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| The famed seafood stand at Kaikoura, on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. |
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| Lobsters (“crayfish”), mussels and scallops sizzling on the grill at Kaikoura Seafood BBQ stand, South Island, New Zealand. |
Post Kaikoura, before heading to Auckland in March, I researched seafood restaurants. Depot Eatery And Oyster Bar earned rave reviews. “Do you offer whitebait?” I enquired. “Nope; only when they’re running in the spring,” they promptly responded.
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| Menu and prices at Kaikoura Seafood BBQ stand, South Island, New Zealand. Little bites, but inexpensive. Lop off a little less than 1/3 the price to convert to USD. |
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Whitebait fritters in varying states of done-ness on the grill at Kaikoura Seafood BBQ stand, South Island, New Zealand. |
“What exactly is whitebait?” I wondered, besides these pretty teeny-tiny shimmering silvery fish for fritters. The actual taste drew polarized reactions, from “ewwwww*” to sublime enthusiasm and specific comments regarding what constitutes the ultimate whitebait fritter.
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More sublime whitebait fritter from No Road Inn, image pilfered from this New Zealand tourist resource. |
As early as the 1800s it was dubbed a delicacy – aka – expensive. In the 1920s whitebait was expensive enough to be considered a luxury. ‘When we get married/ We’ll have whitebait for tea’ were the lines of a popular song at the time. Per wikipedia “…it is the most costly fish on the market, if available. During average to good seasons, prices vary between $70 and $130 per kilogram [kg]” (about $25-40/lb. USD); in 2005 they hit $150/kg.
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| Not a bad nibble for about the equivalent of $6.50 USD, though I regret not ordering the more exotic paua or whitebait fritters for about the same price. |
While I’ll never be considered a Kiwi given my lack of enchantment with fish and chips, I thoroughly enjoyed New Zealand’s Coromandel mussels, and devoured a delish paua (New Zealand abalone) fritter today in Kensignton. Sadly, it would be an understatement to say the steamy scent of briny mussels burbling in the all-too-close quarters of our little boat was not popular with the captain. Mussels have not since graced our galley, though I’ve happily partaken of them when someone else cooked them a few times since.
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| New Zealand’s Coromandel deliciously meaty mussels sold for as little as $3.49/kilogram for just over $1/lb USD at Whangarei’s Pak&Save. |
Location Location
We’re back on a pole mooring in Whangarei’s Town Basin Marina (S35.43.412 E174.19.539), though by the time you read this, we’ll likely be on a brief road trip up to Cape Reinga, the Northernmost point of New Zealand’s North Island. Meanwhile, our must-do boat and provisioning chores before we set sail list is getting much shorter! Quite likely we’ll leave Whangarei by month’s end.
Sailing by the Numbers
