One of the upsides of Mount Maunganui’s transformation from bach-y getway into a kind of little Auckland complete with property price obsession is that there’s now a fine array of eateries – a far cry from what used to be there.

Anyway, just quickly, if you havn’t been to Astrolabe lately, a restaurant / bar that was one of the first to arrive on the scene and has been there ever since, go again. I had the Grilled Chicken Breast on Tomato Risotto, which was just fantastic. I never get chicken when I’m out ‘cos I have it at home so much, but this thing was so tender it fell apart from just looking at it. The Bruchetta to start was magic also, and my girl’s Eye Fillet was also the business. We also tried The Back Porch in the midway shops for breakfast on Sunday, which was very nice also.

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