Bay-time! Eating, drinking and other places
- subjective views.
Being 'neat jeans and open shirt' people we tend to prefer places that combine informality and quality.
Russell
Sally's in Russell, turn left entering the esplanade, is one of our favourites. The menu is simple yet the variety and quality excellent. The atmosphere is very pleasant and the prices in line with less original places. The restaurant is small and open for lunch and dinner. Seating is in full view of the sea with continental style table settings outside. Many of the menu items are original recipes.
Tuk Tuk Bangkok, in York street - the main street - just past the Tavern. This another favourite and I can recommend the Mike's IPA on draft after a warm working day! Run by Charlie, a Kiwi, and his Thai partner the meals are authentic and make for excellent takeaway eating as well as a very pleasant atmosphere in the dining room.
'The Pub' or correctly The Duke of Marlborough Tavern, in York Street, slap in the centre of Russell! The bar menu is good pub food and the atmosphere thoroughly local and laid back, as you could expect. We like the pub if after a long bush-bashing day we don't want to get dressed up and just feel like blobbing out in the garden bar with fish and chips and a cople of nice cold beers. The fishburgers are to be recommended - the takeaway service is usually very fast.
'The Duke' or correctly The Duke of Marborough Hotel, on the esplanade to the right. 'The Duke' is the fine-dining restaurant forever associated with Russell. There is no question that the menu is innovative and excellent and with considerable style in the service. Personal comments - that say more about me than the subject - are that the menu is matched by Sally's, the prices are high and I find the culture slightly pretentious. This personal view, however, is not by any means shared as the Duke is well patronised, and even when Russell seems empty the dining room and bar are usually very popular.
The Russell Bookshop, in Traders Mall, on the right when you first enter York Street. The bookshop is also the Post Office and PO Box centre. Avril, the proprietor, is a very nice person who you will find helpful in sourcing books, cruising guides and charts for the Bay of Islands. Her web address is something of a coup!

Enterprise Russell are also in Traders Mall, almost next door to the bookshop and have the only public internet facility in Russell - although of course the motels and hotels usually offer guests WiFi. You can use your own laptop or one of their computers, and can print and laminate documents. It is a charitable enterprise - as the name suggests - and run entirely by volunteers. These people work on a roster and as a consequence if you want answered any questions about the Bay, its history and resources this is a good place to start. Enterprise Russell has a strong connection with the excellent Okiato to Russell Walkway.

Opua
Marina Cafe in the Opua Marina is included here because it makes a good break point if you are walking the circuit from Yfanwen to Paihia, and also because for newspapares and dairy items Opua makes a better shopping centre than Russell if you want to walk rather than drive. It has a nice outlook over the marina and the Waikare Inlet - and is the only cafe with such a view. It is nice and clean with a decent lunch and snack menu.
Kerikeri
Pear Tree Restaurant opposite the Stone Store, through the Kerikeri main roadand about 3 kilometres from the town. Kerikeri is the resource centre for the Bay and has the well stocked discount stores that we get used to in Auckland - such as Bunnings, Mitre 10, Dick Smiths and the large supermarkets. The Pear Tree is invariably our place for lunch, with a pretty garden restaurant and views of the Stone Store and bush.
The Kerikeri Hospice Opportunity Shop It does seem rather unusual to include an 'opp shop' in a list of recommended places, however it seems to us that the Kerikeri Hospice Opportunity Shop is something unusual. It is large, rather elegant and stocked well beyond the norm. It is well worth a browse around and more rewarding than a typical two-dollar shop.


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Owners and managers - Margaret Ridge
Phone (0064) (0)9 445 1899
or mobile (0064) (0)21 126 5709
email Margaret