5 Best Restaurants in Palmerston North, North Island's West Coast

Though this café shares premises with a property brokerage office, it's not your usual pie and sandwich workplace diner. At lunchtime, people from all over town descend on the Local, and you are unlikely to get a table to yourself if you don't make a reservation. However, there is usually space on the long communal table. Noodle bowls are a specialty here: choose your preferred type of noodle and add anything from tofu, portobello mushrooms, marinated beef, pork belly, or prawns, just for starters. Sliders (small burgers) are another menu favorite; the smashed avocado and feta slider is a popular vegetarian choice. It's about a 15-minute walk from the center of town, or a short drive.

Head to Nero for fine dining in a charming old Victorian-style villa on a quiet inner-city street. Chef and owner Scott Kennedy describes the cuisine as contemporary New Zealand, along with a touch of fusion to celebrate cultural diversity. Choose warm and cozy indoor seating in winter, or restful alfresco in the garden in summer. Nero consistently wins restaurant awards and has received New Zealand's prestigious Beef and Lamb Excellence Award.

A buzzy microbrewery, right in the center of the city, Brew Union serves a flexible menu of small plates, wood-fired pizzas, grills, salads, and burgers. Along with house-brewed beers, there are regular taps serving ales and ciders from craft brewers across New Zealand as well as a full selection of other beverages. So pop in for a pint with the locals, or bring the family for lunch.

Just off the Square, funky Café Cuba is a perennially popular local haunt for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, and after-show mingling. The menu is all classic, wholesome café fare, matched with laid-back background music. There are magazines and newspapers to peruse if you can focus with the happy chatter of locals all around.

Wholesome, organic, and scrumptious food is served in a country café that’s set in the middle of a 2-acre herb garden. The herbs grown here are served fresh with your food and are also used in the natural healing products manufactured on site. The dining area is adjacent to a themed garden designed to keep children interested. It's just a 10-minute drive from the city, near the town of Ashurst.