The Tasting Co
Just off Roma's main street on Hawthorne Street, this small cafe leans on locally sourced produce, free-range meats and eggs. Breakfast and lunch run to slightly left-of-centre choices, with organic, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options that are still not a given in the cattle-selling capital of the Maranoa. A wide range of teas sits alongside the coffee, and the room has a quirky, unhurried character that regulars and passing travellers both settle into. Opening early on weekdays and closing by early afternoon, it works to the rhythm of a working country town rather than a tourist strip. Among Roma's cafes it stands out as the independent, produce-minded option, modest in scale but particular about its sourcing, and a considered stop for anyone breaking the long Warrego Highway drive west or east.