We love to recommend the places and services we ourselves enjoy and ask you to book through us for your comfort and assurance.
Click here to download the latest update on holiday season hours at our recommended local restaurants.
NOTE: We are currently updating this for the 2024/25 summer.
Restaurants
Note: Christmas, New year and other holiday periods require advance reservation to ensure a table at most restaurants. Staff shortages, and cruise ship visits, mean that walk-ins are not often able to dine. Enquire about our restaurant guest transfer service by electric leather-appointed luxury vehicle. Over the Christmas / New Year period some restaurants close to allow staff time with families, and others may have no restaurant tables available, so please be prepared to eat independent of hospitality outlets if you cannot confirm a reservation before you arrive in the Bay. Riverside Homestead may be able to offer platters, but ONLY by prior arrangement, especially as suppliers do close down for holidays. Dinners may be available for a minimum of four guests at the private Homestead kauri dining table, with menus matched with wines and created well ahead of time to ensure the best produce. Our platters vary in price according to seasonal and foraged artisan ingredients and our own humble artistry. Advance notice required.
Māha: Read your host Michael Hooper’s review of Māha in the respected Cuisine Magazine. We believe this to be the best restaurant experience and the best food in the Bay of Islands. Hidden in a tropical rainforest glade. Owner-operated, down-to-earth and esoteric at the same time – how clever is that!
The Duke of Marlborough Hotel: On the waterfront, just a 15-minute passenger ferry ride from Paihia, The busy “Duke” is family owned and run, has the best location in the bay, and celebrates fresh seafood especially. The menu is modern, creative and usually impresses in its execution and presentation. Bookings are absolutely essential. Breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Comprehensive Kiwi wine list.
Charlotte’s Kitchen: On the pier, over the water at Paihia. Owned by The Duke families, this is casual, cheerful, can-do Paihia. Try their artisan pizzas, fresh seafood, and smart but small wine list by the glass. Did I mention they are the only place to do local oysters tempura better than us?
Plough and Feather: a pumping, bright and breezy gastro-pub on the Kerikeri Inlet with views of the historic Stone Store, sprawling riverside lawns and a separate pizza court and garden area. Chef Colin has a great palate for flavours, especially from the pan-Asian spectrum. Heaps of local beers on tap and in bottle, as they are owned by a local craft brewery, and a wine list that is cleverer than a ferret in a crown cap.
Phat House: the very local craft brewery, sometimes with heavy beats but usually these are escapable on their outdoor patio. A cheerful welcome from proprietors Caroline and Rob, or manager Andy, pizza and chips, and a small local wine selection by the glass. Creative IPAs, lagers, stout/porter styles and in summer my favourite wheat beer (weitzen). Opens noon-9pm Thursday-Sunday and sometimes other days. Check their current hours first. Dress down! Ask about their brewery tours.
The Gables: operated with suavity by Nick Loosley, a young philanthropic environmental advocate whose family own the intimate restaurant, this “enoteca and osteria” incarnation of modern, fresh Italian food sits surprisingly comfortably in its very historic, charming 1847 waterfront kauri wooden villa. Lately, we’ve been impressed with the food and service.
Tours and Attractions – all of which we arrange and ticket for you
Waitangi Treaty Grounds: The Birthplace (Te Pitowhenua) of New Zealand. Two fantastic, modern museums, licensed cafe with excellent local wines, genuine cultural performances, Maori carvings, the Naval Flagpole and historic, elevated and beautifully-maintained grounds, the Treaty House.
Be sure to allow at least half a day. We have luxury transfers available in our Riverside electric vehicle, especially welcome if you take the half-hour riverside walk from the Treaty Grounds to Haruru Falls and would like to be picked up at the far end of the track. Check their website for operating days of their cultural performance and hangi (in-ground cooked feast – not recommended for vegetarians or non-carnivores!)
Grant Harnish and his helicopter pilots will give you a fantastic and unforgettable panorama of the Bay and beyond. Bell and Robinson choppers available. Fly-drive fixed-wing and airconditioned mini-bus combination gives you access to Spirits Bay and the meeting place of the oceans at the tip of New Zealand, all in a half-day’s excursion that can include sandhill sledding.
This family-owned tour and marine company operates excursions around the bay, also offering an Urupekapeka Island stopover where there is a licensed cafe and superb, safe swimming at pristine Otehei Bay. Please book through us so we can assist your arrangements and provide drinking water and beach towels.