not really care for the Chantilly cream either but not cos it's bad it's just not my thing. Overall it was good for the price we paid, however as I was made aware that the chef used to be a chef at hippopotamus , I suppose I had higher expectations, I think I would probably return Just for a coffee in the future, they do have one of the best almond...

Tucked away in Eastbourne, Laurent and his team are revisiting some classics french recipes and ingredients to deliver outstanding dishes in quality and presentation (and also Patisserie). We had the escargots (surprising and and best flavour I tasted), salad nicoise and Spanish paella. French wines are great too. We try many places in NZ and it is hard to find a place that are not only good but consistent through time. I also tasted their roast takeaway (available on pre order) which were fantastic. Also note that they are taking pre-order for a traditional french christmas cake called " La Buche", pick up on 24th december available for your 25th celebration. I cant wait to taste it!! Long story short, one or the best cafe/restaurant by far for the...