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Silverdale’s newest cafe Relish & Rollick opened last month realising a lifelong dream for its owner Tallie Downey.
“When I heard Magnolia Kitchen was moving I felt it was the right time to start my own cafe,” she says. “I’m so excited to have my own place at last.”
Although the cafe is a new venture, Tallie is no stranger to making and selling food.
She has been catering for weddings and corporate events for years, and regular visitors to Auckland’s Night Markets will be familiar with her mouth-watering desserts. Up until now she has been working out of a commercial unit in Albany.
But this business has now moved into the premises next door to the cafe, providing a convenient second kitchen for the cafe creations. Between the two business, Tallie employs three bakers and two baristas.
Everything in the cafe is cooked on site and the ever-changing menu reflects what is in season, what people are asking for and what Tallie feels like cooking.
“I’m big on taste and I don’t cut corners. It’s good old-fashioned food with a contemporary twist.”
Tallie spent her early childhood in Papua New Guinea where her father ran Isuzu Motors and her mother had a hair salon. But she credits her much-loved Nana, from Ahipara, for her passion for food.
“At Nana’s house, breakfast started with juice and cereal, and wasn’t finished until you’d eaten a cooked breakfast. Lunch was a sit-down affair and she did all her own preserves. There always seemed to be something cooking on the stove or in the oven.”
Tallie wants to bring that same sense of warmth and homeliness to her cafe, while keeping prices affordable. She says her customers so far have been a nice mix of generations, tradies and professionals.
Special care has been taken to source a boutique-roasted coffee called Velvet, which donates a percentage of its earnings to the Sheldrick Wildlife.
Trust.“You can really taste the difference and people often comment on it. “The support and feedback from the community has been amazing.”
