The Mess Tent

Rating: 2

We ate lunch here in October 2022.

Beef nachos
Cinnamon, marscapone and blueberry bagel
Banana smoothie

The Mess Tent is the cafe at the Waiouru Army Museum, the kind of place you stop for lunch when you’re driving down State Highway 1. It’s clean and tidy, bathrooms, a big carpark and a tank that kids can play on, which is all that a lot of travelling families require. But we have more discerning tastes, and we won’t stand for anywhere skating by on convenience alone.

The smoothie was truly criminal. Chunks of ice. Too thin. Sour taste from the yoghurt. No good banana flavour, probably a green banana. Very unpleasant. The nachos were better, good chips, reasonable mince, but there weren’t enough chips for the amount of mince present. They’d made some special effort on the bagel, which was much appreciated, especially as this can be a real throwaway menu item. But they’d perfectly buttered it, added some cinnamon, and the marscapone and blueberries were spot on. Unfortunately our souls had already been crushed by the smoothie, which made it hard to enjoy anything. You’d be better off going to The Rustic Eating House.