Taste Cafe sits at 19 Thames Street, Oamaru's main street, and holds a 4.6 rating from 244 Google reviews. Its updates go out through a Facebook page rather than a standalone website.
A small-town cafe wears many hats: coffee stop, breakfast table, lunch counter and often the place where half the district catches up on local news. The cabinet tells you most of what you need to know: the good ones fill with same-day sandwiches, slices and home baking, and the best goes by early afternoon. Coffee is the other test; a cafe that names its roaster is usually serious about the flat white, and Otago's small roasting scene has lifted the standard across the region. On fine weekends, expect visitors bound for the penguins and the Victorian precinct queuing alongside the regulars.
On Thames Street itself, Taste Cafe is well placed for either crowd: grab a table and watch the town go by.