Friday, February 21, 2014

Papua New Guinea’s Best Food in Port Moresby – Vegetarian and Halal



Papua New Guinea is generally known as PNG. Recently I was asked by my organization to visit Port Moresby to conduct a 5-day training workshop for newly established and the only Women Chamber in Papua New Guinea. The chamber is known as PNGWCCI.

As most frequent travelers use Google, TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet to checkout happenings and things to do in a city, I did the same. I also used facebook to look for Pakistani and Muslim community in Port Moresby and was lucky to find Dr Faisal Qureshi who is a dental surgeon working in Port Moresby.

As a Muslim, I was also looking for restaurants serving Halal Food, or Indian styled restaurants that serve vegetarian curries. The Google search helped me as far as finding an Indian restaurant in a posh hotel in Wigani, about 20 minutes from downtown Port Moresby. I was advised against use of taxies. Taxi drivers here are known to be either drunk or involved in criminal activities. The only possibility to travel in the city is by renting a car through Avis or Hertz and the cost is around $200/day (even if you need a car for couple of hours).

My biggest concern was food. On the first day of my arrival I spoke to my facebook friend who offered me dinner. Name of the restaurant was Tasty Bite and was just across Crowne Plaza Hotel. I was surprised to see the number of customers in that family-run Indian restaurant. I went there every evening for my dinner and became friends with Ameen and Shabana who own this place.

Address is:
Tasty Bite, ANG House, Shop #5, Hunter Street, Port Moresby
Phone: +675 321 2222 – Email: tastybitepng@gmail.com

In addition to Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi minority in Port Moresby, restaurant serves Australians, New Zealanders and other foreigners. They are also open for lunch during working days. Dinner is served from 6:30pm-9pm. Best time to find a nice table is as early as 7pm. I advise to book your table by making a phone call.

They can prepare food from very spicy to mild. I loved their mixed vegetables with cottage cheese, beef kebabas (Halal) and Dal. I was told that they will soon start sourcing Halal Chicken to serve Muslim Community in Port Moresby.

So if you are looking for Best Food in Port Moresby which is Vegetarian and Halal also, try Tasty Bite, you will not be disappointed.