Hester’s

Ask Hamish Watts, co-owner of Applejack Hospitality group (The Botanist, SoCal, The Butler, Rafi, what his grandmother was like, and he’ll tell you she was a “quirky and fashionable lady” who looked to ’60s style icons such as Jackie Onassis and Audrey Hepburn for sartorial inspiration.

Her personality is the inspiration and namesake for Hester’s, a sleek cafe opposite Wynyard Park in the CBD. It sits right next door to restaurant and bar Bopp & Tone, and pint-sized grab-and-go cafe, June’s Shoppe. Like Hester’s, both are named for Watts and his business partner Ben Carroll’s grandparents.

Shades of terracotta red envelop the space, which occupies part of the lobby of the adjoining office building, as well as the terrace at Bopp & Tone. The heavy use of timber and tiles is warmed up by a Moroccan-style rug, hanging rattan pendants, brass feature lighting and a large dried arrangement of Hester’s favourite flowers, hydrangeas.

Hester’s shares a kitchen with Bopp & Tone, and has a similarly Mediterranean-influenced menu. Breakfast dishes include a bacon-and-egg burger, and butter-roasted mushrooms with buffalo curd and salsa verde on sourdough. French toast with coconut crumble and crème fraîche, and house-baked goods, including Portuguese tarts and croissants, are on hand to satisfy those with a sweet tooth.

Office workers looking for a lighter, more casual alternative to Bopp & Tone’s protein-heavy lunch menu will find it here. Think Aussie prawn salad; coal-roasted sweet potato with shredded kale, parsley, almonds, red chilli & tahini dressing; and a woodfired chicken club panini all on the menu.

Morning brews for the office crowd are made with beans from north shore roaster Gabriel Coffee. There’s also a range of sparkling sodas, and a short selection of wine and beer is available from midday. (And if you ask nicely, the waitstaff will let you order a sneaky cocktail from the full Bopp & Tone cocktail list.)