Even Fish'n'Chips are Extraordinary
Although we stay in Franz Josef most times on our West Coast trips we went for dinner to Fox for a change. And we really hit the jackpot. The Plateau Café & Bar serves excellent food. We had Caesar Salad with smoked salmon and Beer Battered Fish'n'Chips as our mains, and were delighted.
In fact, the fish'n'chips were fabulous. So fabulous that I made the ultimate test and ordered the same meal at the Landing in Franz Josef the next day, so I could compare better. About the same price, they were soooo much better at the Fox Glacier restaurant which came out of the competition as a somehow unchallenged winner.
The super thin beer batter did not diminish the flavour of the blue cod, and the batter itself was crisp, and not a gram too much, just enough to wrap the fish, and not oil-soaked batter-mountains which make the fish look double size... And the it had no oily taste, just fabulous. The chips were homemade, thick chunky chips with the skin left on the potatoes, no oil taste here either. The side salad was crisp and nicely seasoned. Compared to that the salad in Franz looked tired.
The rest of the menu offered some very nice choices, the prices for mains ranging from NZ$ 15.50 to 30. The specials of the day were noted on a blackboard; soup, pasta and fish of the day change as well as do the desserts (NZ$ 9.50). Servicê was friendly. A very good overall experience. -
On another occasion I had had coffee and cake at one of the cafés in Fox, the Mountain Goat Café. This was also ok, and the interior of the café, located right at the intersection the State Highway and the road to Lake Matheson at the big central carpark, is very original, with its rustic furniture. Also nice outdoor seating area.
You can also find accommodation there. The café is part of the Fox Glacier Hotel.

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