Adoro Cafe sits at 1 Dickens Street, in the old Post Office Building in the heart of Napier's CBD, directly opposite Farmers and Kathmandu. The team describes it as a taste of Europe in the middle of Hawke's Bay, and the essentials back that up: a coffee blend created especially for Adoro, pastries imported from France and baked on the premises, and cakes hand-crafted in-house by an experienced patisserie chef.
The kitchen runs a full cooked All Day Breakfast Menu and All Day Lunch Menu, so whether you're after Eggs Benedict at opening or a bowl of seafood chowder mid-afternoon, both are on the cards until close. The cabinet is made fresh daily by the cafe's chefs, with savoury scrolls and sweet options like lemon tart, strawberry tart and eclairs alongside the pastry selection.
Beyond coffee, there's a great range of T Leaf teas, hot chocolate, matcha, iced drinks, milkshakes and smoothies. Adoro also books High Tea experiences by phone, offers catering, takes online orders and delivers via Uber, and sells e-gift cards for gifting. Winter hours run weekdays 7am–2.30pm and Saturdays 8am–2.30pm, with the cafe closed on Sundays.
Step into Napier's old Post Office Building on Dickens Street, directly opposite Farmers and Kathmandu, and you'll find Adoro Cafe doing what it has quietly built a reputation on: serious coffee, French-style pastry, and a full cooked menu served all day long. The team calls it "a taste of Europe in the heart of Napier," and they'll tell you that regulars and visitors alike keep calling it the best cafe in town. Judge for yourself — but the fundamentals are easy to check on arrival.
Adoro's espresso is built on a special blend created uniquely for the cafe, and it anchors a full coffee list — flat whites, lattes and cappuccinos among them — with hot chocolate for the non-coffee faithful. Tea drinkers are looked after too, with a great range of T Leaf teas including a classic English breakfast. When the Hawke's Bay sun is out, the cold side of the menu takes over: iced drinks, milkshakes, smoothies and matcha. It's a drinks list designed to keep a whole table happy, whatever everyone orders.
The pastry case is where Adoro sets itself apart. The pastries are imported from France and baked on the premises, which means the cabinet smells like a European bakery most mornings. The cakes are hand-crafted by the cafe's experienced patisserie chef — lemon tart, strawberry tart and eclairs all make appearances — and the savoury end of the cabinet, including savoury scrolls, is made fresh daily by the kitchen's trained chefs. Nothing here sits around: the cabinet is restocked from a kitchen that treats freshness as the default.
Adoro runs a full cooked All Day Breakfast Menu and All Day Lunch Menu, which is a rarer thing than it sounds. Want Eggs Benedict at 7am or at 1.45pm? Either works. Smashed avocado, French toast, waffles and pancakes round out the breakfast side, while lunch brings comforting options like seafood chowder and a soup of the day. The premise is simple: you're bound to find something to tempt you, whenever you turn up.
Beyond the daily trade, Adoro stages a proper High Tea — call the cafe on 06 835 1747 to book — and offers catering for events and workplaces. If you're buying for someone else, Adoro e-gift cards can be purchased online, which solves the present problem for the coffee lover in your life.
Adoro Cafe trades on winter hours: weekdays from 7am to 2.30pm, Saturdays from 8am to 2.30pm, and closed on Sundays. Early birds get the pick of the cabinet, and the 7am weekday opening makes it an easy first stop before work in the Napier CBD. Can't make it in? You can order online through the cafe's own ordering site or get it brought to you via Uber delivery. The cafe is active on Facebook and Instagram if you want to keep an eye on what's in the cabinet, and the team is often hiring — baristas, chefs and front-of-house — which tells you something about how busy the place keeps them.
Whether it's a flat white and an eclair at the counter, a long all-day breakfast with friends, or a booked High Tea for a special occasion, Adoro Cafe packs a lot of European cafe tradition into one Dickens Street address — and, going by the locals, plenty of Napier would agree with them.