Kaiaua Fisheries is a seafood restaurant at 941 E Coast Rd in Kaiaua, Franklin, a small Firth of Thames settlement reached by a scenic coastal drive from Auckland, and it holds a 4.3 Google rating. Seaside chippies and seafood kitchens live and die by freshness: fish fried to order, batter crisp enough to shatter, and a counter that will tell you honestly what came in that morning. Expect a short wait while your order cooks, and eat it straight away — food this simple tastes best within sight of the water it sailed in on. Locals ask what is freshest rather than ordering from habit, and time their visits off-peak, because good coastal shops fill fast on fine weekends and holidays. Kaiaua Fisheries sits at the edge of that coastline, the kind of stop a slow drive around the Firth of Thames is made for.