Waiheke's 17 breakfast places start with Turkish eggs at Akito Eatery in Oneroa, fish tacos at Island Frenchie and an 8am beachfront at Charlie Farley's on Onetangi.
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Cafes · Oneroa · $
★ 4.8 from 944 Google reviews
The coffee hits you before you've picked a seat, and there's a seat for every mood: a small terrace out front on Ocean View Road, a bar top facing the street, and a few tables inside where the road noise drops away.
Seafood · Oneroa
★ 4.5 from 1,395 Google reviews
You'll be looking out over Oneroa Bay from the verandah, and on a good day a dolphin or two goes past while you work through oysters that were in the water off the Te Matuku farm that morning.
Pubs and bars · Onetangi · $$
★ 4.2 from 2,107 Google reviews
With your feet still sandy from Onetangi Beach, you cross The Strand and settle in at a table that looks straight back out over the water, because that view is the whole reason this place has been part of the island since 1987.
Italian · Oneroa · $$
★ 4.5 from 1,020 Google reviews
Start your day with eggs benedict and a flat white on the terrace, then come back at night for a glass of Waiheke red beside the fire, because Fenice runs from 8.30 in the morning until late, seven days a week.
Pubs and bars · Oneroa · $
★ 4.4 from 812 Google reviews
The deck looks straight over Oneroa Beach and the bay, close enough that you can watch the water change colour while you decide between a glass of Waiheke chardonnay and an Argentine malbec.
Cafes · Palm Beach · $$
★ 4.5 from 593 Google reviews
Arcadia is at the western end of Palm Beach, on Palm Road, a thirty-second walk from the sand.
French · Oneroa · $
★ 4.9 from 186 Google reviews
Doors open at 6.30 in the morning, which tells you plenty about how Oneroa treats Island Frenchie: it's a breakfast and lunch cafe first, and an early ferry or a day at the beach both start better with coffee and something baked here.
Cafes · Oneroa · $$
★ 4.0 from 591 Google reviews
The view hits you first: Oneroa Bay, the boats below and, on a clear day, Great Barrier Island on the horizon.
Cafes · Ostend · $
★ 4.6 from 212 Google reviews
The view from your table is a car park and the back of the PlaceMakers building, which tells you everything about what this place is: a cafe that puts its effort into the food rather than the scenery.
Pizza · Oneroa · $
★ 4.4 from 236 Google reviews
From the outdoor tables you look down over Oneroa beach and out across the Hauraki Gulf towards the Coromandel, which is the kind of view that has you ordering a second flat white before you've finished the first.
Cafes · Oneroa · $
★ 4.6 from 125 Google reviews
The doors open at 6.30am on weekdays and 7am on the weekend, so this is where Oneroa wakes up, a small coffee shop on Ocean View Road in the middle of the village with Havana beans going through the machine and home-made sweet and savoury food at the counter.
Cafes · Ostend · $
★ 5.0 from 67 Google reviews
Argentinian baking is what brings you down Putiki Road in Ostend, where a small food truck café turns out buttery croissants, cheesy scones, sugar-dusted palmeritas and facturas, all made by the two people serving them.
Fish and chips · Surfdale · $
★ 4.2 from 140 Google reviews
On Miami Avenue in Surfdale, a couple of minutes' walk up from the beach, this bakery opens at six on weekday mornings and seven on weekends, and shuts by mid-afternoon, so it's made for breakfast, smoko and lunch rather than dinner.
Cafes · Oneroa · $
★ 4.6 from 72 Google reviews
Half past six on a weekday morning and the doors on Ocean View Road are already open, with Oneroa's locals queuing for a flat white before work, which tells you a lot about how the coffee is made here.
Fish and chips · Onetangi · $
★ 4.3 from 80 Google reviews
Onetangi Beach has its own store a few steps back from the sand at the end of Fourth Avenue, and it's where a Waiheke day tends to start: coffee and something from the cabinet before your swim, fish and chips once you're out of the water.
Burgers · Oneroa · $
★ 3.8 from 84 Google reviews
The view is the main draw, and it's a good one: from the outdoor tables on Ocean View Road you look out over the bay at Oneroa, with the village walkway behind you and the water out in front.
Cafes · Ostend · $
★ 4.0 from 31 Google reviews
Six in the morning is when the doors open on weekdays at 2 Tahi Road in Ostend, so you can have a warm pie in hand well before most of Waiheke has thought about breakfast, and the cabinet keeps going until 3.30pm, with a later 8am start on Sunday.
Most of the eighteen sit in Oneroa, a five minute bus ride from the Matiatia ferry terminal, so you can step off the boat and be at a table with a plate of eggs, a pizza or a cheese scone on a balcony over the bay soon after, while the rest are spread through Ostend, Onetangi, Surfdale and Palm Beach. If you want to be moving before eight, the open early list has the 6.30am flat whites at Doubleshot Espresso and Havana Coffee Works, the 6am pies at Surfdale Bakery & Cafe, and the 7am tradie queue at Carpark Cafe & Bar Waiheke.
Breakfast on Waiheke rarely stops at eggs, so you can start with Argentine baking at Mily's, pancakes with a bay view at Wai Kitchen or a pub breakfast on the sand at Charlie Farley's. Kids are looked after at most of them and dogs are welcome at plenty, and the cafes, brunch spots and bakeries pages pick up where the morning ends.
The earliest doors open at 6am on weekdays at Surfdale Bakery & Cafe and Waiheke bakery & cafe, while Island Frenchie, Doubleshot Espresso and Havana Coffee Works start at 6.30. Akito Eatery and Carpark Cafe & Bar Waiheke open before 8am, and the beachfront breakfasts at Charlie Farley's and Beach Store begin at 8am.
Book a table at Akito Eatery, Vino Vino Restaurant & Bar, Fenice Cafe & Restaurant or The Oyster Inn when you're feeding a group or visiting in summer, since booking is the smart move then. Smaller counters such as Island Frenchie, Mily's and Doubleshot Espresso are walk-in stops that are easy to grab on the way past.
