Crayfish back on menu
Nin’s Bin, the famous crayfish caravan on the Kaiko¯ura coast, will end their hiatus at this weekend’s Kaiko¯ura Seafest.
It will be the first time the seafood vendor has been in business since the earthquake.
The settlement of Rakautara, about 20 kilometres north of Kaiko¯ura, was cut off for several months after the earthquake.
Although road access for residents was restored several months later, the main highway between Picton and Kaikoura won’t reopen until at least Christmas.
Co-owner Johnny Clark said they would’ve been celebrating their 40th anniversary this year.
The Clark’s house was wrecked but the Nin’s Bin caravan is still there, although it suffered a bit of cosmetic damage after the quake. It won’t make the journey to Seafest though.
‘‘You can hardly see it at the moment because it is surrounded by buildings from the road and rail rebuild,’’ he said.
Nin’s Bin was not a regular stallholder at the festival.
‘‘We don’t normally come down because crayfish aren’t usually a big seller there.
‘‘But we thought we would come and have a wee go.’’
Clark has some special dishes on the menu for the festival, garlic half crays and a crayfish curry, which he said would go down a treat with beer.
Since the business closed more than 10 months ago, Clark said he has been getting by. The business is planning to open as soon as the road north is reconnected.
‘‘Since our main income has gone we’re just trying to work around it, but we’re still catching crays.’’
When the road reopened he hoped the business would tick over just the same as people came by and checked out the new road.
‘‘It’ll be sweet, it will be real good, it will be good to get back into the swing of things and back to a normal lifestyle,’’ he said.