New Zealand seems to have a café attached to every kind of business or public building. When we were in Christchurch two years ago, the public library near Sydenham had one. Coffee and snack were served right to your table in the reading room. The local community center where my grandson takes swimming lessons also has a café. Public places rarely have these in the U.S.
Museums in America have restaurants to be sure, but I doubt that they all consistently serve the quality we’ve experienced here in Kiwi country. Take Bathhouse Café at the Rotorua Museum. After looking at exhibits for a while, we were in need of refreshment. The display of desserts behind the glass counter was mouth-watering. But, the beverage that caught my wife’s eye was a juice from feijoa, a fruit that grows plentifully in this island nation. The juice was the essence of the fruit—flavors of apple and pear with a hint of the tropics (banana) and slightly tart. We doubt if we’ll ever find this when we get back home.
Bathhouse Café
Rotorua Museum
Oruawhata Drive, Government Gardens
Queens Drive
Rotorua, NZ
zoomeboshi 
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