Ph: (07) 863 5402
waihibeachhotel.co.nz
Cuisine: Modern NZ
From the menu: Zucchini salad $21, Lobster roll with crisps $24, Bruschetta trevally escabeche $14, Market fish $27, Porchetta $25, Sundrop apricots with crema fritta $12, Walnut cake with washed rind cheese $12
Drinks: Fully licensed: Spritzes, cocktails, craft-beer, house-made sodas, gelato milkshakes
Rating: 8.5/10
A surge of happiness powers through me as we whizz over the Bombay Hills and take the sweeping left-hand exit that heads southeast. The city becomes a distant thought and in its place the endless blue sky wraps around us and a sense of ease fills us up. We're off on an adventure and that, in itself, is invigorating.
Our destination is Waihi Beach - the old hotel and beach bar there, to be more specific, but when we arrive I think someone has played a trick in telling me it has been re-vamped. The public bar is open but mostly empty and, although wonderfully old-school with the pool table, Waikato Draught on tap and offers to swap-a-crate, was not what I'd been led to believe was the "best thing to have happened to the eating scene in Waihi Beach".
Then I spy a freshly painted, barn-like door to my right. Sliding this back, I gasp and stare in Anna Paquin-esque fashion. For here is a dining room so utterly beautiful it's more like a resort than a restaurant.
Huge meringue-white lampshades gently sway in the breeze; furniture is sleek and stylish yet the decor is kept simple and casual; and a large deck reaches out towards raised herb and vegetable gardens, which line up under freshly planted olive trees. And there's the Store with its colourful arrangement of freshly churned gelato and spectacular counter food.
