The difference between an average restaurant meal in New Zealand and an exceptional one is usually less than ten dollars NZ.
To explain this, you need to be aware of the large boom in new restaurants and cafes that has swept through New Zealand in the last ten or so years. Many are often franchise businesses that appear to have expensive smart fit outs, young hip staff dressed in corporate designed apparel, large extensive menus, moderately priced and one of the most important criteria for the unsuspecting visitor, they are usually busy.
The first hint that perhaps all is not made fresh to order is the expansive range available on the menu.
I’m not suggesting that these franchise restaurants are bad but merely very very average. For example, in these establishments your main will inevitably be priced in the early to mid thirty dollars. It will be accompanied with a choice of sauces, salad or vegetables, chips, fries or even buffalo wedges. If eight people on your table all order different mains the chances are they will all have the same accompaniments or choices there of.
These kitchens are more like a mass production assembly plant that requires all meals to be pre-cooked. Sauces, glazes and or toppings of your chosen meat, poultry or fish will inevitably sound delicious but will certainly come in bulk from one of the many café and restaurant wholesalers that specialise in suppling the industry with the hollandaise for your eggs Benedict or béarnaise for your fillet. The café or restaurant will attempt to personalise the name of the sauce, glaze or dressing to give it that special “we made it from our secret recipe” feel, along the lines of… marinated with ‘Mc Restaurants special peppercorn sauce etc’.
The contents of your main dish will also not be cooked fresh to order and will also often be supplied by a wholesaler who provides pre-prepared pre-cut portions ready for the assembly kitchen to pre-cook ready to be reheated on demand and assembled with your chosen side.
This bland method of production enables the franchise to have a continuity throughout all the restaurants in their chain, ensuring the brand has consistency in their product. It also ensures that the tables can be turned over several times per night due to the speedy delivery of one’s meal. All this for a mere thirty something dollars per main serving.
But let’s not forget the children’s menu. Chicken nuggets, fish bites, mini bland pizza, cheese burger all served with a free soft drink and accompanied with some form of ice cream type desert. An easy option for hassled parents I’ve often used myself.
Now for a few extra dollars, you will first notice that the menu is small. This is due to the fact that the food is seasonal and produced freshly after ordering. It could also mean that the restaurant is not doing well and not buying in much stock! So the best guideline is that you have to make a booking, all the better. How do I find these gems of restaurants and cafes? Often but not always they are tucked away from the tourist strips and frequented by the locals. You could ask a local but then you don’t know the standards of the person who’s advice you seek.
Upon arrival, you should go into a Newsagent and buy a restaurant guide produced by the local food magazines or you can ask us for a recommendation in either Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin or Queenstown.
Bon Appetit.