A few weeks ago, I posted a request for information about Australia and New Zealand in regard to a trip my husband and I will be taking in April to Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, and possibly Canberra, in Australia, and Wellington, New Zealand.
I asked for advice on:
* Airfare, both international and domestic
* Sights not to miss
* Good restaurants, especially those serving local cuisines
* The best wineries to visit near the cities where we'll be staying
* Availability of Passover supplies in Perth
Many thanks to all who replied. I have posted pertinent summaries to the following newsgroups: rec.travel, rec.travel.air, rec.food.restaurants, rec.food.drink, and soc.culture.jewish.
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Leah Zeldes Smith [email removed]
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the replies I received regarding restaurants:
From: "Michael (W.M.) Babineau"
As far as food goes, Melbourne is a great place to dine out. I suggest that you pick up a copy of the "Cheap Eats Guide to Melbourne" which is published by a local paper called The Age. You should be able to find a copy of this in most corner stores or News Agents. This is a very comprehensive cross- referenced list of reasonably priced restaurants with GOOD food. The book is only a few dollars and is published yearly based on current restaurant reviews.
From: PenDragon <>
New Zealands claim to fame: the Pavalova (?Pavlova) - a sweet egg based dessert. The rail mince pie used to be (in)famous?
From: [email removed] (Hugh Garsden)
I don't even know if there is such a thing as local cuisine. If there is it would only be for the tourists :-).
I don't know if kangaroo is available, in some places it is not legal to eat it. As far as meat pies go - they are mostly not very nutritious, unless you go to a restaurant that makes decent ones. We consider them to be a convenience food and not a serious meal or very healthy (at least that's my view).
Take a look in the phone book when you get here. Our restaurants are not much different from the usual, but in Sydney you will find a lot are Asian (Indian, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Thai etc). We eat pretty much what you do but more Asian.
There is an increasing interest in foods based on local flora and fauna and Aboriginal cooking. But it is not widespread and I don't know where you can get it. You'll have to investigate.
Melbourne reputedly has the best restaurants so you should investigate there. In Sydney, people are in a hurry to eat so they can get out to the beach or the harbour or the theatres and nightspots. Or the social set go out to "be seen". Melbourne people are more serious about food because thay have so few other pleasures :-).
Regarding eating out - there are no state taxes in Australia. We also don't tip (although it is becoming more prevalent - I often tip a small amount). Tips and taxes are effectively already included in the menu prices. However, because you are American you will be expected to tip, which will make things a little more expensive than they should be. As far as tipping in general goes, always tip the bellboy, room service etc in hotels. Tip taxi drivers if you want (I only do if the service was good).
From: [email removed] (Clark Quinn)
Best New Australian Cuisine in Sydney to my mind is a place called Riberries in Taylor Square. Reasonably priced, exquisite combinations, faultless preparation, and unique local ingredients (smoked emu, kangaroo, bunyan nuts, no witchetty grubs).
From: [email removed]
regarding bush food: I think there's a restaurant in sydney specializing in native food ( wattle seed, quandong etc. ) but there's none in melb,perth that I know also, must go to barossa valley for wineries and the pheasant farm restaurant ( try the kangaroo here ) don't know what new american is but supposedly neddy chan in adelaide was doing east-meets-west years before california had heard of it previously at fleurieu, nediz tu - don't know where he is now my favourite in perth : san lorenzo's in claremont ( not just italian ) as for melb & sydney - too many to mention - there are guide books to the restaurants in these cities - browse and see what interests you
From: [email removed] (Chris Doucas)
The meats and dairy products are exceptional. Dairy products even better in NZ. Fruits and Veges available year round but prices can vary dramatically. (In general, In australia, pricing can vary greatly from vendor to vendor for the same product. If you have the time to shop around, you can usually get the price you are seeking)
'Suicidal' foods to avoid for the N. American pallete:
meat pies/hot dogs/pizzas(local)/rissoles/mexican food/vegemite/chiko
rolls/silver side......
Best examples of good cuisine:
Australian: Carverys (roast chicken/pork/lamb*/beef)/Fish: Cod, flathead,
baramundi, John Dory...
Malaysian: Thai: Indian: Chinese:
Fast Foods: McDonalds/ Pizza Hut/ Kentucky Fried/ Sizzlers/
Most Pubs and Hotel pubs allow kids with their families at
meal/Tea
time. Best to see first and ask.
From: [email removed] (Maria Jeffries )
Hmmm, we don't acually have a "traditional" type cuisine - each city has the usual run of Mediterranean/Asian/International type restaurants but what makes them so good is that they have been somewhat "Australian-ised". Many of the pubs/brassieries/restaurants serve a varied menu with lots of different and interesting dishes - for example try the Gourmet Pizza & Pasta place (I think that's the name of it) on Bondi strip - unusual local adaptations fo the traditional favourites. See if you can get a window table - great for observing the locals and the scenery!! And of course one of the best things about Australia is our beer!
From: [email removed] (Andrew Phillips,Sp. Projects,X6551,487 2424)
Sydney has many excellent restaurants based on cuisines from all over the world, particularly Asian. I don't think there is anything in the way of what you think is "traditional". Why not try Thai.
From: Kian-Tat Lim <>
Kangaroo shouldn't be hard to handle. We mostly were dragged to
Chinese/Malaysian restaurants -- the best of those was Ong's Food Court in Melbourne (under a deparment store downtown).
From: [email removed] (Tony Gerber)
Local cuisine along the lines of witchetty grubs, etc., is surprisingly hard to find. It's as much a novelty to the average Australian as it would be to you too. Meat pies you can get *anywhere* ... "good" is another matter. The equivalent of "New American" (or Pacific Rim, etc.) is much easier to find. Best food cities are Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, probably in that order. Perth and Canberra don't have anything to match the top restaurants in those cities (though residents would probably disagree). Restaurants come and go with frightening rapidity here, so your best bet is to buy the local "Good Food" Guides in each city on arrival, and call up straight away to make reservations. (The top restaurants usually require booking in advance by days, if not weeks ... but what with the recession, it may be easier these days. :-) In Sydney, get the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food Guide, or the Horan Hall Walker Eating Out Guide (comparable to your Zagat guides). In Melbourne, it's the Age Good Food Guide. Don't know about Adelaide.
From: (Jonathan R Barnett)
I can highly recommend the MacLeay St Bistro in Sydney's Potts Point area. Its a BYOB restaurant...small...so either arrive early or plan on waiting a bit for a table. In any case, one of the best small bistros I have been to anywhere in the world.
Also in Sydney, if you like steak, there is a place at the Rocks where you cook your own....truly outstanding meat, not very touristy, lots of local business folks go there for lunch. Its called Phillips Foote.
Lastly, if its seafood you like, try Doyle's at the fish pier (don't go to the main Doyle's restaurants...same food but twice the cost).
>From: [email removed] (Channing Benson)
Te Kano Cafe in Wanaka, New Zealand -- vegetarian with soul
>From: [email removed] (Jack Campin)
Sydney and Melbourne are polycultural cities with a very large proportion of their people descended from Southern Europeans. Italian (and Greek, and Turkish, and...) food *is* traditional Australian.
From: (John Ahearn)
Several of the wineries also had restaurants. We visited two and the
food was great, again I would have to look them up. There are tourist info centers in all of the major cities that list these things.
One thing I consider a must is in Melbourne you can take a lunch or
dinner trolley ride. We went for dinner and it was great. We had trouble with our travel agent making reservations (although we were able to do it with no problem - travel agents are a real waste).
Dinner at the Sydney opera house was really nice. There are several
excellent restaurants around the Australian wine company (mentioned above).
In auckland there is a street near the rose garden area (which is
where we stayed), that has restaurant after restaurant (sort of SoHo like if you know what I mean). They were all very, very good.
From: Michael Shepanski <>
I think that the best way to see Sydney is by having lunch in one of the two rotating restaurants in Centrepoint Tower. It is really the only way to take in the whole city. The food, although good, is not anything distinctive. The view is the thing.
The best aspect of Australian food is its cosmopolitanism. In Sydney or Melbourne you can have a first class meal of a different nationality every night for two weeks running. However, if you want original Australian cuisine, the place to go is Adelaide. They have developed their own style, which does include kangaroo. Sorry I've forgotten the names of the restaurants I visited there, but I did like them. Eating 'roo doesn't require too much bravery -- it tastes just like steak only more so.
Forget the meat pies; there is nothing good to be said for them at all. If you would like good country cooking, including damper (a traditional heavy bread), game meats, and deserts with plenty of King Island Cream, I suggest Ruby's (042-722541) in Mount Kembla, which is above my home town of Wollongong, about an hour and twenty minute's drive south of Sydney.
From: "Harold A. Miller"
You might be disappointed with "local cuisine". Most people here eat very much exactly as do Yanks. The biggies here in restaurants are Thai, Italian and Greek. Sound more or less familiar? BTW, kangaroo meat isn't legal in most states. They're talking of legali[sz]ing it, but mostly you'd be stuck going to the Northern Territory. Not sure of the status right now--could have changed. Pies (meat, potato, shepherd's) are everywhere (including kosher ones). If they ask you about "sauce", they're referring to "tomato sauce" (tom-AH-to), which of course you call ketchup, although some places use their own variations.
From: Graham Constantine
There isn't really any "local cuisine", Oz doesn't have any. Then again you can eat from Mongolian to Chilian cuisine. I'll mention my favourites...
> to witchetty grubs
I'm told they taste very nice like chicken, though hard to find in the city.
Perth: (My home city)
Food: Bibik Chan, Stirling Hwy Nedlands;
Anything restraunt in Northbridge. << MUST SEE
No pubs open Easter Friday!!! (Possibly your hotel might supply room service. Check the local paper (WEST AUSTRALIAN) for service industry opening hours).
Sydney: (I live here).
Circular Quay & pubs;
Thai Restrants in NEWTOWN (10min train);
Canberra:
Food: Ha! You'll be lucky!Australia