Dining in Queenstown: A Food (and Bathroom) Review

24 June

 In the midst of my search for warm Queenstown bathrooms I am also researching cheap but quality meals downtown. I am not as concerned with lunches, though there are a few $10 lunches about, but when you can get a $10 dinner and meet up with friends, that's where the value lies.

On Friday nights the Tanoa Aspen Hotel has a $10 fish and chips meal, including a house wine or beer. The Tanoa Aspen Hotel is located up in Fernhill on Fernhill Rd, easily accessible by bus or 20-25min walk from anywhere downtown. When we arrived just before 7pm the restaurant was relatively empty, about three tables in the dining room taken and a couple sitting by the fireplace.

We were greeted promptly and the waiter put in our order for three fish and chips meals. Sam had ordered a beer, and Ruth and I ordered the red wine, myself getting the Cabernet Merlot which was quite flavorful and pleasant, also served promptly along with a bottle of tap water.

The restaurant area began to fill up as we began our drinks and people were taking a moment to step outside on the balcony in anticipation of the opening ceremony fireworks. As with most things in this town the fireworks did not start right at 7pm, but as I expected, started just moments after our food arrived at the table. We had waited about 15-20 minutes for our dinners, which was well-worth the quality of the fish and chips. The major down side of having fish and chips at the Tanoa Aspen Hotel is the fact that they don't have malt vinegar, which is an absolute necessity when eating a proper fish and chips meal, but I did ask for white vinegar, which was a mildly acceptable substitute.

The quality of the fish was quite good, tender and moist enough to retain the flavor of the fish; the breading was crispy and fresh without being greasy or overdone. The chips are also well-prepared, crisp around the edges but never soggy or burnt. A tasty but not oily tartar sauce and tomato sauce and slice of lemon accompany the meal. As my first fish and chips experience in New Zealand I have nothing to compare it to as of yet, but I would definitely recommend this meal to anyone. The quality of the wine and the fish and chips is amazing for the price, and if you get there early enough to see the sun fading off into twilight it would be an exceptional view in a comfortable dining room. When you're finished with your meal you can use their warm indoor bathrooms.

I was able to see the fireworks as my hot meal cooled a bit since the fireworks only lasted about ten minutes. They were a bit far off down the hill and looked smaller than I had anticipated, but they had a nice variety and were pleasant to watch for a few minutes before I returned to my meal. My dinner with Sam and Ruth not only had a pleasant beginning, but also ended on a high note. Sam and Ruth had spent the entire day looking at and test driving about 7 cars and were in a bidding war with two other girls for the one they had made an offer for. They had wanted to spend between $1000-1500 for a 4wd manual hatchback, but offered $1200 for a '95 Nissan Bluebird, a 2wd automatic sedan. As an all around package it was the best for them. When they received a text saying the girls had offered $1300 Sam texted back $1350 and before our meal had finished they were sorted with both housing and a vehicle!

Things were also starting to look better for myself as well. Just before we left I received a text message from Louise from the Winter Festival committee asking if I could volunteer for the parade the following morning at 9:30am. Finally, some work!

26 June

The second meal I am going to highlight is a delicious curry dinner at the Tandoori Palace on lower Shotover St, around the corner from the wharf. The bathrooms are cold, however, so I would recommend going before the meal when you still might be warm from walking there. You'll need to get the key from behind the counter and walk outside and around the corner to a quite chilly restroom, but at least it's clean.

The Tandoori Palace offers a special between 5-7:30pm every night where all curries are $10 and include basmati rice. “I would like your warmest table,” I stated when I walked in. The restaurant was relatively empty when we arrived so I decided not to sit at any of the tables around the corner in the back so they could actually see us. In these countries where they don't tip the wait staff you have to be careful that you don't sit somewhere where you can't flag down the wait staff if you need them. I suppose it's a matter of preference whether you like to be hovered over and catered to or if you would rather be left alone, but I think it's up to a good server to gauge how often the party would like to see you at their table.

We took a nice seat in the front area of the dining room, but not too close to the windows or the door. Starving as we were after a bad experience at World Bar, having been promised free BBQ from 5-7pm and waiting until 6pm for nothing, we decided to order some garlic and cheese naan, a bit fancier than the plain or garlic naan, fueled by our hunger and aggravation. I'm just glad we made it to Tandoori Palace before the true extent of my hunger-induced grumpiness was revealed to my new friend, Owen. Owen is from Melbourne and is taking a break from working as an auto mechanic to spend the season in Queenstown. We had walked down to World Bar with the promise that there would be a free BBQ in celebration of Winter Fest from 5-7pm with cheap drinks. We left just before 6pm, thinking the “free BBQ” was probably a scam to get people in to buy drinks while waiting around. Either way, they probably did us a favor since I was sort of geared up for curry as a backup plan anyway.

Along with the garlic and cheese naan we had agreed to split the Lamb Vindaloo and the Lamb Rogan Josh, the vindaloo a bit spicier in a red sauce, and the rogan josh a flavorful brown sauce. We had ordered the vindaloo hot, and though I could taste the spice it wasn't what I consider hot. Both dishes were very flavorful and the lamb was tender, not the best lamb I've ever tasted, but definitely acceptable quality for an Indian restaurant. My evaluation of Indian food may be a bit skewed because Indian food in upstate New York is actually quite good quality and I have been used to it growing up. The food arrived in a reasonable amount of time and the portions were decent, again barring my American heritage where the average restaurant portion could feed the entire family and then some. The only thing I find lacking with Indian food is that you don't get a very well-rounded meal and even the veggie dishes only have one or two ingredients in curry. These days it's difficult for me to feel sated without a nice sized salad or side of veggies.

I would definitely recommend Tandoori Palace's $10 curry happy hour special. All curries are $10, including the seafood curries, which I am quite looking forward to trying. Two people could easily split a meat curry and a veggie curry, as well as plain naan for $3.50 to get a well-rounded meal, or even two veggie curries, a meat curry and naan for only $33.50. When eating on the cheap, the $10 dish is a great deal for dinner, and the restaurant is a comfortable place to sit and visit with friends. Just use the bathroom before leaving home!

28 June

Our third meal deal is the daily happy hour sushi at Minami, across the street from the wharf on Beach St. I went with Matty at 6pm on Monday after some great snowboarding, and met up with Sophie and Ant. The happy hour sushi special runs from 5:30-7pm and there are a few options available for the $10 happy hour sushi box; an 18 piece maki, 8 piece nigiri or 9 piece sashimi. I was the only one at the table who ordered the nigiri – I would have ordered sashimi but without rice I would have been absolutely starving, and everyone else ordered the maki.

The wait staff was quite attentive and it was easy to get their attention sitting in the middle of the restaurant. Again, I had opted for what looked like the warmest table, and it was actually quite pleasantly warm inside the restaurant. I decided to forego the sake because I would need to drive later on, but I had a sip of it and it was quite flavorful and of good quality. Generally I need the sake to be scaldingly hot because I don't like the sharp taste of the alcohol, but I was able to taste the sweet rice flavor of the sake instead of being overwhelmed with burning alcohol. Minami also has a selection of Japanese beers and local beers and wines.

We got our food in a reasonable amount of time, and after my 8 pieces of nigiri I knew I needed to order more because it would be too long before I could get somewhere to make some food of my own. I decided to order a maki box, which included one 6-piece roll of salmon and cucumber, one cucumber roll and one tuna roll. I had agreed to split it evenly with Matty, but he was pretty much full and my ravenous evening appetite, fueled by cold and exhaustion and possibly trying to fight off illness, had taken over. Even after the maki I was still hungry and ordered a green salad. I'm never satisfied now without the greens.

The salad was quite delightful, though the lettuce came in big chunks and would have been difficult to eat without a knife and still maintain dignity, but at least I was with friends, and I was hoping they weren't looking. The brown vinaigrette dressing seemed to be a bit balsamic in nature, though I'm sure it had hints of ginger in it as well. All in all, for a light meal it was excellent quality. The fish was fresh and flavorful, the rice warm and robust, and the salad had tomato, cucumber and a tangy delicious dressing. Overall I would definitely recommend Minami's happy hour sushi, though I would either order a bowl of rice or have something to eat beforehand. It effectively took two boxes of sushi and a green salad for me to feel satisfied, followed by a hot pot of green tea, which came to $21.50, having split one of the boxes. It's not a cheap meal, but for sushi that is probably the best value you can find for this type of quality in Queenstown.