The North Island is home to the country’s tastiest toasted sandwich once again, with Mount Maunganui’s Freeport with Cleaver & Co taking top honours in the Great NZ Toastie Takeover 2023.

Talented young chef Brooke Moore has won the hotly contested title - and snagged bragging rights for the North for the second time only in the competition’s history - with her impressive creation Surf, Turf & Smoke, Monsieur!

Open to all New Zealand eateries, participants came from as far north as Kororāreka, to as far south as Invercargill, and ranged from sandwich specialists, to fine dining restaurants, breweries and food trucks, with a vegan fast food chain, a subterranean cocktail bar, Wellington Airport, the Bluebridge Cook Strait ferry and even a retirement village in the mix.