The possibilities to eat are endless in New Zealand. Here I will attempt to describe some of the types of food places that are peculiar, shall we say, to New Zealand as well as restaurants etc.
Fast Food
Fast food has become the favourite of so many people lately and there is plenty to offer the person who loves his/her fast food. You will find Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and Wendys in New Zealand. More or less at least one of them will be in a town or city but, remember that they cater for the Kiwi preference. As an example, Pizza Hut offers Seafood Pizzas which are so tasty. Also the Hawaiian Pizza, ingredients being onion, ham, capsicum (bell pepper) and pineapple in addition to the usual pizza ingredients of sauce and cheese. Pizza Hut has a buffet bar for lunch and tea (supper) and also supplies a dessert bar. You are also able to partake in beer and wine.
KFC in New Zealand does not offer a buffet bar, but has a big selection which includes burgers (called sandwich in the US). These burgers cater for the kiwi tastes and you find items on a burger that you would not usually find on a sandwich in the States.
The most favourite fast food of New Zealanders has got to be fish and chips (shark and taties as they are commonly called). Fish and chip shops are numerous throughout New Zealand and there is nothing better than having a couple of deep fried, battered pieces of fish with some chips wrapped up in some paper and walking down the street eating them from a hole torn out of the top of the wrapper. All kinds goodies are offered at these fish and chip shops other than the obvious. Squid rings, potato fritters, crab sticks, sausages, oysters, scallops are just a few of the items available. Of course most fish and chip shops offer burgers and toasted sandwiches of all kinds and the usual drinks, eg Coke, milkshakes etc.
Then you have the shops that are known as burger bars. Here is where you can get your burger (sandwich), chips (fries), milk or thick shake or coke or whatever, plus they usually offer what a fish and chip shop has to offer.
Restaurants
For the visitor who likes to eat out in restaurants, he/she will have no problem finding one, but maybe a problem on deciding at which restaurant to eat. Sit down and smorgasbord (buffet) are available. I think one of the best restaurant chains in New Zealand offering a smorgasbord in Valentines. They cater for all types of food preferences and have a wonderful seafood selection.
There are restaurants aplenty catering in ethnic food. Italian, Greek, Indian, Thai, Chinese to name a few. Chinese fast food outlets are also common in New Zealand, similar to the burger and fish and chip shops. Actually most of them offer burgers and fish, chips etc.
If you see a restaurant in New Zealand with BYO (bring your own) in its advertisement or on the window, it means that they do not sell alcohol but, you can take your own. A popular, inexpensive way of having a wine or beer with your meal.
Coffee Shops and Cafes
Abundant in New Zealand towns and cities are coffee shops and cafes. These are frequented by people for lunch and the morning and afternoon tea. The goodies offered to eat are sauage rolls (seasoned sausage meat wrapped in flaky pastry and usually approximately 3 inches long), meat pies (another Kiwi diet staple). Meat pies are either square or round and the varieties include, steak, steak and mushroom, bacon and egg, mince). Another savory pastry offering are what are commonly called savouries. These are like the meat pie, but smaller (usually about 2 inches in diametre) and, depending on the coffee shop or cafe, the fillings are numerous.
Also on the menu are all different types of sandwiches. These include club sandwiches (usually made up of 3 slices of bread with a meat of some kind and salad vegetables and then cut into fingers or small triangles). Then you will also see the usualy type of sandwich with just one or two fillings. Next is the filled roll. This is a roll similar to the hot dog buns but are usually cut lengthwise on top and are filled with salad type fillings, eg lettuce, ham, grated carrot, tomato, beetroot, sliced hardboiled egg and mayonnaise.
Now for the sweet toothed customer. The offerings are endless. Slices of cakes, gateaus, cheesecake, biscuits (cookies), cream filled pancakes or crepes. The selections quite often makes the choice difficult.
With any questions or comments
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