The Corner Store

Slap bang in the middle of Central Dunedin, The Corner Store is everything you could ever want in an inner-city cafe.

Tucked under a heritage building on the corner of Stuart and Bath Street, the cafe’s Art Deco entryway is immediately inviting, offering a glimpse of customers perched along the window seating, enjoying a blissful moment with their coffee. Inside, the clean and contemporary design is calming and leaves plenty of room for the site’s original features to shine through.

The Corner Store has a pretty straightforward philosophy when it comes to their food and drink: simple, tasty, local. The coffee is always good, which is down to a friendly team of talented baristas using organic fair-trade beans roasted locally by Common Ground Espresso. Listen carefully, and you’ll quickly pick up that regulars needn’t verbalise their order and that’s always a big tick from us.

Comforting classics make up the all-day brunch menu, with an abundance of gluten-free and veggie options in the mix. Local free-range eggs crop up in many forms – coated in hollandaise, sprinkled in dukkah, paired with apple-braised bacon, or popped on top of a potato hash. While it’s a treat to pull up a chair, The Corner Store knows that some days you just can’t stop, so they’ve made their all-day menu available for takeaway too.

Speaking of food on-the-go, we need to talk about the cabinet. If you work nearby and brought your lunch from home, we regret to inform you, you’ve made a terrible mistake (and may want to skip over the next few drool-worthy sentences). Behind the glass, there’s soft and puffy flatbreads filled with halloumi or crispy fried chicken, fresh focaccia sandwiches, flaky pies, and non-boring salads that can be pimped up with a poached egg, cauliflower falafel or Korean fried chicken. Everything is made in-house, including the line-up of sweet treats.

It’s a 7-day affair at The Corner Store, with great coffee and food to carry the local workforce through their week, while weekend dwellers will find many delicious reasons to linger during brunch o’clock.