Cake in a carpark

Sometimes the greatest finds present themselves in the most unexpected places.

Though maybe that's what a great find is.

Here I am, in a carpark community called Northcote, with 20 minutes to kill before the next bus back over the bridge to Auckland. What to do?

Without much thought I wander into a Chinese bakery called Classic Bakehouse to have a look at the rows of cakes. Just a look. One that catches my eye is called butter bread and it's bright yellow, shiny on top and springy to the touch even through the cellophane. Looks to me like brioche. It's only $1.60 for 2 pieces joined together. Okay then. Oh and a flat white on the side thanks very much, I'll be sitting over here.

The butter bread/brioche is as soft as a kitten, as light as a feather and pulls apart into doughy strands with therapeutic ease. Like candyfloss without the stickiness, you could probably tease it out from one side of the shop to the other. I must have set off some kind of culinary-chemical reaction causing it to disintegrate as, before I know it - poof! - it's gone. I'm bewildered, too - and by the nice taste in my mouth.

The flat white - made on a tiny coffee machine (no photos allowed) and at only $2.50 probably one of the cheapest in Auckland - turns out to be up there with one of the best I've had. And I've already had a couple just this morning.