Bay Bakery is a bakery on Monk Street in Whitianga, in the Thames-Coromandel district, with a 4.4 rating on Google. Bakeries are one of the few trades where the day's best work happens before most people are awake, and in a holiday town like Whitianga that shows: summer queues form early, and the most popular loaves and pastries are often gone by mid-morning. Regulars tend to ask what came out of the oven that day rather than judging by the display alone, and a plain loaf is a fair test of the rest — if that is right, the sweet things usually are too. For anyone comparing bakeries, arriving near opening time tells you more than any review. Tucked on Monk Street, Bay Bakery sits well placed for a loaf on the way to the beach or a drive up the peninsula.