If you are unfamiliar with the “Hidden Gems”, here is a little introduction.
But basically I share places I discovered while traveling that aren’t easily discovered, but worth looking out for.

The Wholemeal Café in Takaka (Picture Source)

When we were traveling New Zealands South earlier this year (already feels like a lifetime ago…), we usually went for a mid-day break from driving to explore and give Little Bean some distraction.
More often than not we paired it with a bite to eat in one of the many cafés out there.

The city of Takaka has a very boho vibe to it, featuring retro shops, lots of flowy and tye dye clothing and hand painted shop signs. You can almost smell the incense while walking around and looking at hand crafted items up on the streets for sale.

The counter (Picture Source)

One among the many pretty shop signs will lead you to the “Wholemeal Café”, the entrance looking very small between the accompanying store fronts.
Once you entered (I highly recommend looking at the display of notes on the wall, offering anything from babysitting to aura reading), you enter a very large main room with lots of small tables and comfortable looking chairs and sofas.

The Wholemeal Café actually takes up the whole inside space of a former movie theatre, reminiscing to that with big pictures referring to James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and other well known movie stars.
Despite being that roomy inside, the atmosphere is still light and warm, mostly because of the big windows and the wooden furniture.

Light and full of movie star pictures

They even have a kids corner, filled with wooden and retro toys, which can be closed by a little gate. Any parents reading my blog will know how much less stressful small things like this can make your stay…

But onto food, the main reason why you should visit a café.
The Wholemeal Café takes pride in supporting local producers and grow organic vegetables themselves to provide you with a variety of healthy and delicious dishes. There are many vegetarian and vegan options as well as a big selection of smoothies.
Of course we only had the opportunity to try a little selection, but whatever we sampled was delicious.
Well, with the exception of the “Cleansing Juice”. But I guess it wasn’t the juices fault, I should have checked the ingredients first. Can I just say I absolutely detest the taste of beetroot?

Vegetable omelette

A lot of sweet treats and salads are available for take-away, and they offer their own recipes cookbook for those who want to take the taste home.

So if you ever find yourself in Takaka, looking for a place to eat, I highly recommend going to the “Wholemeal Café”.