Next to the Hatea River and Whangarei Marina, Quayside is lined with colonial-style buildings housing quality restaurants, cafes and shops full of arts and crafts.
There’s history here, but also vision and ambition. The Town Basin area has been transformed over the past few years with the addition of recreational and cultural gems such as the 4.2km Hatea Loop Walkway that takes in Quayside. There are bridges, sculptures and parks to enjoy along the way. Quayside is a popular spot for boaties to gather after parking up at the marina, and for aspiring horologists to compare notes after visiting the famous Claphams Clock Museum nearby.
Nothing underlines the ambition of the people of Whangarei for their city more than the Hundertwasser Art Centre, which will begin construction on Quayside next year. Designed by eccentric expat Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, it will feature a rooftop garden, an onion-domed tower and a gallery of Hundertwasser’s work, as well as housing contemporary Maori art.
It will cement the Town Basin as a centre of culture and heritage and Quayside as the leisure hub of Whangarei. Get along and sample some of the classic flavours and new flair that has hit the riverside.
1 Mokaba Cafe
6 Quayside
The Hundertwasser Art Centre will sit right next door to Mokaba Cafe and owners Justin and Anna Le Cheminant can’t wait. They opened Mokaba in mid-2012 and have helped to reinvent the Town Basin as a destination dining, shopping and recreation area. Anna says the addition of the art centre will “truly put Whangarei on the map”.
Mokaba Cafe
Mokaba boasts an outdoor area with views over the marina and an all-day cafe menu with popular big breakfasts, including vegetarian and paleo options, and classics such as eggs Benedict, hash stacks and creamy mushrooms that lead onto lunches with hefty salads, polenta-coated fish and pork belly.
This is a great spot to enjoy a glass of beer or wine and watch the carol singers and buskers who frequent the Town Basin in the lead-up to Christmas, or grab a takeaway Chiasso coffee and check out the 10-metre Christmas tree that makes an appearance on the waterfront in late November.
2 NZ Fudge Farm
Shop 3, Town Basin Quayside
Take the kids for a walk, bike or scooter along the Hatea Loop Walkway; cross over Te Matau a Pohe, Whangarei’s award-winning bascule bridge (it opens in the middle to let boats through), then head back to Quayside over Victoria Bridge and ruin all that good work at the NZ Fudge Farm. Creamy, exercise-rewarding calories await in cubes of Russian caramel, salted caramel, chocolate supreme, Baileys, rum and raisin, and black forest wickedness.
You only live once. Over summer, the place does a roaring trade in ice creams and the Fudge Farm sundae blend of ice cream and fudge is a popular option to harden the arteries. It’s a great place to load up on Christmas gifts of old-fashioned fudge, handmade chocolates and retro sweets. If you prefer, you can also just grab a bag of fudge and a takeaway coffee and find a seat on the park benches in front of the marina to watch the action.
3 Riverside Cafe
14 Quayside
Riverside Cafe is the second eatery on Quayside for Justin and Anna Le Cheminant. Anna says it was a “no-brainer” to take on the eatery just 15 months after starting Mokaba, as they could see visitor numbers increasing steadily. The couple extensively renovated the site to give it a beachy feel and designed a menu of cafe favourites to complement Mokaba, including more adventurous options such as seared calamari and cashew salad, or vegetarian pumpkin, chickpea, quinoa and feta burgers.
A well-stocked cabinet is full of homemade cakes, muffins and filled rolls for quick bites. As the weather warms up and the afternoon crowds increase, Anna says they’ll keep cooking as long as there are customers around – you won’t leave Quayside hungry. They’re keeping Quayside classy, too, with new Skyspan umbrellas installed in their outdoor eating area to match the white canopies on Victoria Bridge.
4 No 8 Restaurant & Bar
8 Quayside
Opened in July, No 8 is the second eatery launched on Quayside by hospitality duo Lloyd Rooney and Mike Fraser in the space of two years. Their Asian-fusion sharing plate menu features the likes of Sichuan soft-shell crab, sashimi, chicken satay, Korean-style spiced duck and laksa.
Classic cocktails and their signature ‘Oriental originals’ provide a classy option for evening drinks and nibbles. Lloyd and Mike own The Quay just over the road, as well as The Cove at Waipu and The Dune at Mangawhai. European-style bistro food rules at their other eateries and while No 8 is a departure, it’s an excellent addition to the food offering on Quayside.
Lloyd and Mike also own a farm, which informs their self-sufficient approach to supplying their restaurants. They grow their own beef and lamb and all their own fruit and vegetables through a new business called Vege Shack that Mike set up earlier this year, which grows organic hydroponic produce for restaurants.
5 The Quay
31 Quayside
This is the prime location on Quayside: right on the water’s edge. Last year, Lloyd and Mike took over from the well-regarded Reva’s on the Waterfront, which had been in the location for 20 years. They gave the place a modern makeover and created a menu of high-quality, smart-casual bistro food to match. With their homegrown, paddock-to-plate ingredients and the talents of executive chef Craig Estick, the pair have created one of Northland’s best eateries. In fact, their desire to cement the Town Basin as the premier dining spot in Whangarei was a large part of their motivation.
Bistro classics with subtle twists are a feature of the menu. There’s lamb from their 2200-hectare farm, sirloin steak with polenta chips, and that Kiwi favourite, pork belly. The Quay‘s veranda is a wonderful spot to enjoy the fish of the day and a brew from the extensive menu of local craft beers and ciders.
6 Serenity Cafe
45 Quayside
‘Why eat anywhere else?’ This is the poser printed under Serenity Cafe‘s logo, and a brave invitation to Trip Advisor pundits. But they back themselves at Serenity Cafe with some of the best pies in town and a well-presented menu of cafe favourites and signature dishes such as a seriously good mussel chowder. Adriatic Fisheries, just up the road, supplies the house-smoked fish, which makes its way into the popular smoked hapuku pie and also an old-school smoked hapuku in white sauce.
Serenity Cafe
Serenity is just across the road from the Claphams Clock Museum and is a great place to recover after a journey through time. There’s always the option to grab a takeaway pie, bacon and egg croissant, club sandwich or some homemade baking with an excellent iced coffee and take it around the other side of the museum to enjoy on the spacious grass area near the large children’s playground.
This was first published in Taste magazine.
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