Where to eat in NZ: tis the region to eat, drink and be merry

December is the month to take a more laissez-faire attitude to life. Especially when it comes to eating and drinking. Photo / 123rf

Everybody knows December is the month to let loose and take a more laissez-faire attitude to life. Especially when it comes to eating and drinking. Tis the season to loosen a few notches on the belt buckle and completely ignore that little white line on the wine glass. Fill her up.

With this in mind, we've compiled a full list of foodie indulgences for every type of chomper. Whether you're a fine diner, a parent looking for family-friendly fare or someone who likes to work up an appetite first, we've got suggestions to send your taste buds into a tizz.

Active indulgers

Food and walking tours

It's always a challenge to navigate yourself around a city for the first time. Especially if you're prone to FOMO and don't want to miss any of the best bits. That's where walking tours can be really helpful, and what could be better than one that takes you around all the best foodie spots. Get some exercise, taste some local treats, orientate yourself in a location and enjoy.

Click here to start your eating-meets-walking journey..

It's not hard to eat well across every NZ region. Photo / Carolyn Elliott

Child-approved food

Best family-friendly dining experiences around NZ

Any food lover who has travelled with fussy kids will know it's a special kind of agony being in a city with magnificent culinary options but dining somewhere deeply average because your little angels needed chicken nuggets. Don't despair, we've hunted out a few places around the country where everyone's a winner.

No more blackmail to get the sprogs eating their greens. Click here for a selection of family-friendly dining spots..

Food to satisfy the tiniest of family members, even those with a dominant sweet tooth. Photo / Supplied

Weekend gourmands

Foodie weekends in the Wairarapa

Wellingtonians with an appetite for local food culture are lucky to have the Wairarapa region on their doorstep. It pays to arrive hungry in such a gloriously gluttonous destination.

For the best things to eat on a foodie weekend in Wairarapa, read more here..

Culture vultures

Historic places to eat and drink

There are so many incredible places to eat in New Zealand. We are spoiled for choice with everything from multi-course high-end degustations to $10 bowls of hand-pulled noodles to fancy-pants French bakeries to good local Kiwi pub food. But some places have the added bonus of telling a tale, being a part of New Zealand's history by virtue of their location or age.

Some of New Zealand's finest places to eat and drink are served with a side dish of history. Read all about them here..

Go on, indulge. Is it really the festive season without a pavlova taking over the table. Photo / Fiona Goodall

Outdoor wildlings

Wild food foraging in Wellington

Getting a taste of what's local is something many of us increasingly prioritise when travelling. That might entail produce grown, raised, and fished from the region. Or in the case of several Wellington establishments I visited on a recent trip to the capital, it means things wild: from ingredients foraged in the town's green belt and other swathes of native bush, to micro-organisms lured in from the city's night air through flung-open windows.

Want to make the most of homegrown NZ produce? Read all about Anna King Shahab's forager's tour here..

Foraging for your own homegrown tucker isn't as hard as you might think. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Wine aficionados

NZ's most under-rated wine regions

New Zealand's several thousand vineyards are dotted about in pockets large and small, from the frosty south right up to the subtropical north. Where grapes grow, so does tourism, as many regions in New Zealand demonstrate so well: with wine comes good food, scenery, accommodation and myriad other activities.

Right now, without hordes of international visitors, is the perfect time to plan a trip to one of our less-obvious wine regions.

There's never been a better time to visit New Zealand's vast yet lesser-known vineyards. Click here to find out where they're hiding..

Discover New Zealand's most under-rated wine regions. Photo / Warren Buckland

Beer devotees

Where to find New Zealand's best craft beer bars

Visit the best pubs and taprooms in and around our biggest cities, from Auckland to Dunedin and everywhere in between, above, under and over.

Click here for the full intel..

Check alert level restrictions, vaccine requirements and Ministry of Health advice before travel. covid19.govt.nz