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Hi everyone, I may be joining Aussie or Kiwiland soon for school. Despite a good amount of search, I was unable to locate info on a high-end supermarket there. It must exist but it's eluding me.
So, what is the Aussie/Kiwi equivalent of Whole Foods in the U.S. or Waitrose in the UK?
The two big supermarkets tend to tailor their offering to the local demographic. So, for example, at Bondi Junction the Coles has a sushi bar in it and would be closer in offering to M&S (albeit with far fewer house brands) than Waitrose. Whereas if you went out to the south west of Sydney you'd find the offering from Coles to be much more downmarket. The new Woolworths at Double Bay when it's built will be crazy, if the designs are to be believed.
Apart from that, Thomas Dux would be the closest "supermarket" to Whole Foods, but I tend to think of Thomas Dux has being a really big deli style store rather than a supermarket. There's a chain called Macro Foods, but that again tends to be large speciality format rather than full on supermarket.
Huckleberry Farms is probably the closest thing to Whole Foods in New Zealand, but on much smaller scale. Farro Fresh in the Auckland area is also pretty good, great for foodies, but it's not a cheap option.
I also think a lot of the fresh and freshly prepared food in many regular New Zealand supermarkets easily equals the food in Whole Foods. I'm talking about fresh dips and spreads, soups, noodles, salads, single-serve meals and so on. Great, fresh flavours, lots of variety, wide spread of influences.
Overall, food in New Zealand is great quality with good variety. Easy to find organic produce and decent gluten-free options.
Think they are mostly independent shops, rather than chains. A place the called the Sourced Grocer in Newstead Brisbane just won an award for the worlds best neighbourhood store, from a London Based publication. Even most people in Brisbane would have never heard of it.
The two big supermarkets tend to tailor their offering to the local demographic. So, for example, at Bondi Junction the Coles has a sushi bar in it and would be closer in offering to M&S (albeit with far fewer house brands) than Waitrose. Whereas if you went out to the south west of Sydney you'd find the offering from Coles to be much more downmarket. The new Woolworths at Double Bay when it's built will be crazy, if the designs are to be believed.
Apart from that, Thomas Dux would be the closest "supermarket" to Whole Foods, but I tend to think of Thomas Dux has being a really big deli style store rather than a supermarket. There's a chain called Macro Foods, but that again tends to be large speciality format rather than full on supermarket.
Yep, this is right. The later poster talking about individual gourmet stores is also right. In Australia there are also dedicated butchers and greengrocers and bakeries and fishmongers everywhere. If you end up in Adelaide the Central Market will blow your mind.
In general in Australia the quality of produce and of food in general is way way better than in the US (all milk is and lamb and most beef are pastured, bread is only considered saleable the day it was baked, you won't find mouldy produce in the supermarket, many people have or know people with chickens and lemon trees and tomato patches in their back yard, and there's less processed food with in general fewer additives because people still cook), so it hasn't spawned the backlash that created the demand for stores like Whole Paycheck. So you end up with three tiers of processed food, American normal food at the bottom, Australian food in the middle and American gourmet food at the top. Your average basket of processed food from Kroger or Stop and Shop or QFC is way crapper than your average basket from Coles or Woolies, which is crapper than a basket from Whole Foods. It may not be just the lack of backlash, but the stranglehold that Coles and Woolies have on the market, too.
But the produce in Whole Foods still sucks compared to Aussie produce. Meat's good, though.
I agree with WildColonialGirl's assessment. Americans (myself included) raise our eyebrows when shopping for food, but the quality is incomparable compared with the Standard American Grocery Trolley loaded with various combinations of white flour, corn flour, H.F. corn syrup, hydrogenated soybean oil, and "natural flavor" (MSG).
For the best quality stuff, I really miss the Queen St Farmer's Market in Brisbane. The produce was excellent and dirt cheap compared with my local IGA, probably spurred by the significant amount of competition. The German butcher had excellent sausages and meats, while the bakers had fresh breads, pastries, and treats.
I agree with WildColonialGirl's assessment. Americans (myself included) raise our eyebrows when shopping for food, but the quality is incomparable compared with the Standard American Grocery Trolley loaded with various combinations of white flour, corn flour, H.F. corn syrup, hydrogenated soybean oil, and "natural flavor" (MSG).
For the best quality stuff, I really miss the Queen St Farmer's Market in Brisbane. The produce was excellent and dirt cheap compared with my local IGA, probably spurred by the significant amount of competition. The German butcher had excellent sausages and meats, while the bakers had fresh breads, pastries, and treats.
Short answer: find a farmer's market.
Ick. Avoid!
Been frequenting a local farmers market and a tomato tastes like it did growing up (when we grew our own)
I think its a myth that produce in American grocery stores are sub par. I've never e3ncountered moldy food or bad produce. I found no difference with Coles/woolies and the standard US grocery. The rule for both countries is simple. Know the chain (and we have a lot more in the US) as quality varies. And within each chain, know the store. In my town we have 2 stores called Hannafords. The one I go to has a section of local produce that lists the name of the farm where the produce was grown. Its not hard to find good produce (beyond Whole Foods). I support a local market where all the meat is free range and no antibiotics, the veggies are all organic and everything is fresh (even my friend visiting from syd was impressed). I just got back from a quick shopping trip: freshly made chourizo, linguica, challah bread pudding local blue cheese and they cooked a fresh lobster for me (I can't stomach putting a live lobster in boiling water).
When I lived in Manhattan we had a large farmers market on Union Square and within 25 minutes of Manhattan I used to go to an actual farm in Northern NJ (!) where they literally grew the produce out back.
Been frequenting a local farmers market and a tomato tastes like it did growing up (when we grew our own)
nothing like fresh tomato eh? Last night I sauteed tomatos with fresh basil, garlic, broth, truffle salt, pepper and served on top of fresh angel hair. Simple is at times better.
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