I have yet to find a good coffee between Tauranga and Auckland. It's a barren wasteland of…read moresuperettes and truck stops (don't even 'Copper Kettle' me). Today I decided to give Waihi township a quick look through. I have to admit - usually we're making this drive at unusual hours, and we're ready to go full throttle and crank some KFC by the time we hit Waihi. But not today! A) because it was 8:30am and B) because I was driving solo and thus not tormented by peer pressure and my innate weakness for chicken. There weren't many places open this early in the morning (on a public holiday, no less). But a few cars were parked outside an unassuming 'German Bakery' on the main drag. I pulled up, stepped past the quaint round tables with checkered cloth that huddled together outside trying not to fall prey to the torrential downpour. I entered the chain-drop curtain thing to find a tidy, warm and wonderfully aromatic bakery. A quick peek behind the counter revealed - tah dah! - an espresso machine. Golden. I ordered a double shot mocha with soy ($6.50 - they charge for soy), and sat down while the lovely German fellow (who had emerged from a back room somewhere at the 'clink' of the chains) prepared my caffeinated dream. While I waited, I read the brief info sheet that lay on every table - it detailed the process of preparing and baking sourdough, and the nutritional benefits of it versus other breads. Though I only wanted coffee, I was now convinced that I needed some sourdough in my life. There was a huge variety of freshly baked loaves, but I decided to be traditional and bought a classic white ($6). The coffee was lovely. Very much better than I usually get on this drive (although the sugar factor was probably at play in this one - will order a flat white next time to double check). I haven't eaten the sourdough yet - I'm saving it for dinner. But if you're heading through Waihi I'd definitely give the German Bakery a look through - it's a neat little find! P.S. My coffee came with a bite of something delicious. I could not begin to tell you what it was, but it appeared to contain nuts and fruits and was fresh from the oven.

Best coffee I have ever tasted and the sourdough breads best ever - so full of flavour and not full…read moreof air, will last for days in pantry, poppy cake lovely too.

Love it! My friend brought us here for some fast food, and I have no problem eating the delicious…read moreand cheap (by US standards) meat pies. They also have cold sandwiches, pastries, burgers, hot dishes. My friend equates Ronnie's to kind of like a Denny's, but seriously, the pies are awesome, good quality, and cheap.

Self-service cafe and bakery with a very wide selection on the main Street in Rotorua. It opens…read moreearlier than the other cafes, so it's great for a quick brekky. Meat pies were really good.

We stopped at 3:23 right as they closed at the end of the day. Many of the flavors were gone, but…read morewe shared the best steak and mushroom pie. For $7, it fed two people after we had a visit to the thermal pool park a few blocks away. Quick in and out parking and tap to pay. Best ever service.

Great place to stop to pick up a quick bite to eat for the day. Great selection of savory hand pies…read moreand sweet desserts. We are only in town for a few days and plan to go back a second time! We enjoyed the sweet lamb curry and the steak and mushroom pies

We came here for a dessert after dinner. Had to wait 20 minutes for a table for two, which wasn't…read morebad since we left our number with them so we could wander around. I chose to have the lemon and yoghurt bombe alaska that was fantastic. The right amount of sweetness and tartness. There was a bit of confusion that kind of spoiled our experience as we also ordered the passion fruit and peach chocolate bon bon and was only told after the dish arrived that the passion fruit and peach were only available as shards, which was eight dollars more. We would have appreciated the waitress explaining that some of the chocolates came as shards and the others as bon bons, so we felt like we were tricked into ordering something. The cookie dough macaron was good but didn't remind us of cookie dough, more of a chocolate macaron. We left wanting a lot more from our experience chocolate- and pastry-wise.

The lemon yogurt bomb Alaska is the best "popsicle" ice cream bar I've had. It's not too sweet or…read moretangy and balances our dessert well. It has a crispy lemony coating over a frozen yogurt middle, finished off with stripes of meringue on the top. It all case together so well! The cookies and cream rocher was also very delicious. It was topped with edible gold, had a crunchy cookies and cream outer layer before you hit a velvety chocolate mousse later. Finally, the inside had bits of cookie. It sounds very sweet and sickly but was pleasantly well balanced. I wish they had a Milse where I'm from! Actually maybe not, or else I'd be so broke.

My husband absolutely adored or breakfast at Ciabatta Cafe while in Rotorua…read more Service was fast, and friendly with plenty of open seating in the cafe. The food was outstanding, and we were blown away by the focaccia breakfast sandwich. The passion fruit Cronut was delicious as well!

We loved this spot so much we visited twice during our trip. They make the most delicious…read moresandwiches with fresh ciabatta bread. There's also a big selection of pastries and coffee on their menu. The location is in an industrial area but can be easily found with google maps. There's a few spots of parking outside and plenty of seating inside. The food comes out quickly and staff are nice. Very casual spot for top notch sandwiches. Highly recommend visiting if you're from out of town.

While stopping in town on a cruise, a tour driver suggested this was the place for meat pie.. OMG!…read moreBest thing we ate on the entire trip. Staff was friendly and so humble. Tremendous variety as well.

The One Tree Bakery is small, but has a huge assortment of meat pies, lamb, seafood, chicken, steak…read moreand some vegetarian ones too! I had the steak and cheese pie, and it was great! One pie is the right size for one person. The steak pie had large chunks of tender beef in a tasty gravy. The cheese was spread throughout. The crust was flaky and a bit fatty, like you would expect...an excellent pie!

Best pies I had in New Zealand and we haven't found a pie yet in Australia that compares.read more

This is my favourite ever bakery! They make their own pies and they are delicious! Their steak pies…read morehave big chunks of meat in it and the pastry is to die for. The cream donuts are also absolutely divine. I always make the effort to stop by this bakery on my road trips!

A "Real Deal" bakery and cafe. Fresh daily. People were really nice as well. There is also an on…read moresite local crafts shop. Well worth the stop on way to Whakatane.

Amazing steak and cheese pie , prices understandable for the high quality and delicious foodread more

We stumbled on this amazing cafe driving to Rotorua from the Coromandel Peninsula. It's literally…read morethe only cafe/bakery in town so we were among mostly if not all locals. There is a huge selection of freshly made pastries, sandwiches and various other hot foods. If that's not enough they offer a menu of hot breakfast and sandwiches. We ordered the hot rib eye sandwich and a couple of meat pies. Everything was fresh and delicious. PROS: Fresh food Meat pies Rib Eye sandwich Lolli cakes Supporting local business Small town cafe Prices CONS: Must be passing through to get here.