Family Friendly with Good Coffee in Mangere Bridge

It's always a bit daunting going out for a coffee as a Mum's group. Finding a place locally that serves good coffee, and will cope with a barrage of buggy's, noise and slightly dishevelled Mum's is a bit of a struggle. Never-the-less when one of our girls saw the play area in Ruby Red we decided to give it a go.

I'm not a coffee aficionado by any stretch, but I really enjoyed the coffee here (I don't like either overly bitter burnt coffee or overly sweet sudo-coffee's). The food also was good, a small selection of savouries and cakes, including a gluten-free orange cake that I considered trying (and I'm not a gluten-free eater) as well as some all-day breakfast options. But by far the most impressive thing about the cafe was the staff - they coped incredibly well with the amount of babies and buggy's and even helped with a wet cloth for my rather messy daughter after her lunch and were really friendly.

The play area at the back is not large, but coped well with 3-4 9 month olds playing "together" and has a selection of toys and books for kids to choose from. The cafe closes at 2pm, due to teh owner also having a young 'un to take care of herself which is understandable.

So all is all a great experience - I realised that I forgot to take photos. But if you're local you'll know the place already, and it's already developing a great word-of-mouth reputation. Go Ruby Red, we'll be back for more!