Brian McGrath and Penny Sonnenberg didn’t move to Orepuki with a café in mind. They started out as possum hunters, tracking through bush across the West Coast and Southland for over a decade as part of the TBfree programme. But a weathered villa overlooking Te Waewae Bay, a few paddocks of pasture, and a shared love for real food changed everything.
Today, Orepuki Beach Café is one of the most iconic spots on the South Coast. Housed in a restored colonial villa from the 1880s, once home to Captain Crowther of the Colonial Guard, the café is perched on the edge of wild. It’s the kind of place you don’t stumble across, you seek it out. And people do, from all corners of the South Island.
Brian and Penny run 100 ewes and a handful of cattle on their 12-hectare farm. Every cut of meat on the menu comes from just down the paddock: the lamb kofta ground from shoulder, beef burgers from their own mince, curry defatted from hind legs. It's not about volume. It’s about using the whole animal, doing things properly, and making flavour count.
“We don’t have packets. We don’t have shortcuts,” Brian says. “We start with herbs from the garden and go from there.”
The café grows nearly everything it serves: lamb, beef, herbs, vegetables. No fertilisers, no nitrates, just compost, care, and a commitment to working with the land, not against it. They practise regenerative farming, restore waterways, and ensure nothing goes to waste.
Despite being ‘on the road to Tuatapere,’ Orepuki Beach Café is far from a quiet secret. On busy days, over 100 diners pass through. There’s no advertising. Just word of mouth, great meals, and locals who’ve proudly taken ownership of their spot.
The couple double as chefs, gardeners, farmers, and front-of-house. It’s a full-circle operation: land to kitchen to table. And their efforts have done more than fill bellies. They’ve helped put Orepuki back on the map. Since the café opened, holiday homes have started popping up. More people are discovering the beauty of the South Coast. The café has become a gateway to flavours, to stories, to the land itself.
