What constitutes an office? (Office on Harrogate)

Office (noun): A place where business, clerical or professional activities are conducted. Generally found housing a desk, chair, computer, phone, at least one wonky stapler and a plethora of pens. Last week I stumbled across Office on Harrogate, definitely not your average office.

It’s easy to drive past Office on Harrogate, you have to keep an eye open for the recycled wood fence out the front. Inside the recycled theme continues with a front counter made out of old lockers, very clever.

Enamel serving plates push the theme along further, as do the large jam jars used for juice and iced coffee.

Thankfully that’s where the recycling stopped though … the food was modern, fresh, healthy and served in good proportion sizes … not so small that it has you raiding the office biscuit tin, and not so large that you fall asleep at your desk.

The prices were good. A salad plate cost around $10.00 and on this occasion we had a mixture of two salads …broccoli and almond salad, plus roast capsicum, pumpkin and quinoa salad. Both packed with flavour, the first mouthful of the pumpkin salad had us trying to identify the fresh flavours.

There was a wide range of other options including: wraps, corn fritters, roast vegetables and feta tart, filo pies (chicken and bechamel, shown opposite), scones, and some very interesting looking breakfast options (toasted granola, bircher museli, bacon butty, dippy eggs with soldiers).

Watching the crowd, there was definitely business being done both on computers and in small intimate groups. When the work crowd left I lingered a little longer to enjoy a rich hot chocolate, filled to the brim.

Overall the vibe was fresh food served in a cool, relaxed atmosphere … an oasis in a working day. If that isn’t enough for you then there was the brief description of the partner who was missing in action … ‘the good looking half maori guy …he’s not here at the moment, he’s on a photoshoot, he’s a model’ … intriguing or what?