We were on our way home after one full day of touring around all the very interesting places outside of Auckland but on the way, we stopped by this place…
– one of the many around. It used to be called Food Town, I was told and according to this newspaper report, the biggest one is at 17-25 Victoria St West, just across Queen St from the Whitcoulls Corner, with its customer entrance beside Brookfields House and that particular one was the largest supermarket in the city.
Well, Christmas was round the corner, so there were all the Christmas delights all around…
– the traditional mince pies…
….the fruit cakes and puddings…
…and there were ready-made pavlovas too…
…as well as the regular cakes and lamingtons, should anyone prefer those…
I checked the prices of SPAM there…
…and at NZ$5.69, multiply that by 2.5, give and take a little, that will be around RM14.20 which is, in fact, around the same as what we pay at a supermarket here.
I saw this Malaysian restaurant next door…
…and as the name implies, it would be a place of Malaysians who miss our mouth-watering local fare…but no, I was not missing anything at the time, not at all. Hehehehehe!!!!
Back in the house, we had these beautiful dish of scampi for dinner…
…and my friend cooked this very nice risotto served with scallops…
…and so it came to pass that smallkucing‘s aunt, his father’s sister who is currently living and working in Auckland, wanted to drop by to see me that night so she graciously accepted my friend’s invitation to join us for dinner and she brought along with her this very nice salad dish with smoked salmon added…
…and just look at what she brought for me to take home!!!
Oooo….I loved those Macadamia Brittles! First time trying, and I really liked it!
Gosh!!! People are all so kind and generous to me that it makes me feel bad that there is no way I can reciprocate. Sigh!!! Thanks so much, nonetheless, my friend – sure am glad to have made the acquaintance and hopefully, the feeling was mutual. Cheers!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Shereen is a very talanted cook. Love her food presentation skills too. How blessed you are to have a friend like her.
I am indeed! Very very blessed! Where to find a friend like her…
WOW! Those scampi look awesome! Yummeh!
Tasted awesome too… 😉
give some take some… but someone so so sombong rejected my invitation to THE DINNER… **main biola lagu lama lagi** nice looking salad…
You last minute cancel plan to come…nasib Mandy came to take us out for dinner or we would have starved to death!!! LOL!!! 😀
wow .. I love to risotto..
and it really looks very delicious… and the big fat scallops..
who is this shereen? maybe one day can cook for me to eat ka?
My very very very very dear friend… See, the perks of blogging! Can get to make friends with such wonderfully awesome people! Hehehehehehe!!!!!
All Shereen’s homecooked looks so wonderful and salivating. Small Kuching’s aunt is so generous and nice. Did you buy any Chrismas delight back to Sibu?
Buy? Humph!!! Come back tomorrow…or midnight tonight to see my blogpost.
Can I have all the desserts please?? and and and the risotto looks so so so so nice !!
All nice. Missing all the great food we had during our stay there… 😦
So many choices of Christmas delight. The scampi and risotto looks great. Thumbs Up for Shereen, the talented cook. Salad dish, very eye catching. So colourful.
With friends like her around, sure will not worry about being hungry one. Eat…eat…eat…non-stop!!! 🙂
OMG!! look at all those christmas delights, i would have sapu them all (if i am very rich lah, haha).. but cannot beat Shereen’s cooking lah, she so professional, thought those are restaurant dishes if you didn’t mention home cooking~~ 😀
She memang ada style, ada class one… Compare my kampung cooking, so memalukan…. 😦 Ummm…you not rich kah? 😉
Wow, Shereen’s risotto looks like it was served at a restaurant, beautiful plating! And hmmm…my cousin’s pomegranate salad looks really good. Must ask her for recipe 🙂 And those goodies she gave you, goodness me, I would love to have them too. Must go and hassle her now 🙂
Oh??? She’s your cousin??? I didn’t know that??? Small world, indeed!!! Ya…I loved the way Shereen presented all the things she cooked…and her crockery, all high class one – don’t play-play! Not like mine – Darlie or Sunlight give free one…. Muahahahahaha!!!!! NCAA (No class at all!!!) 😉
OOhh…so much to buy at COUNTDOWN. Something like our Giant here. SPAM i bought here is RM13.90. hehehhehehe
Cheaper, eh? Made in Oz, NZ or US…or where?
The risotto loooks very good!
It was. Home-cooked, simply the best.
You are so blessed to have friends around the world! Eh, really din miss sambal and nasi lemak while u were there?
I am. No lah, too busy having fun and enjoying all they have there to miss – I do believe that if we go somewhere and we want to eat what we have at home, we might as well don’t go – stay at home better. Anyway, if I had wanted those, sure Shereen can cook for me one – she has everything! Malacca nyonya, don’t play-play!!!
Wow top marks goes to Shereen for the food presentation skills! So glad you had a great time there. 🙂 Countdown…….. to when the wallet is emptied? lol
No, the Fieldens would not let me pay for anything!!! I took all my NZ currency there…and took it all back with me! They even would not accept the little ang pao my missus gave to the son… 😦
You are blessed! ……. and I’m sure very “paiseh” too. 🙂
VERY!!! But most, if not all, would not let me pick up the tab whenever we went out to eat…unless I sneakingly went to do so and then I would have to face the music… Maybe they feel that my pension is so little, I shouldn’t be the one to foot the bill but it isn’t so bad here – not so often and not so much and not so expensive like in NZ. Really, really shy… 😦
So much good food…!!! *drooling* You are so so blessed Arthur..even Small Cat’s auntie is in the picture!! hahaha… you are really some ICON… envy you so much!
So the SPAM is not cheap there.. Sg is still selling around $3.90 (if sale), no sale around $5sg…
Ya, SPAM is cheapest in Singapore…dunno why. I am, very very blessed, I know. I must have done something good in my previous life to deserve all this… 🙂
i have never had risotto before i’m so suagu
STP your photos look really vivid and tempting 😀
I had it here before: https://suituapui.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/by-the-river/…and once I cooked something, did not turn out right…everyone said it looked like risotto. Hehehehehehe!!!!
It ngor it chap, chap ngor ji chap counting on you hahaha *translation* 1..5..1..10, 15..20 hahaha.
What are you counting?
Bro how to catch up with you, 2 entires within a day. Bananaz can only post 2 per month
Even with 2 per day, the NZ posts will go on till past mid-January… Imagine if I were to have one per day.
The risotto looks good… and yes, the SPAM is almost the same price here…
It was good. Masterchef at work! LOL!!! 😀
This is such a hungry post Arthur! My saliva glands working super hard!
I love macadamia brittles too! Yummy and terribly fattening. Hehehehe
Yes, first time eating. Love them!!! Would wanna buy more next time…small and light, easy to carry some more.
Wah! Such delicious food on the table! The host can cook lovely meal and is also very generous~
She is. Such a gracious host and a generous friend…and a great cook too!!! 🙂
Woolie, the fresh food people.
Woolsworth? That’s Ozzie… Don’t think they have that here – just Countdown, New World, Pak N Save…the ones that I know.
The logo is Woolie. In Melbourne, it trades as Safeway.
I see. They took over Foodtown? Used to be called that.
Alamak! So segan la I read all the comments here.. Hehehe. I’m just okay at cooking and I’m very sure others can do better than me. Anyway, bila-kala you sempat to go and snap all those pictures tu? Bukan main pantas you!!! You know, I did not get to try small Kuching’s aunt’s smoked salmon salad!!!.. Ceh! So rugi!!!
Those SPAM prices is not the price I pay ler. Wait for the sales, which is almost every other week and I’ll stock up. Don’t sakit hati, okay 🙂
That’s the best thing to do – Melissa did that too when she was in Welly. Otherwise, everything’s too expensive…so she would wait for the offers. Hmmm…jangan malu-malu kucing lah! Presentation already win hands down. You did not get to eat the salad? Can invite her to dinner again… Hehehehehe!!!! I think you did not eat the scampi either – I removed the shell of two specially for you but Justyn threw them away, so sayang. LOL!!! 😀
The scampi you peel for me, I ate.. Simon suap me when I was cooking. Thank you for thinking of me.. So sweet of u:)
Ah!!! He did? That’s good! Ya, I am…am I not? Hehehehehe!!!! 😉
waiyo!! so lucky you!! i’m salivating! what’s that Spam 75?
No idea. Looks like the 75th Anniversary special… Ya, I am indeed so very lucky… Come & see the next post – you will not believe your eyes!
easy la…courier her some kampua noodle :p
She likes? Has she tried before? Tak kenal maka tak cinta…
Wah wah wah, so much food! Some looks new to me~
In my case, first time seeing lamingtons… Quite familiar with the rest.
those fruit cakes seems the best!!
i was full by now but those makes me hungry
Sure can’t beat own home-baked ones. My friend gave me a loaf she made – saving for Chinese New Year…
i must say though im not a leafy eater i think that salad looks prefect and scrumptious too
It was good.
I love this post! 🙂
Countdown used to be a favorite haunt for me. I love grocery shopping and when I was in Christchurch, there was a Countdown about 10 minutes walk away which is open 24 hours. It’s good to go in the wee hours of the night and just explore.
This gave me a lot of good nostalgic. Cheers buddy!
A walk down memory lane, eh? They had Countdown already then? I don’t recall seeing them when I was in Auckland in 2005 – I think they were still called Foodtown then.
Finally managed to come online today. It’s such a pity that Foodtown had a new owner, who decided to change the name. I mean, it’s been called that way for so, so long.
Used to love this grocery store, until I met Woolworths. (Something like our Cold Storage.)
But glad to see that you had fun exploring Auckland and its neighboring states, STP. =D
States? I think there suburb towns…or districts rather. Woolsworth in Oz, you mean? Don’t think they have that here – Countdown’s all over the place in Auckland so I guess it is the most convenient but there are a lot of other big supermarts there too such as New World or Pak N Save, and some classier ones as well. I think I like Pak N Save…the one at Botany.
Been away from Auckland for far too long now. >.< Nope, I really meant in NZ. I believe it was once called Woolworths, and I used to shop in their branch at LynnMall.
Ah, Pak N' Save. That's another great grocery store too and yup, I think the one in Botany is pretty cool too.
Yup, just googled. Seems they do have Woolies in NZ but I did not get to see it when I was there…and no wonder – wiki says: “A single outlet still operates at Mount Maunganui’s Bayfair Shopping Centre and will not be rebranded to Countdown.”