Cafe Encounter - Kaikoura

Lovely position overlooking the bay. A nice place to sit back with your coffee watch the world go by.

Delicious food great clean eating areas and friendly staff!

On the advice of our travel agent New Zealand In Depth we went to Cafe Encounter ten minutes early on the morning of our dolphin watch tour. Good advice! Just after we’d ordered the place was full inside and getting that way on the patio. The staff were very friendly and competent despite the pressure. Muesli and scrambled eggs were excellent. We went again the following day, having checked out the breakfast offer at our hotel next door. Their muesli mix wasn’t as good. And those hotel silver domed food warmers signified pre cooked rather than freshly scrambled eggs. At Cafe Encounter the service and food were again very good despite, or perhaps because of, the high traffic generated by the Encounter business. The team is used to dealing with large numbers of covers under time pressure, and their skills are well honed. On our return from whale watching (spotted a rare Blue Whale! we asked to be dropped off by the South Pacific Helicopters courtesy car at Cafe Encounter for lunch delicious quiche and salad, plus chocolate and blueberry muffin. We’ll be there for breakfast for the third time tomorrow!

Nice cafe: plenty of outdoor and indoor seating. Food was tasty.

The coffee was excellent and the Chicken Pide was fantastic. The staff was friendly and the outdoor seating in the sun was great. We were told it was the best spot for brunch in town and it certainly lived up to the hype.