Ohingaiti
Rating: 1
Crumbed chicken burger
Curly fries
Mince & cheese pie
Flat Hills Cafe caters to the passing through crowd - cars travelling north from Palmy who are too hungry or lazy to wait for Taihape, families who need somewhere to stop for the kids to burn off some energy, and Intercity buses. Credit where credit is due, Flat Hills knows what it is and has provided. Heaps of parking for buses, motorhomes etc. A sizeable selection of cooked, cabinet, and readymade food (ice creams, chocolate bars etc). Accessible, plentiful and clean bathrooms. Fun stuff for children - animals to look at, a bouncy castle, swings, even a maze.
Unfortunately, the food just isn't that good. The highlight was the curly fries - oh my God there were so many big curlies. We've all been disappointed before when you buy a bowl of 'curly fries' that is actually a bowl of sad half moons with maybe one 520 degree curly. Not this bowl, it was mostly real curlies, an absolute delight. But it was downhill from there. The accompanying aioli was flavourless and had a little skin on the top like it had been pre-poured. The pie had good pastry on top, but not so good for the base and a distinct I've-been-in-this-warmer-for-some-time flavour and texture. The burger was sad. Not only did it not contain any onion rings as advertised, it was poorly constructed, had unwelcome surprise tomato and just didn't taste very good.