Prefab & Mystic Kitchen

 

Rating for Prefab : 9/10 Complaints - Noise, More Noise, Noisy Noise, Couldn't Hear Myself Think Let Alone Order, Crowds, Condescending

Rating for Mystic Cafe: 0/10 Complaints : Brioche, Dairy Free Smoothie, Polite, Quiet, Random Clothing Store, Cool

My beloved mum Susan had to have surgery recently.

 This was a pretty big deal as it was a total replacement of her jaw joint with a titanium part, the original joint was in a bad way from osteoarthritis and basically they had to cut out the damaged joint (yikes) and replace it. She's recovering well now and says she feels better now the arthritic part is gone, but it was pretty scary for her to have to go through such a major surgery. Shout out to Boulcott Hospital for giving her the best and kindest treatment I've ever witnessed at a hospital. How often do you get a nurse asking if you'd like extra ice cream and coming to make sure you received said ice cream? 

Following the surgery, she had to return to Wellington a week later for a follow up appointment in the CBD. We had a 3 hour drive to get there, so by the time we arrived at the clinic with an hour to spare, we needed sustenance.

The nearby Prefab was one I'd heard good things about about over the years, but never actually visited. We entered the admittedly tidy and well-kept premises with the intention of using the facilities and getting something to eat like a smoothie, as Mum wasn't able to eat solid foods at the time. Unfortunately, eating or drinking at Prefab was not to be.

The first thing that slapped us in the face like a soggy pool noodle, was the NOISE. It wasn't just the chatter from the rather crowded cafe which bounced off the walls and back into the eardrums, but the background music was also at a volume more suited for Sunday afternoon rage cleaning or solo motorway driving.

I've been told that all my family speak quietly, my mum has particularly sensitive hearing and we found the noise levels oppressive. It's like when you're at a bar and someone is talking to you, but you realise you can't hear what they're saying, and you also realise you are talking nonsense because you can't hear what you're saying, and it feels like you're in a playground ball pit sinking further and further into a sort of bubbly mass of noise. You don't generally expect this from a cafe so I was a bit surprised by the sheer LOUDNESS of the place. The whole place sort of reminded me of a school or prison dining hall with the spaciousness, high ceilings and uncomfortable seating.

I did go up to the counter, which was hard to locate as there was more than one long benchlike counter and no eftpos terminal in sight, and asked the staff member about fruit smoothies. They were very slightly condescending and not the friendliest, seemed like they were having a bad day and they do not make smoothies. At all. So we had to leave because fruit juice doesn't cut it after a long drive.

Stepping out of the cafe, I swear I could feel my eardrums pop. It was so refreshing to be out of the Noise Chamber. 

Heading up the road we came across Mystic Cafe. This is an interesting place, at first we couldn't find the correct door which was a bit of a laugh. Half the shop appears to be a clothing store with unique and unusual clothing, while the cafe is accessed via a side door towards the back.

This place is much smaller and would only seat a handful of people, so the noise levels were much more acceptable. They offer a selection of cabinet foods and two kinds of smoothie, making the choice easy. The smoothies come in banana + peanut butter, and berry, and both kinds are dairy free which is perfect. There's nothing like a big glass of thinly disguised milk for bringing on upset stomachs and asthma attacks and I try to avoid it, really refreshing not having to choke down milk or feel like a precious jerk for requesting dairy free. The dairy free smoothie should be standard everywhere.

Mum had the banana peanut smoothie and I had the berry one. Because she wasn't up to eating much, we went halves in a delicious, cloudlike maple walnut brioche. The beauty of the brioche is that even though it's soft like a muffin, it isn't too sweet so you don't have that unpleasant sensation of having eaten a lot of sugar at once, and you can almost kid yourself you're being healthy until you consider that it is all basically just cake. Both smoothies were not really unusual in any way, but they delivered on cold, nourishing goodness and were exactly what we needed to go with that amazing brioche.

The staff at this cafe were also much friendlier which was appreciated, and it wasn't noisy apart from the occasional noise from the coffee machine. I have quite bad social anxiety that seems to fluctuate between total shyness and swaggering overconfidence. Friendliness from staff is always appreciated, otherwise I feel like I must have broken some social rule I didn't know about and get super embarrassed and end up thinking about the interaction for days.

The counter at Mystic Kitchen is interesting and highly aesthetic as it appears to be made of beautiful old school tin ceiling tiles or something similar. I don't know why we never seem to see these much anymore, I think minimalist decor as an entire concept needs to follow the triceratops.

Would definitely go back to Mystic Kitchen, hopefully when Mum's fully recovered so we can try a few of the other food items, but probably not Prefab without a decent pair of earplugs.