Countdown is just the best -- we "counted" (hah) on Countdown to have all the essentials we needed…read moreduring our trip to New Zealand. It's so much more than a grocery store ...one late evening visit, we even made some friends visiting from Australia who were also captivated by their vast and unique ice cream selection they had. Talk about decision paralysis! I even got thermals for my ski trip from there, which I look forward to using during this upcoming NY winter. All in all, thanks Countdown for being an integral part of our trip to your country.

Huge grocery store with a big selection of foods…read more I don't live here so when I didn't have a One Card one of the employees was nice enough to swipe his for me so I could get the discount for one of the items.

I went to a different Pak N Save during my first New Zealand trip so I had high expectations. This…read morelocation didn't quite hit the mark. Although it has a lot of the same options, I felt they were a lot less prepared food options which is why we came here to begin with.

Our stop here was by chance. We were quite hungry and looking for a quick lunch on our drive from…read moreAuckland to Rotorua. We pulled into an unassuming building and were greeted by some wonderful smells inside. We tried a sampling cheese plate and a selection of other goodies. The inside was a bit spartan, but had everything we required. Service was a little on the slower side, but it was off-season. To be honest, it gave us just the break from driving we needed. Everything was delicious, service was friendly, and we bought a little cheese for the road.

Few food options for sale (it was fall there so maybe they put out more in the busier summer…read moremonths) but they do have foodservice options, great coffee and pastries...and oh so important - free wifi for which they give you a code on a slip of paper and once entered the code us good for an hour. Nice stop between Coromandel and Taupo.

Buzzy busy provincial town of Matamata in the mighty Waikato province!…read more As we are driving to East Coast from Auckland, this is our 1st stop. Hobbiton is nearby, Matamata has changed a LOT since I was last through 15+ years ago. Many dining choices, and we opt for EAT, a 4.5 star on Google after 200+ reviews. Mom n pop store, looks like 3 generations front and back of house....had to walk through Kitchen to get to the loos! Hive of activity, clean place putting out FRESH made on premises REAL food. Wife chose sausage roll, house chutney on the side, I went for power green salad. Both dishes were delish. She said a 4.5 for her filling choice, nice pastry, lotsa meat, a good cafe standard Kiwi favorite. My kale dominant salad, pricy @13nzd, too little for a lunchtime Main total food ingredient costs, at most, 3 bucks, flecks of salty goatmilk feta notwithstanding. Dressing lovely, greens tender (for kale) Forgot the nuts! 2 tablespoons of chopped roasted cashews atop, upon serving, would have rescued it imho. Lose a star for PORTION SIZE error, but a 'gold star' for creativity. Rated a 4 outta 5. Coffee by barista onsite was tasty hot and appreciated, a four again. Attitudes fair, they're working hard this time of year, a destination now HOBBITON brings many people through this formerly sleepy hollow. 3 on the Yelp scale. Value also a 3 on the yelpmeter. Impressive menu for a little place. Would return and recommend. 3.55 stars rounded up.

We loved our visit to Matamata and one of the our favorite parts was Eat Urban Foodstuffs! This…read morecute little cafe had wonderful staff and AMAZING food. In our two day stay, we ended up having three meals here. They have fantastic coffee drinks, raw juice and fruit/veggie smoothies, a deli -style counter with delicious salads, pastas, etc., a made-to-order menu with fancy breakfast and lunch items, and INCREDIBLE desserts / pastries. Can't say enough good things -- LOVE IT. *My only negative critique is that for first-time visitors it is confusing to understand all of the options available. The menus are oddly placed with drinks on one wall and the made-to-order food menu on the wall behind the deli counter. We witnessed multiple customers come in, look through the deli counter and drink menu, then go to leave without realizing that there is a whole other menu they had not discovered yet. Do yourself a favor and go here!

We'd read somewhere that there was a night market on Friday's. This turned out to be Gourmet Night…read moreMarket. We dropped in around 7:00pm and it was busy. Lots of families and kids running around. It goes from 5:00pm to late (seemed to be closing up shop around 9:00pm when we left). We tried a couple vendors: 1) Paella Pan - Seafood paella ($16.00 NZD large) - my dad ate this all to himself. You get a good portion but my dad said it was pretty average. 2) Barbacoa - Tuna (#1) ($10.00 NZD) - sesame encrusted yellow tuna with Asian herbed slaw and noc chum. Tuna was lightly seared but could have used more flavour. The mango tomato salsa was summery but the bean sprouts were boring. 3) The Homegrown Kitchen - Mussel sausages with home smoked fish risotto ($12.50 NZD) - came with coriander and tomato salsa. Super delicious! The smoked fish mixed in with the risotto was bomb. Same with the mussel stuffed sausage. Pretty unique combo. - Salt + pepper calamari ($8.50 NZD) - with slaw and habanero mayo. Calamari was perfectly seasoned and oh so tender. 4) Cakes & Desserts - Lemon shortcake ($6.50 NZD) - came with cream or yoghurt on top. B got yoghurt. The shortcake could have been more lemony/tangy. 5) Friets - Ice cream sundaes ($5.50 NZD) - four flavours to choose from (salted caramel, choc brownie, spiced cookie dough and mochachino). We went with the salted caramel; salty, sweet and the chopped nuts was icing on the cake. I have no idea how this started to melt when it was freezing outside. The live music was great! Awesome voices and played some great throwbacks. Worth a visit if you're in town on a Friday evening.

Great little gourmet food market at the park near the beach. Good vibes with excellent selection of…read morefood stalls and a small stage in the middle where musicians play good summer tunes for your market experience. Plenty of space to sit on the grass while you enjoy your food. Can highly recommend the pork sliders, yummmm, mussels, lamb cutlets were banging, the stall that sells salted ice cream sundaes and Dutch fries were also banging. Mmm... Definitely must stop if you're around the area.

Delicious meal. Fresh ingredients. Courteous staff. Cute little shop with local made goods inside…read moreas well! Definitely worth stopping in when looking for a bite in Rotorua.

Best breakfast in NZ! We were on our last week of a 4 week trip starting on the South Island in…read moreQueenstown. We had decided up until we got to Rotorua that breakfast is not a NZ strong suit. That is until we walked into to Capers before our kayak adventure. The bagel & eggs Benedict with bacon was fantastic and had us coming back. Everything thing from the pastries to the entrees had a little extra care in its preparation and presentation. Later that day we ordered takeaway Vegetarian lasagna & chicken curry & rice. No disappointments here, both were on point. The left over lasagna was better the following afternoon. Over course we were back for breakfast before we left Rotorua. The coffee was excellent, we had spicy chai lattes, lattes & long blacks in our many visits. Order anything, you can't go wrong!

We went here for our anniversary dinner because we had recently been to Paris and wanted to relive…read morethat Parisian vibe. My husband had the pork belly, I had the filet mignon, and we shared a side of vegetables. Both dishes were mouthwateringly good. We had a laugh when I ordered my steak. I asked for medium and he said "Why do you want to kill it again, it's already dead". On his advice I changed to medium rare and it was cooked to perfection. If you like an interactive service where you feel like you are friends with the owner, in a comfortable atmosphere, then this is the place to go.

Paris in Tauranga! From the Tricolor proudly flying…read moreoutside to the warm atmosphere inside and smatterings of French from Maurine and the excellent wines by the glass, this is a very good CBD restaurant. Fast service and homely winter food and a full house sign up most weekend nights indicate the popularity of this iconic Tauranga restaurant. You will not be disappointed to go here.

This is your run of the mill Countdown supermarket, however being situated in the Bayfair mall is…read morean obvious choice to stop by to get your groceries after you've shopped till you've dropped. There are 2 to choose from and my sister says the one labeled "Woolworths " is the better one . The other one is older and needs a makeover.