Lamingtons

If you like coconut you’ll love this very Aussie food – the Lamington. A Lamington is basically a square of sponge cake covered in chocolate sauce or sometimes raspberry sauce and then covered in coconut. To begin with I avoided these because I thought they sounded disgusting, however they’re really nice with a cup of tea in the afternoon!

Tim Tams!

Any backpacker who has traveled through Australia will have tried Australias favourite chocolate biscuit… the Tim Tam. I ate my first Tim Tam after a sea kayaking tour and I loved it! If you eat one, it’s hard not to eat a second or third! I think you must become addicted.

From one of the sea kayak guys I heard that the best way to eat them is the Tim Tam slam: bite the diagonal corners off the Tim Tam and take a cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Use the Tim Tam as a straw and suck the drink through the biscuit. Then before it gets too soggy, and falls into your drink, you eat the soft, gooey (warm!) chocolatey goodness. MMM.

Meat Pies

Chicken parmigiana

Ok, I know this doesn’t sound particularly Australian, but this is one of the most common foods you’ll find in a Australian pub. Loads of pubs have a parma night where you can grab a decent priced chicken parma with a beer. A chicken parma is basically a chicken schnitzel (chicken in breadcrumbs), topped with a tasty tomato sauce with melted cheese on top.

Beetroot

 

“Bloody beetroot” is something I muttered often when travelling around Australia because I can’t stand it! Unfortunately for me Aussie’s put beetroot on their burgers and sandwiches, in salads and often just on the side of the plate. Yuck!

Golden Gaytime

Everyone in Australia loves a Golden Gaytime… But what is it? Golden Gaytime is an ice-cream made by Streets (with a suspiciously familiar logo). It’s toffee and vanilla ice-cream dipped in chocolate and then covered in biscuit pieces. There are also a few other flavours available including ‘Unicorn’ and ‘Pina Colada’. Go on treat yourself and a friend to one because as Streets themselves say “It’s hard to have a Gaytime on your own”.

Barramundi

You’ll be hard pushed to travel around Australia and not see Barramundi on the menu at least once. Barramundi is the Aboriginal name for this type of sea-bass found in Australia and the Indo-Pacific. Barramundi literally translates as “large-scaled silver fish”. You have to try this fish, it’s very popular for good reason – it’s delicious!

Kangaroo

While visitors usually take pictures of kangaroos bouncing around, the kangaroo is also a common meat to be found on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus. Kangaroo is lean red meat, it’s healthy and you can prepare it in many ways – steaks, burgers, sausages, and much more. I’ve tried kangaroo meat with a nice marinade and it was delicious! With a tasty marinade it is definitely recommended if you want to try it once.