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Thread ID: 114574	2010-12-08 22:56:00	Travel; Christchurch and border control	Nomad (952)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1160009	2010-12-09 04:21:00	Have a look here: www.menumania.co.nz This will give you most of the Chinese restaurants in ChCh. A couple of the links (e.g. Gingko, which specialises in Sichuan food) have access to menus you can download. If you are interested in any of them, ask and you may jog someone's memory of eating there.	John H (8)
1160010	2010-12-09 14:31:00	Some of your questions have already been answered. No restrictions on taking a empty water bottle through screening but you won't be allowed to take hot liquids on to the plane. You can take food on board and eat it there but if you intend to take it through customs at the other end, DECLARE it and if they don't like what you have, no big deal, fail to declare and it becomes a big deal. Airline food cannot be taken off the plane. Most airlines don't allow you to consume your own duty free or personal booze on there aircraft. Restrictions in Australia, same as NZ in regards to liquids, the restrictions vary between whether you are flying dosmetic or international or are flying dosmetic on a international service. Don't buy Duty Free booze here and try and carry it through Australian Customs and other Customs before your final international stop as you will most likely have it taken off you. But you could as a example buy booze in Chch or say Sydney DF and then transfer to Brisbane and onto Darwin and security won't bat a eye. Done it plenty of times. Buy your Duty Free Booze at your second to intl last stop or when you get to the end. Eg, Chch Sydney Singapore, buy in out going airside DF Sydney or in Singapore. Coming back into NZ, you won't have any issues with Duty Free booze when transferring between a international and dosmetic service unless your dosmetic portion is still part of a international service. NZ and Australian customs are not that hard. Usually quite pleasant to deal with. Declare if in doubt and there will be no hassles. Also entering Australia, have found it to my advantage to declare all food including chocolate or a packet of cookies, makes screening a lot quicker.	PinoyKiw (9675)
1160011	2010-12-09 22:32:00	PinoyKiwi, just a bit off topic question. I am from the group that find it awkward to dine alone. I have friends that I will be catching up but on days when they have work and family commitments I will be alone, and I don't want to eat cheseburgers. In a hotel restaurant how common are solo diners? For restaurants outside the hotel. If I am getting a nicer meal, like a 3 course style, how full is the restaurant? I read that some restaurants tend to cater solo diners with a separate procedure, like providing them a booth or at the bar, at the corner, or a view of the window or the live kitchen. They are also sometimes placed a few tables away from a large table if the restaurant is not full. Not top of the line but something that is nice and to enjoy with a glass. A entree, the main and the dessert. Thanks.	Nomad (952)
1160012	2010-12-09 22:46:00	I realise your question is referred to PinoyKiwi, but just a comment from me. Over the past 13 years, I have done a lot of internal travel on my own, and some overseas. IN NZ, I have never been treated differently as a solo diner. Generally I have been seated (in hotels, cafes, and restaurants) at a table set for two, and the waiter takes away the other setting. In hotels during the week, it is very common to see solitary diners in the restaurant, because they are often travelling alone on business. In Wellytown, where I was often staying in an hotel on my own, I settled down to a couple of 'restaurants' where I knew I would be welcomed, served quickly, and given good food. Both were Japanese, and one of them was a sushi train style cafe, where a solo diner was quite common and unremarked. Once a restaurant gets to recognise you as a regular, the service amps up quite a bit! If I ate at an a la carte restaurant where I knew I was going to have to wait for courses (most hotel restaurants) I took a book with me, and read at the table until the first course was served. I dislike sitting on my own waiting for food service, staring into space, and I found that a book was the way to go. One of the Wgtn Japanese restaurants I used to go to had a supply of magazines for people waiting for their food. Very often a restaurant will ask you where you would prefer to sit, if they are not too full - that way you get the choice to sit in a corner on your own with a view of the other diners, the kitchen, or outside.	John H (8)
1160013	2010-12-09 23:07:00	:thanks: Just got to brave it :)	Nomad (952)
1160014	2010-12-09 23:10:00	:thanks: Just got to brave it :) Nobody will take any notice of you. Unless you are a spunk!	John H (8)
1160015	2010-12-09 23:24:00	Nomad . John H has more or less covered it nicely . I am often alone when working through Australia, Singapore, KL, Bangkok, Manila, Japan, etc . I usually eat on the street in many places, eat the local food . But there are no hassles when eatting alone in a hotel or restaurant . If you dress smart casual, you could be any one of the hundreds of business people that travel each day . And they will usually ask you how many people or you ask ask for a table for 1 and they won't bat a eye . As John H has commented, they get to know you and you will often get a more personal service . I know what you are saying in regards to eatting alone, walking into a strange restaurant with a strange language . Take a deep breath, walk in, enjoy the experience . If restaurant eatting alone *stresses* you, eat on the street, often the food will be ready to go, you can eat with the locals or head back to your hotel room .	PinoyKiw (9675)
1160016	2010-12-09 23:51:00	:thanks: Local food is good but now and then like a sit down meal with a neatly presented dessert . Chlli crab and chicken and rice :D Might get that on my layover at SG airport, I miss the last free tour bus but I get the last normal tourist bus out for a feed before returning back to the transit hotel .	Nomad (952)
1160017	2010-12-10 00:00:00	:thanks: Local food is good but now and then like a sit down meal with a neatly presented dessert . Chlli crab and chicken and rice :D Couldn't agree with you more . Though I usually eat outside, it is nice to have a restuarant meal sometimes .	PinoyKiw (9675)
1160018	2011-01-06 08:13:00	I am back home so I give my feedback. 1st I don't know why people including mine who like Foo San then moved to Auckland likes the places that me and Bob likes. Foo San went on holiday a bit later this time so we had an opportunity to try them out. Very dissapointing. Egg tarts were not hot. They opened 10.30am and we went in at 11am were the first customers, other customers like 3 tables arrive just moments afterwe did. Egg tarts were like stored on the shelf (covered) and reheated on the day we arrived. It was also the wrong pastry, they used shortbread pastry. Coming from Wellington, which is not as good as Auckland we are used to seeing flakey pastry and that they come straight out of the oven. They are supposed to be 3 tarts a dish, there was 2. The black bean cured (?) buns. They are supposed to have a pink dot on the top, their's didn't. It was oval not round and the dough split on 2 of the 3 which you could see the filling :p The rice pastry things with meat in it, just pork and prawns, no beef, maybe cos they couldn't make that it's much harder. The pastry wasn't soft and delicate, it was like you could almost taste the dough and a very light sandpaper finish, so there was a bit of friction. The dimsums and dumpings were larger but similarly they didn't have the delicate texture, the pastry or dough was doughy and the meat inside was on the tough side and firm side. It was like the pastry broke apart but the meat was like a ping pong ball you had to take care to dig with your chopsitcks :D Mum didn't want to try others. For dindin with feedback of friends, we chose to get food they had to cook up like the more stirfrys or hot plates. Lin's was decent (across from Crown Plaza Hotel) and Red Bowl was a tad less but still decent (Riccarton). Mum did order Hark-kai salty chicken. Hark-kai is a place. Wasn't v good at all, maybe stick to food they had to cook on the spot haha. The others were ok. Red Bowl was slow to come out, we sat for 30mins before the first food arrived. All places we found were quite casaul, people were wearing sneakers, jeans, trackpants and even sweatshirts. I was told that Lin's was quite upmarket but we found the prices down to the same dollar vs Red Bowl unless they upped the prices. Q'town didn't try dimsums given the experience 2yr ago. Following the experience we only chose food they had to cook up on the day. So all I can say is that Lakeside restaurant next to Unichem Pharmacy was alright but on the pricey side, and the thing is you buy rice from Chch they give you a bowl of rice right you can can scoop yourself, Qtown gave you each a small bowl of rice and if you want more, it's extra cost, :D $2 for a small bowl. The size of maybe a meat pie but just rice and water :p Doesn't Chch have a place that they roast the meats fresh daily and when the customer wants they chop it :confused: The other places we haven't tried that others said are ok are Usher, Joyful; and Lin's for yum char. We found that AKL was better than Wellington. If you know where to go. They can be fresh even roasts and things like that, they can also be organic, free range, not freezed or even blue cod that was fresh (alive and swimming) just prior to your ordering. They also have the store's signature dish.	Nomad (952)
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