Butter chicken bonanza: Curry tops with Kiwis post-lockdown

Butter chicken is a Kiwi fast food favourite. Photo / File

More than 1300 butter chickens from one restaurant in 89 days - Gissy, come on!

But it's not just East Coasters digging in to Kiwis' favourite curry since our collective forced five-week stay at home order ended.

Takeaway orders at Indian restaurants around the country have run hot since the level 4 lockdown ended late on April 27, with more than 40,000 curries ordered on food delivery platform Menulog. Kiwis ordered more than 160,000 curries via Menulog last year.

But Menulog figures also showed the top five most ordered dishes through Menulog since lockdown were all butter chicken, and the dish was the most favourite dish in Auckland, Christchurch and Tauranga.

At one Gisborne restaurant more than 1300 butter chickens had been sold in the past 89 days.

Restaurants now want Kiwis to take a chance and try something new.

"The day we reopened [after lockdown] was crazy for us, people clearly had a craving for curry, and butter chicken is always the best seller," Auckland's Bolliwood Xpress assistant manager Anjali Bisht said.

"But it's time people started to sample a broader range of Indian food. There is a huge range of curries and spices in Indian food so there's always new flavours to try, and if you want to take a small step into something new, we definitely recommend trying out a chicken tikka masala or a lamb rogan josh."

Post-lockdown orders showed Kiwis loved their takeaways, especially Indian food, Menulog NZ managing director Morten Belling said.

"We've always seen a strong demand for Indian cuisine and are pleased people are continuing to support their favourite restaurants."

And doing so legitimately, unlike a Melbourne man who breached the city's Covid-19 lockdown rules this month when he drove 32km to get his favourite butter chicken.

It was an expensive meal - the man was fined $1735 for driving to his favourite restaurant, rather than his closest.