Bennetts of Mangawhai

Here at Bennetts Café we pride ourselves on using local, fresh and seasonal produce, but how local, fresh and seasonal are our dishes? Very! Our Platter is the epitome of our food ethos.

Served on handcrafted boards made locally by Greg Dowson, our Platters vary according to what is in season and grown locally. A current Platter will include a selection of meats, cheeses, crackers, preserves, fruit and dips. Sounds like a perfect way to wind down from a busy day, right? Well, it gets better.

The Platter embodies our food philosophy and is lovingly put together with a mind to best ethical and environmental practices. Take for instance the Labneh cheese featured in our Platter. This is an amazingly fresh cheese made from yoghurt. We make both the yoghurt and cheese in house. The yoghurt is a result of a desire to have zero waste with regard to the milk we use elsewhere in the kitchen and is created using probiotic acidophilus and bifidus cultures. The cheese is made by hanging this yoghurt to remove the whey and it retains the tanginess and creaminess of the yoghurt. Delicious!

 What would good cheese be without crackers? The Platter currently includes three varieties of crackers, each handmade in our kitchen. One cracker is made from sourdough baguette from Sprout Organic Breads, another is a gluten free rice cracker made with quinoa, chia, brown rice, linseed and black sesame, perfectly complementing the cheese and preserves.

 Even the pear chutney is close to home! Head Chef, Rob, simply pops out and picks the pears from his tree at home to create the chutneys. Likewise, tomatoes grown just down the road are sundried the old fashioned way in the kitchen before appearing on your Bennetts Platter.

Our meats come from Freedom Farms and we are proud to support cage and pen free farming practices, as we believe an ethical and natural life for the animal results in a better product for you.

The philosophy behind our food is simple – good, real food made to share.