Smokey Joe's is a neighbourhood lunchbar — the classic Kiwi corner takeaway — at 16 Bennett Street in Cloverlea, Palmerston North, and it holds a 4.6 Google rating. Lunchbars are a fixture of New Zealand suburbs, and the good ones live by their fryer: clean, hot oil and food cooked to order rather than left sitting in a warmer. Menus are usually short by design — fish and chips, burgers, pies, hot dogs — so the smart move is to ask what the house does best and order that. Midday is the rush, which is why regulars ring ahead or arrive just before the tradies do; a busy counter at noon is the surest sign you have found the right shop. In suburban Cloverlea, a short drive from central Palmerston North, Smokey Joe's looks to be just that kind of corner shop, and its 4.6 rating suggests locals agree.