gyspy kid.: Best Ugly Bagels + Camper Coffee

Best Ugly Bagels. I’ve sat here for 10 minutes now wondering how to describe this wonderful little nugget of bagel heaven nestled into 3A York St, Newmarket. But this isn’t their first location, as after experiencing wild success at Wellesley St, they looked to set up shop outside of the city centre before finding a beautiful little spot in Newmarket. After having been to both, I’m pleased to say that for me the Newmarket location is most definitely better, with significantly larger space, cushioned outside seating and smiley enthusiastic staff.

Brainchild of Al Brown, Best Ugly bagels came into existence a short time after Brown briefly lived in Montreal, Canada. It was there that he took a bite of his first Montreal Bagel made by a Polish Jewish community and fell in love with their adaptation of the traditional New York bagel. Individually hand-rolled and simmered in honey-sweetened water before being baked in a wood fired oven, these bagels are undoubtedly some of the best in Auckland. Amy and I split the TAB (tomato Avo and basil) while the boys both had a YODI with Pastrami, Swiss cheese, Habanero mustard and pickle.

And of course bagels just demand to be eaten with coffee, so it was just 10 meters across from Best Ugly’s where I indulged in the best coffee I have ever had. Camper Coffee has a hole in the wall shop just down from best ugly bagels and serves the notoriously famous and very exclusive 'camper' coffee beans. You see, coffee and I have had a bit of an odd relationship as I’d usually order a flat white or latte only to get 2 sips in and wonder why I order a drink I don’t really love. So believe me when I tell you not to go to Camper Coffee on 2 Kent Street. No seriously, I mean it, don’t go unless you are totally happy for ‘regular’ café coffee to forever be unsatisfyingly average. Smooth, subtly nutty and rich, this coffee will bring even the most cynical tea drinkers to the caffeinated dark side.