2 Best Restaurants in Thames, Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty

A consistently good community café, Sola offers an all-vegetarian menu but it’s no health food bar. Counter food includes tasty risotto cakes, Florentines, and fresh fruit shortbreads. Try a breakfast of potato-and-fresh-herb frittata or pan-fried polenta with smoked field mushroom, spinach, and feta for lunch. They also cater to wheat and gluten-free diets. Local cheeses and chutneys from the deli counter make great picnic fixings.

Within one of the few hotels remaining from the gold rush days, you'll find classy pub grub in a convivial atmosphere. The Grahamstown Bar Diner (GBD) is the main restaurant bar, serving everything from breakfast and lunch to bar snacks and pizzas to evening main courses. On weekends, it gets pretty packed late night thanks to music gigs. Down the back is a more casual bar with pool tables; upstairs, there are some basic but clean and excellent-value accommodations.