Three years of South Island dominance have come to an end with the crowning of Rotorua’s Okere Falls Store’s chef Rich Johns as the winner of the 2022 Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover.
Johns scooped the hotly contested title with his ‘Get Smoked, Pickled + Toasted’ creation – house-smoked, beer-brined brisket, McClure’s Pickles, hop-salted mozzarella, smoked cheddar, watercress, and horseradish on Bread Asylum X Lumberjack Brewing spent grain sourdough.
Don’t forget the pickle brine sour cream and a beer gravy dipping bowl – all served up for a very reasonable $15.50.
It’s something of a labour of love to create New Zealand’s best toastie, as Johns said the smoking process means it takes more than 36 hours from raw ingredients to plate.
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“There’s a lot going on, a lot of flavours, every component offers something,” he said.
“It just kind of all works together.”
Johns, who has worked at the Okere Falls Store café for the past six years, entered the Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover last year and just missed out on making the finalist round.
It takes 36 hours to make what is officially New Zealand’s best toasted sandwich.
Undeterred, he returned for another attempt, proving that second time can also be the charm.
Johns was so determined to use brisket in his toasted sandwich entry, he convinced the café’s owner to purchase a smoker.
The brisket was brined in a house lager from local brewer Lumberjack Brewing, then spritzed with McClure’s pickle brine and smoked for 24 hours on site using a special rub.
A former wedding photographer with a deep passion for food and flavour, Johns switched careers when he decided photography took him away from his young family too often. He started working as a barista at Okere Falls Store, and after displaying an interest in menu development, moved to the kitchen, where he eventually became head chef.
MARK TAYLOR/Stuff
Okere Falls Store and Craft Beer Garden head chef Rich Johns said he was blown away to be named top of the toasties, and he’s already ‘scheming’ ideas for next year’s competition.
Johns said he’s thrilled to be crowned the country’s toasted sandwich champion.
“It’s still sinking in, but it’s a huge honour,” he said.
“It reinforces the love and care we put into the creations at Okere Falls – we get lots of compliments from our diners on the food.”
The previous three winners of the Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover were all from the South Island – Steve MacDougall from Mollies (Hotel d’Urville, Blenheim) in 2021, Romeo Dowling-Mitchell from Dunedin’s Hungry Hobos in 2020, and Joseph Walker from the Hokitika Sandwich Company in 2019.
The competition’s head judge, Kerry Tyack, said this year’s winner was highly innovative in using both the familiar and readily available.
“The Okere Falls Store is a craft beer café, and it was great to see they maxed out the influence of craft brewing.
“We also enjoyed the nod to wild food via the use of watercress, while using the pickles as a palate-cleansing element was inspired. Their juice lifted the sour cream to a pickle and dill inspired high.”
This fifth year of the popular competition saw more than 140,000 toasties served up to customers across the more than 180 eateries vying for the title.
The Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover competition criteria required sandwiches to be toasted between two slices of bread and able to be eaten by hand.
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Rotorua chef Rich Johns saw off competition from 180 entrants to be named Toastie Takeover Grand Winner for 2022.
The toasties also needed to contain cheese and McClure’s pickles, with all the other ingredients entirely up to the entrant’s imagination.
Thirteen finalists were selected from the 180 entries and were all judged on the same criteria, including presentation, effectiveness of preparation technique, eatability, taste, innovation, and originality.
Johns said he plans to enter next year’s competition but has abandoned his initial idea of re-entering this year’s award-winning creation.
He said he’s already “scheming things, a few little tricks” and in what could be a warning shot to his toastie rivals, is already thinking: “Maybe we could better it”.
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