As you probably know (from all the gushing over here, on Facebook, etc…) my husband and I along with friends went on a 17 day trip to Australia and New Zealand earlier this month. We spent three days in Sydney before we boarded our Cruise ship for the rest of our journey.
This post is for Weekend Cooking and for Saturday Snapshot and it is all about FOOD. Food is really part of the experience and my rule for traveling is that we can never eat at a place that I could eat at around where I live. I love new food experiences!
Disclaimer: Not all food pictured is mine (thank goodness!) I took pictures of the food that my hubby as well as our friends were eating too.
While in Sydney, we stopped at a little pub for lunch. I ordered a burger that was to come with “hot chips” and I was very curious about these chips. Turns out, chips are french fries. Now I am not a huge fan of thicker french fries, I like the crispy fresh thinner ones with that salty yum flavor. These were DELICIOUS. I became a big fan fast of the hot chips of Australia and New Zealand.
We were in Sydney 3 days and at one stop enjoyed a Japanese Cuisine meal. The four of us girls were really excited about this, however the two guys, Ray and Al were not… thinking it was going to be like a china buffet. The boys were converted quickly. The food was incredible and Al (my hubby) said he would stop anytime that he sees Japanese noodles.
At our hotel was a very nice restaurant and the above picture if from their display window. We never had a chance to eat there, we were too busy out exploring.
I wish I had taken better notes, but I did not. While in Sydney we took an all day trip to go and see some of the sights. We stopped at a quaint little town where we had a change to grab a bite to eat. We walked into this corner cafe that displayed the above window. I chose a delicious sandwich pictured below:
On to the cruise….
If you have ever taken a cruise, you know there is a lot of food. There was a buffet area that was open all the time. A pizza place, hamburger and hotdog spot, your main dining area, a steak house, Italian restaurant, and a Sushi restaurant. The food, other than the steakhouse, Italian, and Sushi, were all included in your cruise cost so knock yourself out. 🙂 The above picture is my dinner on the first night we ate in our dining room. This is a chicken Alfredo in a Parmesan shell. I know right? I dont even want to think about that calories in that mouth watering, buttery yummy concoction.
Al and I ate in the steak house twice. Once with our whole group, and then once just the two of us, a gift from our Travel Agent. The steak house menu gave you choices of appetizers, soups and salads, your main dish with choice of sides and of course dessert. Everything came with dessert. Below is one of the appetizers I had, a crab cake with shrimp on top. This was also the night I had the creme brulee. I was so full!
On one of last excursions we went to Christchurch in New Zealand. We had heard that they had amazing fish and chips (there’s that chips word again!). We stopped at three different fish and chips places and all three were closed or out of business. By mid afternoon we were pretty hungry and finally found a nice looking pub style restaurant. (I love these pubs you can find some of the best food there!)
I ordered a chicken sandwich which I was sold on because it came with avocado. I also ordered for all of us, the nacho’s as us girls had been craving nachos but unable to find them anywhere in Australia or New Zealand. Wendy ordered for us to all try the potato wedges.
My sandwich was good, but the nacho’s and potato wedges were excellent. Each had a tasty chili sauce that I would love to try to duplicate. The portions were HUGE, but all 6 of us were able to get our fill of these delicious treats.
I of course have to talk about the deserts on the cruise ship. They were always beautiful and you just had to try them… no matter how full you already were. Below are pictures of some of the deserts we experienced on the cruise. Again – note, these are not all mine 🙂
If I were to mention any favorite of the entire trip it would have to be the Japanese Noodles we had in Sydney, the chicken Alfredo in the Parmesan bowl, and the nachos at the pub in Christchurch.
This is why I have been on my treadmill almost every day since we have returned. Ha! 🙂
Do you have a favorite that you see here?
Book Journey 
I do love so many of the things I see…the chips remind me of my son’s experiences in London, and how he described the fish and chips…with malt vinegar. Did yours have malt vinegar?
And Creme Brulee…too delicious for words!
Thanks for making me drool here…oh, and I love nachos.
MMMM vinegar! No we did not have that but I would have loved to try it!
YUMMY on all.
My favorite is the chicken sandwich with avocado…looks delish. That three-layered cake with whipped cream icing looks delish too.
Thanks for sharing. I am glad I just had some breakfast. It is still making me hungry, though.
I loved the chicken and the avocado but the bread it was on was really hard so I ate everything off the top of it 😀 I have not had breakfast yet… that is next: egg whites and avocado I think 🙂
That sounds good. All the sandwich stuff sounds so good even without the bread.
Yummy on the egg whites and avocado. ENJOY!!
Is that cake ice cream or regular cake?
It is like a meringue, cake and ice cream type dessert. It was delicious but I had two bites and gave it to Al… so full! 😀
Looks so good. Pretty rich, but a few bites is all I could have handled too.
The food looks amazing! I can’t decide what looks better – the steak, the sandwiches, the nachos or the desserts. So tasty!
It was all a little too good 🙂
Wow!!! Everything looks awesome!! Those desserts are amazing. Love the look of your sandwich, which I assume is salmon.
Yes salmon. I wish I could remember what was on top. I usually take better notes but this vacation, I just wanted to enjoy fully with no extra “to do’s”
Oh, the FOOD is right! What a fabulous post! But, I have not even had breakfast yet, so I’m getting too hungry! I love how you arranged the food photos, especially the desserts. 🙂
Thanks… it took a while to prep this post and recall where we had the foods but it was a fun memory journey for me as well 🙂
What a dream trip! I would love to experience the pubs, scenery and all of it. I know you are having the time of your life!
We always seemed to be on a time limit. It would be nice to experience it without the rush 🙂
Wow, sounds amazing! An American who says the portions are large? What? Then they must be really large! 🙂 I’d love to go to Australia and New Zealand one day. Not just for the food, of course!
I thought they were big portions 😀
A favorite?! I want them ALL! lol Any time anyone goes on a cruise, I always hear about how amazing (and how much) the food is lol I’d love to try that sinful looking frattata! 🙂
It is a lot of food – I just enjoyed myself no limitations 😀 Now I am being good. 😀
Everything looks good (and I’ll eat french fries/chips anywhere), but the Japanese noodles sound most unusually delicious. glad you had such a great trip!
Thanks 😉
You should have had chips with vinegar-that is how we eat them in Canada-my husband laughs at me all the time. I like the lamington cake. I never once remember seeing that when I lived in Sydney. Sydney has amazing food. Great seafood too. Where did the cruise take you?
I think that the chips and vinegar sounds delicious! We cruised from Sydney to Ackland New Zealand. We stopped in Melbourne, Hobart, The Fiords, Dunedin, Akaroa, Taranga, and Aukland.
I have so enjoyed “living” your trip through your photos! I’m glad you had a good time!
Thanks, it has been fun arranging my pictures.
Man I LOVE cruise food! The whole unlimited thing is kind of hard on the waistline. Haha
Right? The girls I went with weighed in between 7 and 10 extra pounds. I was not as brave as them to check knocking that if I ate right would go away. 😀
A favorite? OMG you’re killin’ me! 😉 I would eat it all… at once, even… LOL Looks delish and now I am hungry. Thanks! 🙂
Perhaps posting all this food wasn’t the best idea. It made me hungry too 🙂
Oh I’m so glad you enjoyed our food- it is good, although it can be hard for tourists to find great things sometimes, wherever in the world you are. Sydney has great Asian food. I so want to go on a cruise, my DH doesn’t, although I think I might get him to go on one to NZ (he’s from there).
Its harder when you are with a group because you want to find something that everyone will like. We were not as adventurous as I would have been on my own 😀
I agree with you about experiencing food on your travels that you don’t normally eat at home. That is one of the great parts of traveling, I think. I love cruise food too. Luckily I am reading your post after my dinner, but it makes me want dessert!
LOL, I have not had desert since I came home. 😀 I am not really a big desert person anyway but the cruise ones were too amazing looking to pass up.
My goodness, what a trip!! Before we had kids, my husband and I used to cruise all the time. The food on those ships really is exceptional!! Can’t wait til my kiddos are older so we can cruise (and indulge!) again! Of all the things you posted, I think the Japanese cuisine made me feel the hungriest. 🙂
I love the Japanese noodles. When I go to New York for the book expo my favorite stop is the Thai restaurant a few blocks from our hotel.
All fabulous. Favorite could be the steak!
That was my hubby’s. I can really take steak or leave it. He loved it though 😉
I think it is hilarious that you talk about our portion sizes being huge because that is what everyone says about American food when they come back here! And yum, chips.
Maybe we just hit the right places…. lol 😀
YUM … I didn’t think I was hungry but I am now. I agree trying food you wouldn’t normally have at home is part of the whole travel experience, I love it! In UK they love their chips with vinegar but in Australia we tend to have them with gravy or aoli. We have some pretty awesome Japanese restaurants in Brisbane too … one of my favourite’s is teppenyaki. Now I want noodles 🙂
Wow! Everything looks delicious! A cruise is dangerous for the dieter! We’re planning a big trip to Rome in the fall and what I’ve been thinking most is how to find the best restaurants to try while we’re there.
Oh my goodness – how ever did you have the energy to move to do anything?!