I’ve always been a lunch person, especially when it comes down to eating out while travelling: it’s a cheaper option than munching the dinner menus, and what restaurants offer as their daily specials tend to be spectacles of specialities. Quite often these are themselves celebrations of local produce, cast into the cauldron to be whipped up into dishes that mesmerise your palates. This rule is no different here in pricey Queenstown.
Bumming around rummaging through the food scene with a strictly tight budget, here are some of the discoveries I’ve made, sampled, paid roughly $10 and thudded my seal of approval.
Solera (25 Beach Street)
My first meal since arriving here. Their posh flair of French cuisine is displayed delicately in their modest lunch special, typically a salmon/chicken/venison kebab served with couscous and green salad. All for the price of an unconvincing $10, given the idyllic ambience, fantastically friendly French-speaking staff and roaring fireplace. What more can you ask for eh?
Aggy’s Shack (Corner of Church Street)
There’s nowhere else in Q’town to satisfy your seafood craving. Don’t let the miniscule yellow kiosk deceive you: within the Maori owners waltz around the tiny kitchen preparing and dishing out seafood of the freshest variety. For $12 you can get yourself a mean fush n’ chups. Also try a battered green-lip mussels with chips for a tenner, the local delicacy kina, essentially raw sea urchin. Now this is a choice one.
Fergburger (42 Shotover Street)
To come into Queens and not have a Fergburger is like committing an act of blasphemy. Though slightly overrated, personally, these guys do deliver the best burgers in town – if you can make it to the counter through the rugby-grounds-like store front and endure the wait – from as little as $10. Be prepared to feast: it’ll take a big bloke’s appetite to eat this burger the size of your face.
Slurp Soups (40 Shotover Street)
If everyone makes soup like these guys then I’m consuming liquid sustenance for the rest of eternity. Their soup menu varies everyday, typically four options out of a broad range of availability. A regular-size soup would set you back $7 – an additional garlic and parmesan ciabatta for $3 gets you a scrumptious winter warmer for a tenner. It certainly raised my body temperature after a gruelling hitchhike from Wanaka.
Kappa (36 The Mall)
Bento, don, they’re all Japanese phrases a gourmet should know: all Japanese restaurants offer lunchboxes and big bowls of rice – served with all-time favourites like teriyaki, katsu and tempura – at affordable prices. My pick is Kappa: for $12-ish you can opt for a bento lunchbox of culinary variety or concentrate on a specific dish with a massive bowl of rice. The miso soup is simply a bonus.
Sanggam (O’Connells Pavilion)
There’s a great food court culture here in New Zealand and it’s no different here, though I’ve always had negative experiences stumbling upon curry places that, well, didn’t manage to befriend my palate. Sanggam is one predominant exception to my streak of misfortune: $9 will get you a plentiful rice and curry-of-your-choice, complimentary smiling and chatty staff. Try the venison curry – blessing of fusion cooking.
Habebes (Plaza Arcade, 30 Shotover Street)
Hidden between Shotover and Beach, the silhouetted alleyway houses one of Queenstown’s best kebab-eria. Forget about chain franchises, Habebes seeks to impress their customers with café-like vibe, grease-free environment, hearty salads and yummy humus, even before its main feature, the kebab, graces the scene. Ordering a regular kebab for all but $11. Opens only during daytime.
