Happy New Year, let’s start the diet.
Well, hold on a moment. Since Covid-19 hit, we’ve explored our backyard in huge numbers, taking our friends and family on holiday. But what could 2022 bring?
Perhaps it’s time to take someone a little closer to home on holiday: your taste buds.
In the past two years, since the borders shut, I’ve travelled to every region in New Zealand – on the hunt for some of the best things to eat. Often, it was love at first bite – here’s what you have to try.
READ MORE:
* Live video chat: How to make a living from full-time travel
* 12 amazing places in New Zealand to visit before the border opens
* Secrets of the Central North Island
On the windy road to Cape Reinga, you’ll find a pastry-filled Nirvana. It’s called the Container Cafe, and it has more than 200 five-star Google reviews for a reason. Here you’ll find a kaleidoscope of different pie flavours, including its legendary pāua pies.
A fine-dining chef has turned his hat to burgers, creating one of the best joints in town. Sneaky Snacky, on K-Road, serves glazed doughnut burgers that are works of art.
The Juicy Lucy, for example, has delicious beef flavoured with a beef consommé, bone marrow sauce, and a Cheetos crumble. The patties are created in a way that has a molten cheese ball inside them, which bursts open when you eat it.
On the outskirts of Hamilton you’ll find the country’s only organic tea plantation.
Zealong Tea has a restaurant nestled among 1.2 million tea plants, where you can experience high tea, alongside a tea tasting ceremony.
The best thing we tried in Coromandel was at one of our favourite places to relax: Wairua Lodge.
You’ll find it 20 minutes outside Whitianga, where a series of hotel rooms are tucked away in the bush, alongside a treehouse bath, a star spa for watching the Milky Way, and a firepit for creating fresh s’mores (you’ll be provided with the ingredients).
Watching the stars while chewing on melted chocolate biscuits is bliss.
On Rotorua’s famous Eat Street, you’ll find one of the city’s best sweet treats.
CBK Craft Bar and Kitchen serves a hot gooey cookie skillet topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce.
The most unusual place we’ve eaten is floating in a giant doughnut on Lake Taupō.
Doughboats are, as their name suggests, a giant doughnut-shaped boat with a table in the middle and a cabana for shade. Grab a group of up to six friends or family and set off with your small electric motor around the lake. Grab a Greedy Pizza for the ride.
One of the best dining experiences in the country is where you would least expect it: on top of a remote hill, deep in the Ruapehu hinterland.
The Chef’s Table is like a journey to the dining equivalent of heaven. You first need to drive to the remote Blue Duck Station, before ascending a mountain in an off-road vehicle to a hilltop off-grid restaurant. There you will be served a 11-course degustation, prepared with fresh ingredients from the farm. Expect dishes to delight and surprise such as aged venison finished with manuka smoke, elderberries, hazelnuts and 90 per cent dark chocolate. They’re all presented so well you almost don’t want to eat them.
Hello fish and chip lovers – this one is for you. Bobby’s Central Fish Market in Tauranga has the freshest fish in the city. How fresh? Well, the shop is perched on a wharf right next to where the fishing boats dock. Chances are your meal would have been swimming around that morning, making it the best fish and chips in the region.
Some of Tairāwhiti’s best food can be found at the Gisborne Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings. There you’ll find GEM Cuisine, which serves Rarotongan-style doughnuts. Don’t miss the breakfast doughnut, filled with creamy mushrooms, cheese, hashbrown, bacon and a gooey fried egg.
Make the journey to a remote Hawke’s Bay retreat for an exceptional feast by an award-winning chef.
Wallingford is an enormous villa steeped in history and home to acclaimed chef Chris Stockdale. His eight-course degustation (which can be paired with wine) is some of the best food you will try – such as an organic duck egg that’d been cooked for an hour, ‘ice and fire’ trevally and a white chocolate and chamomile dessert, which was like eating a luxurious Milky Bar.
New Plymouth is home to Ozone Coffee, born in the city more than 20 years ago. The coffee is legendary and best tried at its Taranaki HQ – where they have perfected the art of excellent flavour over decades.
The Whanganui Farmers’ Market has more than 100 stalls – so arrive hungry for your Saturday morning feast. We found everything from caramel cinnamon rolls, handmade pies, and old-fashioned doughnuts.
Half an hour from Palmerston North is berry heaven. At Blue Acres Blueberries, you can pick your own straight from the plant for $9 a kilogram.
Greytown’s Schoc Chocolates has more than 60 flavours, including lime and chilli, rose chocolate, Earl Grey tea, apricot and rosemary, geranium, fennel, and a few unusual ones like curry and papadums.
Too much to choose? You can try any flavour for free to help you decide.
Fix and Fogg is the capital’s artisan peanut butter maker, and the company has a hole in the wall eatery in Hannah’s Laneway.
Their Black Forest Toast is like an edible piece of art. It has dark chocolate peanut butter, banana, cacao granola, freeze-dried strawberries and wildberry jam.
The Tasman town of Motueka is becoming famous for its doughnuts. The Smoking Barrel sells 300-500 a day, with flavours ranging from R18 Naughty Snickers with bourbon salted caramel, Bounty Bar, vanilla creme brulee, Caramilk deluxe, and salted caramel popcorn – to name a few.
If you love wine and cheese, the French-inspired Clos Henri Vineyard is a must-visit.
Have a picnic among the vines next to a 100-year-old chapel where you can do a tasting accompanied by local cheese. You need to book ahead, as tastings are by appointment only.
For some of the freshest crayfish in Kaikōura, stop in at Karaka Lobster.
The shop is a 35-minute drive north of the township and serves dishes with fresh seafood straight from the local fishing fleet.
This region is full of underrated vineyards, and one such place is Black Estate. Not only is the wine sensational, but they have an award-winning restaurant that worships the truffle.
During the local truffle season, which is around June to August, almost any dish can have fresh truffle added, carved by a white-gloved waiter, straight onto the plate. Fresh lamb and truffle are a sensational mix, alongside homemade ciabatta and delicious truffle butter.
The West Coast is renowned for its magnificent natural beauty, but it’s also fast becoming known for its incredible sandwiches.
The Hokitika Sandwich Company (which also recently opened a store in Christchurch) offers New York-style sandwiches with fresh local ingredients, such as free-range meats, South Island cheeses, organic greens and homemade sauces.
For the best views and fried chicken in town, head to the top floor of the Muse Hotel, where you’ll find The Pink Lady rooftop lounge. It has a wide range of craft beers, wine and cocktails – don’t go past the fried chicken with "bang bang" sauce.
State Pieway One passes right through the Mackenzie town of Fairlie, where you’ll find the Fairlie Bakehouse. This is home to the country’s best pies, such as the pork belly pie with apple sauce and crackling.
One of the best fresh fruit icecreams we’ve ever tried can be found just outside Timaru at Strawberry Divine.
They source a wide selection of local fruit and transform it into an edible piece of art right in front of you.
Forget the gold rush; in the tiny Central Otago town of Lawrence, a chocolate rush is underway. The Lawrence Mint feels like you’re stepping into a European candy shop with some delicious classics like mint patties and rocky road. Make sure to try the cheesecake – it’s a local favourite.
If you’re after a healthier alternative to Fergburger, try Bespoke Kitchen.
Here you’ll find delicious hemp power smoothies filled with chocolate, banana and the best coconut whip – it’s a vegan alternative to cream.
The country’s newest cycle trail follows the steep Cromwell Gorge, with a series of spectacular platforms strapped to cliffs.
It’s a remote ride along the lake, which makes finding a floating coffee cart and burger bar all the more incredible. Coffee Afloat and Burger Afloat only operate if the weather permits – so check their social media platforms before you decide to go looking for them (they’re found halfway along the trail).
The cronut (half croissant, half doughnut) was invented by the famous New York chef Dominique Ansel. I’ve been lucky enough to taste the original, but I liked one in Ōamaru even better.
Everything at Harbour Street Bakery is made by hand, with traditional tools where possible. The cronut had a sweet, flaky pastry that gave way to a soft chewy centre filled with passion fruit coulis and thick vanilla custard. You won’t want to share this one.
At Dunedin’s Larnach Castle, you can have a medieval-style dinner by candlelight. Europe seems like a distant dream at the moment, but having dinner in a castle in Dunedin is the next best thing.
Cardrona is home to one of the country’s most spectacular pizzerias. It’s known as "Captains", and you can only get there by skiing (or snowboarding) down a trail.
Where do you find the best bao in the country? The last place I expected to find it was in Te Ānau.
Bao Now is a food truck found in the central village, serving steamed Asian buns (bao) filled with things like pork belly or crispy tofu. Just how good was it? I visited five times over my five-night stay.
If you’re lucky enough to make it to Stewart Island, there is only one place to eat in town: The iconic South Sea Hotel.
It serves the heartiest of pub food, including fresh salmon and blue cod from the local waters.
© 2022 Stuff Limited