The Rusty Snapper - Kawhia

Cool old-school fish chips great burgers and food. We had the chance to be in this place only. There are more similar establishments at the same street, but this one was very nice. We choose to get there because of the name.

This appears to be the main cafe in town. The food is delicious, basic and traditionally kiwi simple and the coffee (short black espresso) was really very good. Beware! Eggs only come fried! The staff were very friendly and there is plenty of parking on the street. The ice creams were very popular with tourists and locals alike and there is a beautiful reserve directly opposite.

I wanted to love this place but in this instance the 4 stars is generous. The fish saved it as it was delicious. However the chips were woefully undercooked. Undercooked chips may be an anomaly of the person cooking them though and could be easily fixed with a timer on a known temperature. I have to believe this is not the norm as I am loathe to complain but every self respecting Aussie would have been deeply offended by the chips and there would be an outbreak of war between the otherwise amicable neighbors if the chips were always this bad. Just being cheeky.

Lovely little cafe. We had fish and chips. Nice big portion size with chips.

Classic small town NZ. A surprisingly wide selection of food (tho most of it deep fried) and very generous portions you won’t leave here hungry. Some tasty home baking too, but I’m not sure you’d drive out of your way for the coffee. Friendly vibe.