This year marks the seventh year of the event, which is open to all New Zealand restaurants. New Zealand’s toastie craze From sandwich shops to urban bistros, breweries and food trucks, you’ll also find wineries, butchers and some of the best bakeries in the country.
Featuring a mouthwatering range of toasted sandwiches, this showcase will see 170 eateries from across Aotearoa serving up their own unique take on New Zealand’s iconic snack.
With this year’s competition officially underway, toast fans can look forward to two fantastic months of sizzling sandwiches from now until late August as shops compete to be crowned the best toast in the country.
From Cambridge to Clyde, Greytown to Geraldine, Katikati to Kaikoura, Mangawhai to Morrinsville, Papamoa to Petoon, Rotorua to Rangiora and Whitianga to Wanaka, you can get toasty everywhere.
Some of the country’s top breweries are also participating, including Auckland’s Urbanaut, Charlie’s and Hallertau, Brew Union from Palmerston North, Shining Peak from Taranaki, Abundant and Baylands from Porirua and Lower Hutt, Beers from Christchurch and Monte Cristo Winery from Otago.
Also noteworthy is the huge variety of cuisines on offer this year, including Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Indian, Italian, Mexican, American barbecue and, of course, New Zealand cuisine.
As always, creativity and innovation are on display, with chefs serving up toasts piled high with lobster and prawn bisque, wild boar bacon, black pudding, Bolognese, chicharron (crispy fried pork), slow-cooked pork vindaloo, carnitas (hereridge pork fried and confited in fat), Fiordland wild venison, mapo tofu and birria short rib.
Condiments are similarly adventurous, with options including pickled cheesecake mix, cricket salt, and tobacco onion, as well as buffalo ajilloja (a Peruvian pepper sauce), three-cheese fondue, cauliflower cheese, vodka curry sauce, cowboy butter, pork crackling salt chips and pork gravy, pickled caviar crème fraîche dip, and pickleback bloody mary shooters.
Bread lovers can expect a treat including soft and fluffy Asian buns, sourdough with seaweed and pickle juice, toasted leek pancakes and turmeric ciabatta toasted in brown butter. This year, leading bread manufacturers and their flagship stores are also participating, including Daily Bread (Britomart), Wild Wheat (Mangere), Volare (Hamilton East) and BABCO (Palmerston North).
In Mount Maunganui, last year’s winner, The Freeport with Cleaver & Co., is aiming to repeat their victory with their ‘Holy Cheese and Bacon’ toastie, featuring house-cured smoked pancetta strips, Maasdam cheese, McClure’s pickled salsa and onion jam on homemade focaccia bread, served with crispy potatoes and McClure’s pickled caviar crème fraîche dip.
Meanwhile in Rotorua, 2022 winner Okere Falls is going all out with his ‘Figgy in the Middle’, which features Swiss cheese, pickle cheesecake mix, walnuts, figs, bacon, arugula, chilli honey, blue cheese and McClure’s pickles encased in buttered sourdough bread and topped with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan.
As participating restaurants compete to advance to the final round of the competition, a team of more than 30 judges, led by head judge Kelly Tyack, will taste the contestants’ sandwiches to determine which sandwiches will advance to the final 12. Each toast will be scored based on a set of criteria, including appearance, preparation, ease of eating, taste, origin and innovation.
The rules of the competition remain the same as in previous years: the toast must be between two slices of bread and be eaten with your fingers. The toast sandwich must contain cheese or a suitable vegan alternative, and a pickle. McClure’s Pickles Range. Everything else is limited by the creator’s imagination.
The finalists will be announced on August 5th and, following a second round of judging and an opportunity for the public to taste the judges’ choices, the winner will be announced on August 21st.
The People’s Choice Awards will also return in 2024, with New Zealanders being able to vote for their favourite eateries and toasts to take part. The eatery that receives the most public votes will win.
Joe McClure, judge and co-founder of McClure’s Pickles, had a message for toast fans: “If you’re a toast fan, this is your chance to support your favourite eatery – get out there and try some of these amazing toast creations – and don’t forget to vote for us in the People’s Choice Awards.”
Last year’s competition saw 150,000 toasted sandwiches consumed over the three month period, with 14 finalists coming from Auckland, Rotorua, Hamilton, Mount Maunganui, Havelock North, New Plymouth, Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson, Ashburton and Lumsden.
The winner of the 2023 top award was talented young chef Brooke Moore from Mount Maunganui. Freeport and Cleaver & Co. With her wonderful work Surf, turf and smoke, monsieur!
Freeport’s winning toast, a standout for the competition judges, featured house-smoked lamb pastrami, smoked shrimp, mozzarella, smoked cheddar sauce and McClure’s sweet and spicy pickles on locally made Breadhead miso tahini sourdough, garnished with smoked aioli and pickle juice gel.
Past winners of the competition include Brooke Moore from Mount Maunganui. Freeport and Cleaver & Co. (2023), Rich Jones Okere Falls Store and Craft Beer in Rotorua (2022), Steve McDougall Molly’sHotel d’Urville, Blenheim (2021), Romeo Dowling Mitchell Starving Homeless Dunedin (2020), Joseph Walker ( Hokitika Sandwich Company Hokitika (2019).
See the full list of participating restaurants here here Or for more information Source.
