Honey butter heaven - half a kilogram of hot chips from Auckland restaurant, Pocha. Photo / Alex Burton
Chips are no longer as cheap as chips.
We didn’t want to write that sentence but a survey of 100-plus Auckland restaurant menus has revealed an unpalatable truth: If you’re looking for a bowl of fries under $10, that chip has sailed.
The new normal is $12, with some dockets tipping $15. And, while we found two restaurants that charged just $7, the most expensive order was an eye-watering $21. Even more shocking - nearly 40 per cent of the city’s Viva Top 50 restaurant menus didn’t list chips at all.
Last week, one kilogram of white, washed potatoes cost $3.99 at Pak’nSave and $4.99 at Countdown. The average scoop of chips weighs 300 grams. What’s with these tuber mark-ups? Why are fries spuddenly so expensive?
According to one commen-tater: “They’re probably testing the upper limit of what’s acceptable.” Meanwhile, another reliable sauce fears $12 chips may be just the thin end of the wedge, with restaurants reporting a 30 per cent rise in costs and ongoing staff shortages.
More puns later. First, some background on how we figured out where the hot chips fell.
Our inaugural Hot Chip Index began with an in-depth look at the restaurants that made the just-released Viva Top 50 list. A search of online menus (as posted at the end of November) showed the very cheapest chips from that premium list were at Cotto, where fries are brined and fermented for three days before being served at a snack-sized $7. From there, it’s a leap to $12 (Beau, Engine Room, Hotel Ponsonby, The Lodge Bar, Satya Chai Lounge) - and a giant leap to a $21 bowl of honey butter chips at Pocha.
Did the Top 50 reviewers simply have expensive taste? Could the Herald on Sunday find truffled fries on a tomato-sauced budget? We broadened our search to include sit-down menus at gastropubs, suburban family favourites, Waiheke wineries, city rooftop bars, and into Auckland’s hinterlands. We discounted the likes of patatas bravas, but allowed potato skins. Where places had multiple price-points - chips on the side, or chips as a standalone - we tended to opt for the latter.
While every effort was made to provide accurate information, menus change frequently. This was not a scientific study and we could not survey every restaurant in town. We did not eat a single free fry, but we can confirm Auckland is awash with aioli, that agria is the spud of preference and that if you want a really, really cheap chip, you better get to Swashbucklers fast.
The $7 bowl at the waterfront bar and restaurant known locally as “Swashies” was, outside a couple of RSA restaurant listings, easily the best value two-person serve in the city. Owner and manager Paul Smit confirmed his chips have been cheap “since Adam was a boy”, and said one serve was definitely big enough to share.
“We’re famous for our portion size. It’s been the same for 25 years and we’d probably get shot if we changed that. If you order pan-fried fish here, you get three decent fillets. Somewhere else, you might get a little piece of fish on the side, and that’s it. We buy well. We are what we are, simple as that.”
How popular are Swashies chips?
“We call them man salads,” says Smit. “They’re a big seller - everyone’s partial to a chip. If you put down a bowl of chips, you can guarantee three or four hands are going to go out to get a chip before they taste anything else.”
Smit says while there’s still some truth in the expression “cheap as chips”, costs are biting and the hospitality wage spiral is impacting. Customers should prepare to pay a little more for their hot chip fix.
“They won’t go up before Christmas. But they will go up for sure.”
In total, the Herald on Sunday surveyed sit-down menus from 105 restaurants, bars and pubs. Of the 67 that listed a standalone serve of fries (curly, wedged or otherwise chip-adjacent) around two-thirds charged $12 or more - and 16.5 per cent were priced at $15-plus.
What does a $21 bowl of fries look like?
The Viva Top 50 judges described Pocha as “the late-night kitchen we deserve, serving delicious, shareable Korean food to a grateful city audience”. Co-owner Mike Shin says while the restaurant’s $21 honey butter chips “may seem like plain fries tossed and coated with a honey seasoning” there is a lot more to this dish. Literally.
“We are confident our 500-gram portion is significantly larger than most of, if not all, the restaurants on the Top 50 list. It could be more of a ‘main dish’ rather than a side dish.”
Shin says Pocha buys in some of the highest-quality fries on the market. They’re deep-fried and then heat-glazed with natural liquid honey, adding another 10-15 minutes to the cooking time.
More “high-cost” ingredients will ultimately create what Shin describes as “the famous Korea honey butter flavour” - a taste profile so popular that, when it was first released as a packaged potato crisp, it led to national shortages and online auctions where bidders paid almost 50 times the original price.
Back in Auckland: “Customer feedback on this particular dish, including the value for money aspect of it, has been nothing but great,” says Shin. “Honey butter fries has always been one of the best-selling dishes.”
Last year, New Zealand’s potato growers harvested 456,072 metric tonnes of spud, split across four categories - seed (1 per cent), table (26 per cent), crisps (23 per cent) and frozen/fries (49 per cent). The food services sector is the industry’s largest customer and Chris Claridge, Potatoes NZ chief executive, says a bowl of fries is a useful economic metric.
“Why are they so expensive? Are growers suddenly driving Porsches? It’s a whole number of factors. Food is more expensive worldwide, energy costs have gone up, nitrogen costs have gone up, fertilisers, chemical, labour ... The availability of land is tough, regulatory compliance has gone up. This comes at a cost.”
Growers, he confirms, “are not suddenly driving Porsches ... they are not making more money, they are barely breaking even and they are questioning why they are doing this”.
Claridge, who frequently travels the country for work, says he’s personally noticed rising restaurant costs in New Zealand’s largest city - mains over $40 and breakfasts that receive his daily allowance. And a $15-plus bowl of fries?
“That is an Auckland price. Out in the provinces it has lifted too, but not anywhere near Auckland prices.”
He says restaurants can put a reasonable margin on fries, and they know customers will order them.
“They’re probably testing the upper limit of what’s acceptable ... but what you’re seeing on the plate is a whole load of factors coming into play.”
Auckland chef Sid Sahrawat knows exactly why the fries at Kol, his new Ponsonby bar and eatery, are $15 a serve.
“Inflation has a big part to play, but these are also done from scratch. They’re not frozen chips which are mass-produced and readily available. It’s the labour which goes into everything, whether it’s making spice, or doing the actual potatoes every day. Everything done from scratch just costs a little bit more than something that’s done for you in a machine.”
Kol’s Vindaloo fries are big sellers. The dish, developed by co-head chef Vicky Shah, uses agria potatoes and includes smoked paprika, chilli powder, garam masala and vinegar powder.
“Vicki did a pop-up menu a few months ago and the fries were one of the dishes. People loved them and when we were developing the menu for Kol, we thought they’d be a nice thing to have with a cocktail or a drink,” says Sahrawat, a chef more known for fine dining-style food.
“It makes me smile even now when I call the orders - ‘vindaloo fries, please’!”
AUCKLAND PRICES WITH YOUR FRIES? A round-up of 67 chip-serving eateries
Under $10
Swashbucklers, Westhaven - chips, $7
Cotto*, city - fermented fries, feta, oregano, $7
Lone Star Manukau, Manukau - straight cut or buffalo chips, $9
Northcote Tavern, Northcote - thick cut fries with aioli, $9
The Grounds, Henderson - fries with tomato sauce, $9
DeBrett’s Kitchen, city - pomme frites, house cut, truffle aioli, $9.50
Red Earth Bistro & Wine Bar, Papakura - fries with satay aioli, $9.50
$10-$11
Ralph’s, Mt Eden - straight fries, $10
Deco Eatery, Titirangi - straight cut or curly fries, $10
Puhoi Pub, Puhoi - basket of fries with aioli, $10
Schapiro’s Sports Bar, Eden Tce - seasoned fries, aioli, $10
The Bavarian, Newmarket - fries with ketchup, $10
The Bridgman, Mt Eden - chunky fries, smoked habanero mayo, $10
The Cav, Freeman’s Bay - fries, $10.95
The Flying Moa, Mt Wellington - shoestring fries with aioli, $10
The Zookeeper’s Son, Royal Oak - fries with aioli, $10
Tuitui, Auckland Museum - hot chips, aioli, tomato sauce - $10
Wu & You, Mt Eden - shoestring fries, $10
Federal Delicatessen, city - Makikihi beef fat fries, $10.50
$11-$12
Elevation Brasserie, Waiatarua - hand cut chips, tomato sauce, egg-free aioli, $11
Hallertau Clevedon, Clevedon - Makikihi skin on fries with smoked aioli, $11
Moxie Restaurant, Birkenhead - steak fries, mayo, furikake, $11
Lord Kitchener, Sandringham - curly fries, vindaloo mayo, $11
The Landing, Riverhead Tavern - shoestring or beer battered fries, $11
Galbraith’s Alehouse, Eden Tce - plain frites, $11.90
$12-$13 (*denotes a Viva Top 50 restaurant)
Beau*, Ponsonby - fries & Marie Rose mayo, $12
Engine Room*, Northcote Pt - shoestring fries and aioli, $12
Gusto at The Grand, city - Bar fries and tomato sauce, $12
Hotel Ponsonby*, St Mary’s Bay - shoestring fries, $12
Jervois Steakhouse, Herne Bay - steak fries and aioli, $12
Kingsland Social, Kingsland - parmesan fries, $12
Man O’ War, Waiheke - fries with tomato sauce, $12
Onemata, city - Makikihi fries, parmesan, truffle salt, $12
Origine, city - frites, (Makikihi French fries), $12
Oyster Inn, Waiheke - shoestring fries, $12
Palmer Bar & Restaurant, city - salt & vinegar fries, black garlic mayonnaise, $12
Passage Rock, Waiheke - fries with aioli, $12
Poni*, city - fries, truffle oil, parmesan, smoked aioli, $12
The Churchill, city - French fries with rosemary maldon salt, aioli, $12
The Empire, city - beer battered, chunky, shoestring or wedges, $12
The Heke Kitchen, Waiheke - shoestring fries, rosemary, flaky salt, $12
The Lodge Bar*, city - fries, spicy ketchup, blue cheese aioli, $12
The Verandah, Cable Bay, Waiheke - fries, $12
Sails Restaurant, St Mary’s Bay - skinny fries, truffle oil, parmesan, $12
Satya Chai Lounge*, city - masala fries, $12
Sunset Bar, city - masala waffle fries, grated parmesan, tomato kasundi, $12
Wild Estate, Waiheke, fries with aioli, $12
Wynyard Pavilion, city - fries with aioli, tomato sauce, $12
Dr Rudi’s Rooftop Brewing Co, city - chips with aioli, $12.50
Saint Alice, city - fries with truffle mayonnaise, $12.50
$13-$14
La Zeppa, city - shoestring fries, parmesan, aioli, $13
Depot*, city - potato skins with manchego, truffle oil, $13.50
$14-$15
Bar Celeste*, city - garlic French fries, creme fraiche, $14
Brothers Juke Joint, various - hand cut agria, beer-brined, twice-cooked, aioli, $14
Siso, Remuera - herb potato fries, parmesan, truffle, $14
Soul Bar & Bistro*, city - skinny fries, $14
The Brit Pub & Eatery, city - parmesan and truffle shoestring fries, $14
$15+
Bivacco, city - hand cut fries, parmesan, black pepper, $15
Daphne’s Taverna, Ponsonby - homemade fries, mayonnaise, pecorino, $15
Faraday’s Bar, Parnell - French fries with truffle creme, $15
Ki Māha, Waiheke - pomme frites, truffle salt, aioli, $15
Kol, Ponsonby - vindaloo fries and aioli, $15
Mudbrick, Waiheke - fries, garlic aioli, $15
Non Solo Pizza, Parnell - truffle fries, parmesan parsley and aioli, $15
Onslow*, city - agria potato puree crispy potato skins, $15
Tantalus Estate, Waiheke - truffle fries, creme fraiche, parmesan, $16.5
Lokanta, Grey Lynn - hand cut chips with feta, tomato, fresh herb, olive salsa, $17 (home chips $12)
Pocha*, city - honey butter chips, $21
THE REST OF THE POTATO-SERVING BEST: The Viva Top 50 restaurants taking the humble spud beyond a bowl of chips
Ada - agria potatoes, hazelnut butter, whipped feta, $22
Ahi - Rewi’s agria potatoes, mushroom ketchup, $14
Amano - red rascal potatoes, mint butter, $12
Candela - patatas bravas, $12
Cassia - potato, chickpea, mint pani puri, $4ea
Cazador - crispy potatoes, fennel mayonnaise, $12
Esther - duck fat agria potatoes, rosemary, garlic, $18
Hugo’s - confit potatoes, $15
Kingi - potato and wakame rosti, $13
Milenta - charred potato, green olives, asparagus, aioli, $16
MoVida - patatas bravas, $14
Mr Morris - agria, black olive, parmesan, $17
Ockhee - potato jeon fritter, pickled onion sauce, $24
Ooh-Fa - potato, mozzarella, parmigiano pizza, $21
Prego - roasted potatoes, garlic, rosemary, 15
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