Three Wellington restaurants named as top toastie finalists

Monday, 5 August 2024

The Crackle Belly Rosti Toastie from Small Batch in Petone has been named as one of the 14 finalists in the Great NZ Toastie Takeover competition.

Three greater Wellington eateries have made the finals for the best toasted sandwich in the country.

Small Batch Coffee in Petone, The Tasting Room in Wellington and The Offering in Greytown are among the 14 from around New Zealand in the running to win the Great NZ Toastie Takeover competition.

For restaurants to take part in the competition, they must create a toastie that has two pieces of bread and is able to be eaten by hand. It must contain cheese (or a vegan substitute) and pickles from McClure.

For Small Batch Coffee, it was the first time entering the competition.

Its Crackle Belly Rosti Tosti sandwich comes with free range pork belly, glazed with maple and pickle juice, and accompanied by a kumara rosti, apple chutney and whipped feta.

The Tasting Room is also a new entrant, with its Samun Melting Pot toastie making it to the finals.

The sandwich has chipotle pulled beef cheek inside, McClure’s sweet and spicy pickles, chimichurri salsa with cheddar cheese, on toasted sourdough with butter.

The Tasting Room general manager Andy Stone said the sandwich’s name came from the Arabic word for sourdough, as one of the the venue’s chefs was from Syria.

Another had worked in South America, which was where the chimichuri aspect came from. The restaurant went with the sweet and spicy pickles to pull the flavours together, he said.

The restaurant was thrilled to be one of the finalists, Stone said, as they had never entered the competition before.

“We're very excited to be one of the finalists, and to know our creation actually stood out in our first year of doing this.”

The Offering’s Beefy Melt toasted sandwich cames with slow cooked, house smoked beef, a four cheese blend, McClure’s Bread & Butter pickles, red onions, French mustard and house-made relish.

The sandwich costs $18.

The Offering in Greytown was previously named a finalist in 2022, for its toasted sandwich that comes with cheese, Parkvale mushrooms and pulled hot smoked rump beef.

This year, the restaurant submitted a Beefy Melt toasted sandwich.

It comes with slow cooked, house smoked beef, the restaurant’s four cheese blend, bread and butter pickles, red onion, French mustard and relish, placed on home made bread.

The Tasting Room (Wellington) (new entrant): Samun Melting Pot: Chipotle pulled beef cheek, McClure's Sweet & Spicy Pickles, chimichurri salsa and cheddar cheese, on butter toasted sourdough.

The Great NZ Toastie Takeover has this year featured 170 venues, with 38 of them located in the Wellington region.

The competition’s head judge, Kerry Tyack, said the entries were all top notch and it had been difficult to chose the finalists.

“The judging team has noted a much higher standard of bread being used in this year’s toasties, the inclusion of green ingredients such as mesclun salad and recognition, especially from the older hands, that getting the toasting right, particularly for fillings with high moisture content, is critical to mess free eating.

“Overall, another fantastic year for toastie lovers around the motu and the establishment of new benchmarks to challenge Kiwi toastie makers.”

The winner will be announced on August 21.