Kaikoura

Before heading back home to London, I am taking a short visit to New Zealand (I am currently sitting in Wellington airport). Poor little New Zealand is very overshadowed by its giant Australian neighbour, and I'm not quite sure why! It is utterly beautiful, a pleasure to simply drive around, and the food has been very good.

First stop was Kiakoura on the east coast, famous for its whale watching and for its crayfish (Kia means food in Maori, and koura means crayfish). The crayfish are exported out of New Zealand under the name rock lobster, and they do look more like lobster than crayfish - very big, with bumpy heads, but with no claws.

We had initially tried what Lonely Planet claimed to be the best restaurant in town, but we found it had closed down (which also happened to Nelson later on in the trip - which made us wonder whether Lonely Planet actually destroys rather than builds restaurants in NZ). But the ex-owner pointed us to Green Dolphin on the seafront instead, which had crayfish as their special that night, so of course we had to try it.



It appeared to have been steamed in riesling (the local Marlborough riesling is lurvely), and then quickly roasted and finished with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We were munching every last morsel - the tail tastes pretty much like lobster, but I liked in particular the bit joining the head where you get more of a combination of white and brown meat. The brains, as I like to call it, was very moreish. We were a little piggy though, we really didn't need to eat a whole one, especially as they are not cheap!

Kaikoura in general had great seafood. A great little place is Kaikoura BBQ. Ideally situated right by the seal colony, it is a simple hut by the beach with a bbq, and some very fresh seafood, all for under NZ$10 (about £4 right now with the favourable exchange rates!). We had bbq'ed green lipped mussels, fish, and my favourite, some crayfish fritters (kind of like a crayfish omelette). As you can see, we ate it in a bit of a hurry:


Just before we left Kaikoura, we dropped into Hislops Cafe, which sounded a little bit too wholesome in the guidebook, but I was pleasantly surprised with. The lunch menu was a bit limited, but it did have a "designer" fish burger on it. Sounds terrible, but it was really pretty good, with their own homemade tartare sauce, and very nice homemade bread.

Overall, Kaikoura was probably our favourite place we visited in NZ - gorgeous coastline with snowy mountains in the background. Also a big shout to the folks at Fairways at Ocean Ridge, the apartments we stayed in - gorgeous place, will definitely try to be back!