The Best Horse Takeaways on Thames Street covers both halves of New Zealand's takeaway heart: a Chinese and Asian kitchen turning out fried rice, soft fried noodles, sweet and sour, chop suey and chow mein, black bean sauce dishes, egg foo yong, curries on rice, satay and even Indonesian nasi goreng, alongside a proper fish-and-chip counter with battered hoki and snapper, paua fritters, hotdogs, burgers and deep-fried everything.
The shop's own top sellers tell the story — chips, pork sweet and sour, a half-dozen fried wontons, chicken nuggets, a hotdog and a golden potato fritter — a mix of wok classics and fried counter staples. Families are well catered for, with Dinner For Two through Dinner For Six specials pairing combination rice or fried rice with favourite dishes, and share Packs bundling fish, hotdogs, nuggets and chips for groups of any size.
Ordering runs through the website with secure payments by Visa, Mastercard or PayPal, for either pickup or delivery within Morrinsville 3300 (delivery fees apply, with a $40 minimum order). The kitchen serves until 10pm every night, opening at 1pm Wednesday through Sunday and 3pm on Mondays and Tuesdays.
On Thames Street in Morrinsville, The Best Horse Takeaways solves the eternal question of what to have for tea by refusing to choose. Its menu runs on two parallel tracks: a Chinese and Asian kitchen turning out fried rice, soft fried noodles, sweet and sour, chop suey and chow mein, black bean sauce dishes, egg foo yong, curries on rice and satay, and a proper Kiwi fish-and-chip counter with battered fish, potato fritters, hotdogs and burgers.
Both sides run deep. The deep-fried list alone stretches from hoki and snapper through squid rings, mussels, scallops, crab sticks, hashbrowns and spring rolls to pineapple fritters and donuts, with paua fritters holding their place as the counter's little luxury. The burger board covers eleven variations, from a plain hamburger through bacon-and-egg and steak-and-egg stacks to the fully loaded Special Burger.
Where the loyalties lie is no secret — the shop publishes its own top sellers, and they split neatly across both halves of the menu: chips, pork sweet and sour, a half-dozen fried wontons, six chicken nuggets, a hotdog and a golden potato fritter.
Beyond the best sellers, the Chinese side of the menu rewards a proper look. The Chinese Meal Specials carry the heavyweights: chicken or beef with ginger and onion, mushroom and oyster sauce, pineapple and veggies, or cashew nuts, with scallop and mixed seafood versions when the occasion calls for it. Satay comes in chicken, beef, pork, prawn and a combination seafood take, curries arrive ladled over rice, and the Indonesian section adds nasi goreng for something different.
The sweet and sour page runs the classics in every form — wonton, fish, pork, chicken and prawn — plus lemon chicken and honey chicken for those who like a crispy coating under a tangy or honeyed glaze. Noodle lovers choose between soft fried noodles in seven styles and chop suey or chow mein in as many, while egg foo yong, the Chinese-style omelette, comes in seven fillings.
Families are clearly front of mind here. The Family Specials do the planning for you: Dinner For Two pairs combination rice with chicken, pineapple and cashew nuts, while Dinner For Three, Four and Six build up to a spread of fried rice plus four or five favourite dishes — sweet and sour pork, beef in black bean sauce and seafood with mushroom and ginger onion among them.
On the fried side, the Packs list does the same maths in paper, bundling fish, hotdogs, sausages, crab sticks, nuggets, donuts and chips for everything from a solo burger-and-chips night to a six-fish, six-hotdog group feed. Pick a number, order once, and dinner is sorted without a single argument.
Ordering runs through the shop's website, with secure online payments accepted via Visa, Mastercard and PayPal, and both pickup and delivery to Morrinsville 3300 — delivery fees apply and there is a $40 minimum order, so it pays to gather the household's requests into one run. The kitchen fires up at 1pm from Wednesday through Sunday and at 3pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, and everything closes at 10pm nightly, making it one of the later options in town.
Dietary needs are flagged on the menu with markers for gluten free, vegetarian, sugar free and dairy free dishes.
That combination — a Chinese menu deep enough to order from for a month of Fridays and a fish-and-chip counter that never goes out of fashion, available until ten at night — is exactly why the takeaway box from The Best Horse keeps earning its place on the Thames Street run home.