BYO (Potato)

There is sometimes a sign with BYO on it in restaurants in New Zealand. This means "bring your own" and refers to alcoholic drinks that you can bring from home and consume for a small fee. The background is that as a restaurant you need a special license to serve alcoholic drinks and not every restaurant has that.

But so that people can still drink their wine, there is BYO.

The travel companion noticed this at some point and then interpreted the regulation a little further...

When it comes to food, traveling with a travel companion is a bit difficult. On other trips there have been a few incidents with heated discussions with the waitress and later with the chef as to why this or that in a dish cannot be changed according to the wishes of the "customer" and why this has to cost an extra charge if instead Vegetables are served as a side dish with the rice.

And that brings us to the topic of rice. So Indian food is generally eaten by the travel companion. However, the side dish "rice" has always been a thorn in the side: "Too many empty carbohydrates!" Instead, potatoes would be a just acceptable filling side dish for your travel companion. But unfortunately, unfortunately Indians rarely have jacket potatoes or mashed potatoes. The reader already knows what is coming. That's exactly how we came up with the idea of cooking ahead of time for our planned visit to a restaurant and bringing the potatoes with us. So BYO potato.

This has two big advantages for those looking to save money. 1. One saver gets his potatoes and the other saver gets double the portion of rice, which is why you no longer need a starter or something similar and a restaurant visit of around 30 euros is completely eliminated. Because - and this is the best thing about New Zealand - there is FREE water with every meal. OK it's not Pelegriono mineral water but it's perfectly drinkable and you can have as much as you want. Every saver is happy that the costs for the drinks are eliminated.

But back to the potatoes in the Tupperware and the somewhat irritated Indian who was handed the can with the clear instructions “2 minutes for Mr. Bing” when ordering food. You have to know that “Mr. Bing” is the microwave. And actually, shortly before we got our food, there was a "bing" sound from the kitchen and the heated carbohydrates were served to me along with the main courses and the double portion of rice.