It’s 5pm on Auckland’s Karangahape Road, and the tables spilling on to the street outside Coco’s Cantina are full – but these aren’t your usual sticky toddlers, or after-work suits. As the sun glints off the dusky-pink frames of her glasses, Gabriella Stead, 32, says she doesn’t care if it’s uncool to tuck into Italian food this early; she and Max Coombes, 34, are hungry.
“It’s meant to be kind of cringey and embarrassing to eat early because it means you care about digestion, but it’s all about having enough time before bed,” says Stead, who lives nearby and says she regularly dines at this hour. “When you’re out later, you just see people drinking.”
