Celebrate Fat Tuesday with NZ’s best food destinations

Travel

27 Feb, 2022 05:30 AM4 minutes to read

Putting the finishing touches on a plate of pancakes at Windermere Berry Farms, Whanganui. Photo / Lewis Gardner

Shrove Tuesday… Pancake Day… Fat Tuesday. Whichever title you like to use to condone your gluttonous indulgence, this year it’s observed 1 March. Get ready for a Tuesday that’s actually worth looking forward to.

Celebrated
47 days prior to Easter Sunday, Shrove Tuesday is traditionally a Christian feast day that precedes Lent – or 40 days of fasting. In some cultures, it’s followed by a vivacious Mardis Gras festival. Typically, before attempting to purge the body of greedy weakness, partakers indulge in one final bout of temptation.

If you’re after some tasty Tuesday inspiration, here’s a selection of NZ’s most mouth-watering regions and cities.

New Zealand’s best food and walking tours

It’s always a challenge to navigate yourself around a city for the first time. Especially if you’re prone to FOMO and don’t want to miss any of the best bits. That’s where walking tours can be really helpful, and what could be better than one that takes you around all the best foodie spots. Get some exercise, taste some local treats, orientate yourself in a location and enjoy.

From the North to the South Island, click here for every munchable meander..

Join Elle at The Big Foody for food and beer-based strolls around central Auckland. Photo / Auckland Unlimited

Seven great food stops on a South Island roadie

There are four main ingredients for an epic road trip: a driver, a navigator, music, and food. We’re not about to play favourites but the food is definitely the most important. You can always find drivers, getting lost is part of the adventure, and when Spotify fails, there’s Road Trip Karaoke. But food? That’s what makes it the sweetest road trip ever.

Hitting the road? Click here for the South’s seriously appetising pit-stops..

Auckland’s hundred best dishes and restaurants

Late last year, Auckland’s 16 favourite dishes were revealed as part of the city’s annual Iconic Eats awards. 2021’s list of the 100 best-loved bites were compiled from nominations from over one thousand food-loving Aucklanders. Don’t be fooled by the mention of 2021, these flavours are as popular as ever.

Click here to read more..

Marinated salmon on the menu at Mekong Baby in Ponsonby, Auckland. Photo / Babiche Martens

Nine must-eat treats in Wairarapa

Wellingtonians with an appetite for local food culture are lucky to have the Wairarapa region on their doorstep. The Remutaka Pass is apparently seen as a barrier – yes, it’s a little windy, but this Aucklander would take it over a bumper-to-bumper motorway any day. An hour after leaving downtown Wellington, Travel writer Anna King Shahab pulls up in Featherston for her first of many feasts.

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Read all about devouring all-things Wairarapa here..

Schoc Chocolates in Greytown, Wairarapa. Photo / Jet Productions

Hungry mouths to feed? Best family food in Aotearoa

Any food lover who has travelled with fussy kids will know it’s a special kind of agony being in a city with magnificent culinary options but dining somewhere deeply average because your little angels needed chicken nuggets. Don’t despair, we’ve hunted out a few places around the country where everyone’s a winner. Parents get fab food, kids get the chance to try something new – and there are “less-adventurous” options as a backup if everything goes to the wall.

Families of fuss-pots rejoice, this list will see you right..

The ultimate guide to Kaikōura crayfish

There’s no shortage of places to sink your claws into a crayfish along the Kaikōura coast.

From bins, BBQs and BYO fishmongers – the craggy drive along State Highway 1 is awash with places to get a taste of the regional delicacy. Local seafood vendors never tire of pointing out that kōura (crayfish or ‘rock lobster’) is in their name.

You can’t mention kai without Kaikōura. These are the establishments that topped the food list..

A Kaikoura Whitebait fritter. Photo / Ann-Marie Cahill

A weekend of indulgence in Wellington

In what might be becoming an all too familiar story, August’s Wellington On a Plate festival was derailed slightly by Covid lockdowns, but the capital is a year-round top destination for foodies. Here’s what you should add to your menu for your next Wellington getaway.

Napkins at the ready, click here for Wellington’s best food options..

Fix and Fogg’s hole in the wall on Hannah’s Laneway in Wellington. Photo / Supplied

Alas, what about the self isolators?….

Stuck indoors? Recreate a fine dining experience at home

Huka Lodge’s executive chef Paul Froggatt shares recipes from his kitchen, easy to recreate at home.

Click here for the recipes..

Chestnut dessert at Huka Lodge. Photo / Supplied

For more travel inspiration, go to newzealand.com/nz.

Check traffic light settings and Ministry of Health advice before travel at covid19.govt.nz