Welcome Bay Takeaways is the neighbourhood fish and chip shop at 252 Welcome Bay Road in Tauranga's Welcome Bay, doing the Kiwi classics properly: fresh fish in crisp batter — tarakihi, snapper and hoki — generous scoops of chips, hot dogs, crab sticks and a burger board that runs from ham and egg up to The Boss Burger. Its listing holds a 4.3 rating, and the top sellers read like a Friday-night order: chips, fresh tarakihi, nuggets, hot dogs, hoki and donuts.
The surprise is the second menu. Alongside the fryer classics sits a full Chinese takeaway kitchen: chow mein and chop suey in eight protein options, fried rice every way, curry dishes, sweet & sour, lemon chicken and fish, satay served with vegetables, black bean sauce dishes, egg fu yong, wonton and sweet corn soups, plus hot dishes like Singapore chow mein, nasi goreng and ginger chicken.
It is built for easy family dinners — family specials bundle fish, potato fritters, sausages and chips, while Chinese combos for two to four people pair chop suey, sweet & sour pork, fried rice or chow mein with wontons. Orders go through the website for pickup, with secure Visa, Mastercard or PayPal payment, and the menu flags gluten-free, vegetarian, sugar-free and dairy-free items.
On Welcome Bay Road in Tauranga, Welcome Bay Takeaways does what a good New Zealand takeaway should do — it fries fish to order, loads the paper with chips, and keeps the menu stacked with hot dogs, crab sticks and donuts. The listing holds a 4.3 rating, and the top sellers tell you exactly what the regulars order: chips, fresh tarakihi, nuggets, hot dogs, hoki and donuts.
But there is a second menu here, and it is the reason some customers drive across the suburb. Behind the familiar fryer line-up sits one of the fuller Chinese takeaway menus you will find in a Bay of Plenty fish and chip shop — chow mein and chop suey in eight variations, fried rice, curries, satay, black bean dishes, egg fu yong, sweet and sour, soups and noodles, all cooked to order from the same counter.
Fresh fish is the anchor. Tarakihi (fresh) sits at the top of the best-seller list, hoki is the everyday classic, snapper comes through as fresh catch, and there is a smaller kids' fish portion for little orders. Around the fish, the deep-fried list reads like a Friday-night roll call: hot dogs, battered sausages, fish cakes, spring rolls and curry rolls, crab sticks, scallops, oysters, large battered mussels, squid rings, hash browns, onion rings and stuffed mushrooms.
Chips come classic, garlic-dusted or as kumara chips, and the wedges box arrives with sweet chili sauce and sour cream. Save room for a donut or a deep-fried Moro bar. The fritter cabinet is a Kiwi time capsule — potato, corn, banana, pineapple and meat patties, plus mussel fritters and paua fritters for something properly local.
The burger board runs from ham, egg and cheese through bacon, steak, Hawaiian, chicken and a vegetarian option, all the way up to The Boss Burger for big appetites, with a kids' burger at the small end. Crumbed chicken with or without chips, six-piece wings and toasted sandwiches round out the fast, simple orders.
Then the wok side of the menu takes over. Pick a protein — vegetables, pork, beef, chicken, BBQ pork, combination, prawn or seafood — and have it as chow mein or chop suey, fried rice, curry, satay served with vegetables, black bean sauce, egg fu yong or sweet and sour. Lemon chicken and lemon fish get their own section, and the soups cover a wonton, BBQ pork and shrimp combination plus sweet corn and chicken. Hot dishes add red and green curries, Singapore chow mein, nasi goreng, bami goreng and ginger chicken, while the traditional dishes include beef with ginger and oyster sauce and pork with pineapple and cashews in sweet and sour sauce.
The family specials do the maths for you: boxes that bundle fish, crabsticks, chicken nuggets, sausages, potato fritters and chips in different combinations, or larger combos built on combination chop suey, sweet and sour pork, pork fried rice, chicken chow mein and wontons for two to four people. A separate specials board rotates through six-packs — wontons, oysters, dim sims, dumplings, mini spring rolls, squid rings and chicken wings — plus a BBQ pork bun.
Ordering is online and pickup only: choose a pickup time, pay securely with Visa, Mastercard or PayPal, and collect from the shop at 252 Welcome Bay Road. Doors open at 11:30am Wednesday to Sunday and 3:30pm on Monday and Tuesday, running through to 9pm each night. The menu also flags gluten-free, vegetarian, sugar-free and dairy-free items, so mixed dietary needs can be handled in a single order.
Whether you are after a paper of chips and a fresh piece of tarakihi, a Boss Burger for a hungry teenager, or a proper Chinese takeaway spread for the table, Welcome Bay Takeaways covers all of it from one shopfront in the Bay.