Café Encounter — Restaurant in Kaikōura

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...

This cafe is buzzing, how stunning to be situated near the esplanade of gorgeous Kaikoura. We had lunch here today, plenty of outdoor, undercover, and indoor seating. You can order off the menu, or they have some beautiful cabinet food to choose from, too. Despite the cafe being really busy, our food was super quick to reach the table, and the service was friendly! I ordered eggs bene with bacon, and I have to say it was one of the nicest eggs bene I've had in a long time. The potato cake underneath the eggs and bacon was absolutely divine!!! Fluffy soft potato with an extra crispy outer, way better than a rosti, in my opinion, it was so good! Perfect eggs, too. Hubby ordered seafood chowder, and he loved that too. He said it was so packed with seafood and delicious. Coffee was great as well. We really enjoyed our lunch at Cafe...

I visited this cafe on Boxing Day, 2023, for a coffee and decided to have a cheese scone. The coffee was very good but the cheese scone was inedible because it was 'over salty'. I told a waitress who took it away. After I had finished my coffee I went and saw the cashier and explained about the scone.

No apology, and she asked me if I would like a refund. I said yes thank you and she then said 'we haven't had any other complaints' inferring that I was not truthful that the scone was inedible! There was half a scone I had not touched which they could have given the taste test instead of not taking responsibility for the problem. Treating customers like this is not professional and does not do your business any favours. I won't...