Kiwi Dhabas

Typical Street Cafes

New Zealand has a very vibrant café culture. Cafes are common in downtown of Auckland as well as in the adjoining suburbs. By Café’s, I don’t mean expensive restaurants but eateries where you generally to grab quick meal or drink. In India, we would either call them dhabas in North or may be compare them with numerous eateries in Kolkata.

The streets of Auckland have too many Café’s on either side of the road. Typically most of the eateries have seating arrangements made either in open or in enclosures. The menu card is generally of four pages with a separate drinks menu. The waitresses normally give you enough time to choose your dish. To aid you, most menus have the composition of a particular dish explained in them and of course the waitress would be happy to help you, if you want to know more about the ingredients. As regards to prices, the Café’s are not expensive and most Café’s ensure you get value for money for the food you ordered. The way you would be served a dish would certainly make you feel, you are eating in a five-star restaurant in India. Additionally, you may feel you have always eaten more than what you paid for the particular dish. During weekdays most Café’s have a separate lunch menu that is cheaper to attract office-goers, thus enabling you to decide whether you shall come back again or not.

Battered Prawn

The Café’s are mostly busy. People here have a huge affinity towards eating out under the sun. This is something unique to the culture of the place. While we Asians have taken on to computers, television etc, a typical Kiwi would tell you, he does not use computers beyond office hours, he communicates with his friends / family, either by catching up for a beer or phone, he reads by visiting the library and when it is sunny he would definitely be outside his home unless he is required to mend something in the house. Therefore, on weekends most of the public parks and beaches are busy with people on picnic. Those who don’t bring food from home, throng the Cafes.

Beer battered fish and chips

Now coming to the most important aspect of these eateries – the food. While most of the Café’s sell Continental food consisting of meat, chicken, amazing seafood. To go with your food, you shall have a choice of drinks.

As far as drinks are concerned, New Zealand is famous for its wine. Buying a bottle of good wine from the supermarket is cheaper than buying a pack of cigarettes. Most Kiwis’ unless it is very warm and sunny, prefer drinking wine to beer. For the first time ever, I had sparkling wine at home this summer. (The classic example of a sparkling wine is Champagne, named on the region of France where it is produced). Kiwi sparkling wine is very good.

Coffee is very good here and is very popular too. Not many Kiwis’ are tea drinkers but you get very good quality coffee in almost all the shops. Supermarket also sells good coffee. As far as the beer and whiskey are concerned, they aren’t expensive either but since people get such good wine here, I see most people drinking wine.

Street Musicians

Additionally, on weekends you would typically find street musicians playing around these Café’s. That makes the ambiance much more pleasurable. Tipping is not a part of culture here but that does not stop waitresses to always smile and wish when they serve.

Thai - Pineapple Prawn Curry

Cafés selling Asian food are not very common. Though you get Asian food quite easily (and that too cheap), but Asian eateries are housed inside malls and food courts. This I guess is typical to Asian culture of preferring the shadow rather than sun. That does not mean that the Asian food available here is bad.

The Kiwis indeed love their food and drink. Thankfully, unlike many things here food and drink are not very expensive. While you walk around the streets of Auckland, it is almost certain that the smell of food and coffee shall tempt you to indulge.

My friends from Melbourne and Munich don’t think much about the Café culture in Auckland. However, since I am yet to visit either Melbourne or Munich, my comparisons are with Indian cities of Delhi and Kolkata. Kolkata, too has a Cafe culture with places like Decker Lane shops, Anadi’s Cabin, Coffee House, Nizam, Aminia and numerous roll shops. I still have fond memories of those places.

Advertisements