Go New Zealand Tours

With more than 14,000 kilometres of coastline, it’s no wonder New Zealand is home to some of the best seafood in the world. Known for it’s amazing crayfish, the small town of Kaikōura has ‘seafood caravans’ dotted along the coast. The most famous is Nin’s Bin, which is operated by a local family who has been selling crayfish there since 1977. 

Succulent and tender, roast lamb is a favourite for Kiwi’s. New Zealand lamb is held in high esteem throughout the world and is one of the country’s top export meats. Best enjoyed flavoured with rosemary and served alongside plenty of seasonal roasted vegetables, roast lamb is a meal that is sure to impress. You’ll find it featured on the menus of our best restaurants nationwide.

The Māori hāngī is a traditional earth oven style of cooking. Now saved mainly for special occasions, foods cooked in a hāngī include chicken, pork and mutton, as well as pumpkin, potato and kumara (sweet potato). One of the best places to enjoy this cultural feast is Rotorua, in the central North Island, where you can also taste food that has been steam-cooked in naturally heated geothermal pools. You might also get to savour a delicious hāngī-steamed pudding for dessert.

Best enjoyed while sitting by the beach on a balmy summer evening, fish and chips are a Kiwi favourite. Consisting of fresh fish, coated in a crispy batter then deep fried, along with a generous serving of hot chips. You can find fish and chips in almost every town in New Zealand. This take-away meal is usually accompanied by fresh white bread and tomato sauce. You’ll find fish and chips on most restaurant menus too, usually served with seasonal salad. 

Traditionally, the only available pie flavour would have been mince. Today, pie flavours in New Zealand are only limited by the imagination of the baker. Always encrusted in a buttery flaky pastry and often served in a brown paper bag, it’s easy to find a good pie in New Zealand. Be sure to try ‘hāngī’ in a pie’ or a creamed pāua pie. Bacon and egg, steak and cheese and potato-top pies are Kiwi classics. However, salmon and bacon, butter chicken, bacon and egg, lamb and mint and venison pies are award-winners at the annual New Zealand pie awards

New Zealand has several world-class cheese companies, and we have our striving dairy industry to thank. But, its not just cows milk used to make artisan cheese. Sheep and goat milk cheeses are also common. Famous for blue cheese, sharp vintages and creamy soft cheeses, Kāpiti Cheese, Whitestone and Puhoi Valley are New Zealand made favourites. There are many boutique cheese companies in New Zealand. Relax with cheese-tastings at The Cheese Barn and the Gibbston Valley™ Cheesery & Deli.

 Kiwis are passionate about good ice-cream, be sure to try hokey pokey (creamy vanilla ice cream with tiny balls of crunchy honeycomb). New Zealanders also love pavlova. A meringue-based dessert that’s topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit, pavlova is a permanent fixture at the Christmas table. For something a bit healthier, try some New Zealand stone fruit or a fruit salad featuring delicious kiwifruit, feijoas and passionfruit.