You may be wan­der­ing along the water­front later in the year when a crowd of large gen­tle­men in col­our­ful cot­ton knit shirts may ask for dir­ec­tions to some­thing called the “RWC Party Zone”. And there­fore, as a polite host want­ing only the best for guests to our city, you may dir­ect them to Cuckoo, this latest des­tin­a­tion for Real Wel­ling­ton Cof­fee.

No doubt you will already know Cuckoo in its night­time vari­ant: it is anoth­er estab­lish­ment in Mr J Mck­en­zie’s bur­geon­ing empire, and is to be found around the back of the much lar­ger Fox­glove near Queen’s Wharf. It is cer­tainly a small, though per­fectly formed, Party Zone.

But now dur­ing the day, bar­isti Mr A Macauley (formerly of Mem­ph­is Belle) and Mr A Smith (formerly of Mojo), have set up in Cuckoo and are provid­ing for pass­ers-by in need of RWC and snacks. Like many oth­er bar­isti at our favour­ite cof­fee bars Messrs Macauley and Smith provide not only espresso-based drinks but also single-ori­gin pour­over styled cof­fee. In addi­tion, they have reportedly been exper­i­ment­ing on their espresso, adding tinc­tures such as saline to “bring out and com­ple­ment fla­vours in our cof­fee” (we are assured this is option­al), and offer­ing espresso-based cock­tails.

Lunch; Chemex; a book; a comfy chair; and sunshine.Hav­ing vis­ited Cuckoo at lunch a num­ber of times now this Wel­ling­tonista may report that the cof­fee is indeed very very good. The Nek­isse beans in a Chemex cof­fee­maker were the best I have tasted so far, includ­ing that at the Wel­ling­ton home of this bean, Cus­toms Brew Bar (apo­lo­gies to Mr R Jen­ner). And the food, while not of diverse choice, is of good qual­ity.

But per­haps the best aspects of Cuckoo are the com­fort­able arm­chairs, which on a sunny day may be placed out­side in the sun, allow­ing one to enjoy food, drink, and a good book over a quiet lunch hour.

Long may this be so. And per­haps, on reflec­tion, it is best we dir­ect any large gen­tle­men look­ing for a “RWC party zone” to Shed 5 and points fur­ther south… and retain Cuckoo for ourselves.