The North Island has finally snagged bragging rights to the country's best toasted sandwich, with a Bay of Plenty café winning the 2022 Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover.

Chef Rich Johns from Okere Falls Store and Craft Beer Garden has won the hotly contested title – and brought an end to the South Island's three-year winning streak in the competition – with his ‘Get Smoked, Pickled + Toasted' creation.

The winning sandwich consists of house-smoked, beer-brined brisket, McClure's Pickles, hop-salted mozzarella, smoked cheddar, watercress, and horseradish on Bread Asylum X Lumberjack Brewing spent grain sourdough with pickle brine sour cream and a beer gravy dipping bowl – all served up for a very reasonable $15.50.

Rich, who has worked at the Okere Falls Store café for the past six years, entered the Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover last year and just missed out on making the finalist round. Undeterred, he returned for another attempt, proving that second time can also be the charm.

The trophy, made in 3D resembles a jar of pickles with a pickle riding a bike and flying a McClure's flag – duplicating the branding created for this year's campaign. The 3D plaque / trophy hand painted, hand assembled, and all made from recycled timber with a base layer of kauri, the toastie and lid made from rewarewa and the base, from matai.Photo: Grace Jones Photography.

Rich was so determined to use brisket in his toasted sandwich entry, he convinced the café's owner to purchase a smoker. The brisket was brined in a house lager from local brewer Lumberjack Brewing, then spritzed with McClure's pickle brine and smoked for 24 hours on site using a special rub.

A former wedding photographer with a deep passion for food and flavour, Rich switched careers when he decided photography took him away from his young family too often. He started working as a barista at Okere Falls Store, and after displaying an interest in menu development, moved to the kitchen, where he eventually became head chef.

Rich says he's thrilled to be crowned the country's toasted sandwich champion.

'It's still sinking in, but it's a huge honour,” says Rich. 'It reinforces the love and care we put into the creations at Okere Falls - we get lots of compliments from our diners on the food.

'We don't have a traditional menu and try to be a little different, so to win this shows it's paying off and it's so amazing to be rewarded. We've had so many rave reviews about the toastie and to win, it means a lot.”

The previous three winners of the Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover are all from the South Island - Steve MacDougall from Mollies (Hotel d'Urville, Blenheim) in 2021, Romeo Dowling-Mitchell from Dunedin's Hungry Hobos in 2020, and Joseph Walker from the Hokitika Sandwich Company in 2019.

The competition's head judge, Kerry Tyack, says this year's winner was highly innovative in using both the familiar and readily available.

'The Okere Falls Store is a craft beer café, and it was great to see they maxed out the influence of craft brewing - for example, using hop-salted mozzarella, beer-soaked brisket, and artisan sourdough bread made from spent brewing grains,” he says.

'We also enjoyed the nod to wild food via the use of watercress, while using the pickles as a palate-cleansing element was inspired. Their juice lifted the sour cream to a pickle and dill inspired high.

'The entry also delivered epic mouthfeel and both complementary and contrasting flavours. No ingredient was superfluous, we gave it a perfect score for taste.

'We should also mention the inclusion of a brief note explaining the brewing philosophy behind the main ingredients. It tied everything together perfectly.”

McClure's Pickles co-founder Joe McClure says while the quest to find New Zealand's tastiest toastie may be over for another year, it's clear the Kiwi love affair with the toasted sandwich is as strong as ever.

'This has been another watershed year for the Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover, one in which the judges were given the mammoth task of choosing a winner, while the entrants had to manoeuvre through the unique trading challenges thrown up by Covid-19,” says Joe.

'But everyone made the necessary adjustments in typically innovative ways, and we've had another hugely exciting competition.”

Chef Rich Johns from Okere Falls Store café with his winning toastie. Photo: Grace Jones Photography.

This fifth year of the popular competition saw more than 140,000 toasties served up to customers across the more than 180 eateries vying for the title.

The Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover competition criteria required sandwiches to be toasted between two slices of bread and able to be eaten by hand. The toasties also needed to contain cheese and McClure's pickles, with all the other ingredients entirely up to the entrant's imagination.

Thirteen finalists were selected from the 180 entrants and were all judged on the same criteria, including presentation, effectiveness of preparation technique, eatability, taste, innovation, and originality.

Rich Johns and Okere Falls Store can now claim to the top toastie award by way of a bespoke Rikki Berger* trophy, a year's worth of McClure's Pickles, and $500 in vouchers to give away to customers. The winning toasted sandwich remains on their menu seven days a week (from 10am – 4pm) until the end of August – and potentially beyond!

For more information about the Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover, check out www.toastietakeover.com.

The Great NZ Toastie Takeover

The Great NZ Toastie Takeover, New Zealand's only national toasted sandwich competition, was established in 2018 by McClure's Pickles and local distributors Cook & Nelson. Now in its fifth year, the competition is run over the winter period in two phases. Phase one judging sees all entrant's submissions scored out of a possible 100 marks with two finalists each across six regions. A panel of 20-30 judges from the foodie community are used to score the toasties, moderated by head judge Kerry Tyack. The top 12 toasties are then re-judged using the same set criteria before a supreme winner is determined. 2021 saw 120 entrants participating with 80,000 toasties served up over the duration of the campaign. Previous winners include Steve MacDougall from Mollies, Hotel D'Urville in Blenheim (2021), Romeo Dowling Mitchell from Hungry Hobos Dunedin (2020) and Joseph Walker from the Hokitika Sandwich Company (2019). For full info see www.toastietakeover.com.

McClure's Pickles

When brothers Bob and Joe McClure were first given the recipe for their Grandma Lala's legendary pickles, they decided to share her genius with the world and produced a range of small-batch pickles under the McClure name. Now, with the support of their family and friends, the Detroit-based duo hand-pick and produce more than 2 million jars of pickles every year. Known for their tangy, crunchy punch, McClure's Pickles have a cult-like following and are now stocked in 4,000 retailers across America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. For more info: www.mcclures.com. McClure's pickles are distributed in New Zealand by Cook & Nelson and can be found in more than 300 stockists around the country.

Cook & Nelson

Cook & Nelson are purveyors of the most exciting and exceptional fare crafted by the best artisan producers in the world. They search the globe to find individuals who share a passion for crafting extraordinary food and who innovate with exciting new processes and recipes resulting in remarkable and unexpected fare. Their product range includes Seedlip, McClures Pickles, Noble Maple Syrup, Huffman's Sauces, Lillie's Q sauces, 5 Olive Oil, Tony's Chocolonely and Welly First Aid. Cook and Nelson is owned and operated by husband and wife team – Nick Brown and Becs Caughey. Cook & Nelson's HQ boasts one of the most inspiring views in town, located in a small boat shed in Orakei. For more info: www.cookandnelson.com.

- additional reporting by Jamie Troughton