List of Australian and New Zealand dishes facts for kids

Australia and New Zealand share many delicious foods! This is because they have similar histories and often share recipes. Let's explore some of the most popular dishes you'll find in both countries.

Main Dishes

Breakfast Bites

• Avocado toast
  • This is a popular breakfast or brunch dish. It's usually mashed or sliced avocado on toast, often sourdough. People add things like poached eggs, cheese, lemon, or tomato. You can find it in cafes or make it at home.
• Chilli scrambled eggs
  • A trendy brunch dish with scrambled eggs and chilli on toast. Many cafes have their own special recipes for this.
• Eggs Benedict
  • Often called "eggs Benny," this café favourite is a bit different from the American version. It often has pulled pork, poached eggs, and a creamy hollandaise sauce on sourdough toast.
• Vegemite/Marmite toast
  • Toast spread with Vegemite or Marmite. People often add butter, avocado, tomato, or cheese.

• Wheat biscuits
  • These are breakfast cereal biscuits made from wheat. People usually eat them with milk and fruit, honey, or sugar. Weet-Bix and Vita-Brits are well-known brands.

Tasty Salads

• Curried rice salad
  • This salad is often served at barbecues. It has capsicum, raisins, apple, and rice. It's mixed with a dressing made from curry powder and white vinegar.

Dips and Dippers

• Cob loaf
  • Imagine a big round bread with the middle scooped out! This hollowed-out bread is filled with a yummy dip. Popular fillings include spinach dip or caramelised onion and bacon dip. It's often eaten at barbecues.

• Kiwi onion dip
  • A super simple and popular dip from New Zealand. It's made with reduced cream, a packet of onion soup mix, and a little vinegar.

Breads and Rolls

• Cheese and bacon roll
  • A white bread roll topped with cheese and small pieces of bacon. It's a common and tasty lunchbox snack.

• Damper
  • This traditional bread was first made by travellers over a campfire. It's often served warm with golden syrup and butter. Modern versions might have cheese and bacon.

• Damper on a stick
  • A fun way to make damper! The dough is wrapped around a stick and cooked over an open fire. Perfect for camping trips.

• Pipe loaf, tank loaf
  • A type of bread baked in a special corrugated tin. It's easy to slice and great for making sandwiches.

• Pumpkin scone
  • These are scones made with mashed pumpkin mixed into the dough.

• Parāoa parai / Fry bread
  • A traditional Māori fried dough.
• Cheesymite scroll, Vegemite scroll
  • A savoury rolled bread bun filled with Vegemite and cheese, then topped with more cheese.

Awesome Sandwiches

• Burger with the lot/Aussie burger/Kiwi burger
  • This burger has a patty, bacon, egg, lettuce, cheese, beetroot slices, and sometimes pineapple, all in a bun. You can find it at fish and chip shops.

• Cheese roll
  • A slice of bread covered with grated cheese, rolled up, and then toasted. These are very popular in Otago and Southland in New Zealand.

• Hot chicken roll
  • A long bread roll filled with hot rotisserie chicken. It often has gravy or mayonnaise.

• Sausage Sizzle/Sausage on bread/Sausage sandwich
  • A slice of white bread topped with a grilled sausage, usually with onions and tomato sauce. A "sausage sizzle" is a community event where selling these helps raise money for charity. You often see them outside hardware stores.

• Steak sandwich
  • A thin piece of steak with bacon, fried onions, tomato, and lettuce between two slices of white toast. Cheese, beetroot, and pineapple can also be added.

• Vegemite sandwich
  • A simple sandwich with butter and Vegemite. Cheese and tomato are often added.

Savoury Pastries

• Cheese and Spinach Roll
  • Puff pastry filled with cheese (often feta and ricotta) and spinach.

• Meat pie
  • This is a very common and loved dish in Australia and New Zealand. It has minced beef and gravy inside a pastry crust, topped with puff pastry.

• Pastie
  • An adaptation of the British Pasty. It's a D-shaped puff pastry pocket filled with beef, potato, carrot, and onion.

• Shepherd's pie/ Potato pie/ Cottage pie
  • This pie has beef and gravy with a pastry base, topped with mashed potato instead of puff pastry.

• Steak and Cheese pie
  • A pie filled with diced or minced meat and cheese, usually cheddar. This is the most popular type of pie in New Zealand.

Deep Fried Snacks

• Chiko Roll
  • A snack inspired by spring rolls. Chiko Rolls have beef, barley, cabbage, and other veggies. They are deep-fried in a thick pastry tube. You usually find them at fish and chip shops.

• Dagwood Dog
  • A sausage covered in batter, usually served on a stick with tomato sauce at fairs. It's very similar to a Corn Dog.

• Dim sim
  • A dumpling with minced meat, cabbage, and seasonings. It's often served steamed or fried at fish and chip shops, usually with soy sauce.

• Hot Chips with Chicken Salt
  • French fries seasoned with chicken salt. Chicken salt is a special yellow seasoning that tastes sweet and savoury.

• Spring roll
  • A local type of spring roll, bigger than the original Chinese version. It has a thicker, doughier pastry and partly mashed vegetables. Served at fish and chip shops.

• Potato cake/potato scallop/potato fritter
  • Thin slices of potato, battered and deep-fried. Served at fish and chip shops, often with chicken salt.

Fast Food & Pub Meals

• Aussie Chicken Parmigiana
  • Breaded chicken topped with bacon, egg, cheese, and either napoli or barbecue sauce. Many pubs have a special "Parma night" each week.

• Chicken Parmigiana (Parma, Parmie)
  • This is a very popular pub meal. It's breaded chicken topped with ham and cheese (often mozzarella or cheddar). It's usually served with chips and salad.

• Charcoal chicken
  • Chicken cooked slowly on a spinning rotisserie over charcoal. It's often stuffed with rice and herbs and seasoned with spices. Served with hot chips and chicken salt.

• Fish and chips
  • A common takeaway food with battered or grilled fish and chips. Australian fish and chips often use different types of fish and chicken salt instead of malt vinegar.

• AB / halal snack pack
  • A popular fast food dish! It's chips (often with chicken salt) topped with Doner or Gyros meat (chicken, lamb, or both). Then it's covered with garlic, BBQ, and chilli sauce. Cheese is often added too. In Adelaide, it's called an AB and includes tomato sauce.

• Pie floater
  • A meat pie "floating" in a bowl of pea soup. It's popular in South Australia and sometimes in Sydney. Usually topped with tomato sauce.

• Wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce
  • Potato wedges served with both sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. A common pub snack. You can also get them "loaded" with cheese and bacon.

Baked, Grilled & Fried Dishes

• Hāngī
  • A traditional Māori way of cooking food. Heated rocks are buried in a pit oven (called an umu). Fish, kūmara (sweet potato), lamb, cabbage, and pork are common ingredients.

• Rissoles
  • These are like large meatballs, often made with beef and thickened with breadcrumbs. Families often have their own recipes. They can be barbecued with tomato sauce or baked with vegetables.

• Zucchini slice
  • A baked dish made with eggs, cheddar cheese, grated zucchini, bacon, onion, and self-raising flour.

Stewed & Boiled Dishes

• Apricot chicken
  • A chicken stew or casserole made with apricot nectar, onion, and French onion soup mix. It's usually served with rice or mashed potatoes. Families often add their own vegetables.

• Curried sausages
  • A stew with sausages, onion, curry powder, peas, and tomatoes. Some people add fruits like sultanas or bananas.

• Devilled sausages
  • A tasty sausage stew with tomato, onion, and apple. Mustard, chilli, and brown sugar are often added. It's usually served with mashed potatoes or rice.

Sausages

• Chicken sausage
  • A simple sausage made from minced chicken, seasoned with spices like pepper. Great for barbecues.

• Belgium, Devon, Luncheon, Palony, Pariser, Windsor
  • A type of sliced luncheon meat. It's a popular sandwich filling, often just with tomato sauce. Its name changes a lot depending on where you are in Australia!

• Kransky
  • An Australian version of a Central European sausage. Kranskies often have cheese, like cheddar, mixed into the filling.

• Saveloy
  • A spiced, cured sausage with a thick, red skin. The smaller versions are called Cheerios, Footy Franks, or Little Boys. Saveloys are usually boiled and served with tomato sauce.

Sweet Dishes

Sweet Breads

• Boston bun / Sally Lun bun
  • A large, sweet, spiced bun often filled with raisins and topped with coconut icing. It's usually sliced, buttered, and enjoyed with tea.

• Coffee scroll
  • A sweet rolled bread bun with raisins and coffee-flavoured icing.

• Custard scroll
  • A sweet rolled bread bun with a creamy custard filling, topped with icing and coconut.

• Finger bun
  • Bread rolls topped with icing and sprinkles (100s & 1000s), coconut, or marshmallows.

Sweet Pastries

• Cruffin
  • A pastry that's a mix between a croissant and a muffin! It's baked in a muffin tin, giving it a unique shape. Cruffins are often filled with yummy creams. It was invented in Melbourne.

• Hot jam doughnuts
  • A freshly deep-fried doughnut rolled in sugar and filled with hot jam. A special treat from Melbourne, often eaten at sports events.

• Iced apple cake
  • Shortcrust pastry topped with vanilla icing and filled with stewed apples.

• Kitchener bun
  • A sweet, fried or baked bun, split and filled with jam and cream. It's often dusted with sugar.

• Neenish tart
  • Small, round tarts with shortcrust pastry. They are topped with two different coloured and flavoured halves of icing. In Australia, they have mock cream and jam inside.

• Pineapple glazed doughnut
  • A classic ring doughnut with a delicious pineapple-flavoured glaze.

Sweet Slices

• Anzac caramel slice
  • This slice has a biscuit base, a gooey caramel centre, and is topped with a crumb inspired by ANZAC biscuits (made from oats and coconut).

• Caramel slice
  • A popular treat with a coconut and biscuit base, a sweet caramel filling, and a chocolate topping.

• Ginger Crunch
  • A chewy base made from oats and golden syrup, topped with ginger-flavoured icing. Ginger Crunch started in New Zealand.

• Hedgehog slice
  • A no-bake slice that sets in the fridge. It's made with chocolate, coconut, crushed biscuits, and sometimes condensed milk. It's topped with chocolate.

• Jelly slice
  • This slice has a biscuit base, a creamy cheesecake-like filling, and a colourful layer of jelly on top (often raspberry or lime). It's set in the fridge.

• Lemon slice
  • A biscuit, condensed milk, and coconut base topped with tangy lemon icing.

• Louise cake / Louise slice
  • A shortcake base topped with raspberry jam and a coconut meringue. This treat is originally from New Zealand.

• Rocky road
  • A sweet treat with marshmallows, glace cherries, coconut, and peanuts, all mixed together with milk chocolate.

• Vanilla slice
  • A thick layer of creamy custard on a pastry base, topped with vanilla or passionfruit icing.

• Wagon Wheel slice
  • A biscuit base topped with a layer of jam, a layer of marshmallow, and chocolate.

• White Christmas
  • Rice bubbles, dried fruits (like raisins), and coconut mixed with white chocolate. It's usually eaten during the Christmas holidays.

Cakes

• Chocolate ripple cake
  • An Australian version of an "icebox cake." Chocolate ripple biscuits are layered with cream and left to set in the fridge, making the biscuits soft and cake-like.

• Frog cake
  • Small sponge cakes filled with jam, topped with mock cream, and covered in fondant icing shaped like a frog with its mouth open. They come from South Australia.

• Friand
  • A small cake made with almond meal, flour, and fruit.

• Lamington
  • Sponge cake dipped in chocolate icing and covered with coconut. Lamingtons are usually individual-sized, but you can find larger ones too. Many have jam and cream inside.

• Lolly cake / lolly log
  • Malt biscuits, fruit puffs (lollies), condensed milk, and butter are mixed, shaped into a log, rolled in coconut, and chilled until firm.

• Pavlova
  • A light and airy meringue cake topped with cream and fresh fruits like strawberries, kiwifruit, and passionfruit.

• Pikelet
  • A small, fluffy pancake, often made with baking soda.

Puddings

• Frog in a Pond
  • A simple dessert for kids: a Freddo Frog chocolate set inside a bowl of jelly.
• Lemon delicious
  • A baked pudding with lemon zest and juice. When it bakes, the lemon separates, creating two layers: a light sponge on top and a tangy lemon sauce underneath.

Other Sweet Treats

• Chocolate crackles
  • Rice bubbles mixed with copha (a type of coconut oil), coconut, and chocolate. They are often shaped like cupcakes and sold at school fairs or charity events.

• Chocolate spiders/Haystacks
  • Fried noodles mixed with chocolate and peanut butter. These are often served at children's parties.

• Fairy bread
  • White bread spread with butter and covered with colourful 100s and 1000s. A very popular snack at kids' parties!

• Golden GayTime/Cookie Crumble/Summer Delight
  • A delicious ice cream treat! It's toffee and vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate and covered in honeycomb biscuit pieces, all on a stick.

• Hokey pokey ice cream
  • A flavour of ice cream from New Zealand. It's plain vanilla ice cream with small, solid pieces of honeycomb toffee mixed in.

• Mango pancake
  • A dessert from Sydney Chinese restaurants. It's a chilled pancake rolled up with sweetened cream and fresh mango pieces.

• Pineapple fritter
  • Slices of pineapple battered and deep-fried, then dusted with cinnamon sugar. You can often find these at fish and chip shops.

Chocolate and Lollies (Candies)

• Jaffas
  • Small balls of milk chocolate covered with a thin, hard, orange-flavoured candy shell.

• Musk sticks
  • Purple sticks with a unique, perfume-like musk flavour.

• Pineapple lumps
  • Soft, chewy pineapple-flavoured candy pieces covered in chocolate.

Biscuits (Cookies)

• Afghan biscuit
  • A traditional New Zealand biscuit made with cocoa powder, butter, flour, and cornflakes. It's topped with chocolate icing and half a walnut.

• Anzac biscuit
  • A biscuit linked to ANZAC day. It's made with rolled oats, golden syrup, flour, sugar, butter, and coconut.

• Belgium biscuits
  • Cinnamon biscuits with a raspberry jam filling and icing. Popular in New Zealand.

• Chocolate ripple
  • A wheat, chocolate, and golden syrup biscuit. It's often used to make chocolate ripple cake.

• Kingston
  • Oat, coconut, and honey biscuits with a chocolate buttercream filling in the middle.

• Melting moment
  • Two crumbly, sweet biscuits with a buttercream filling in the middle. Vanilla is a common flavour.

• Monte Carlo
  • Golden syrup, honey, and coconut biscuits with a vanilla cream filling, coated in raspberry toffee.

• Scotch finger
  • A type of shortbread biscuit.

• Wagon Wheels
  • Two biscuits with a marshmallow filling, covered in a chocolate-flavoured coating. Some versions also include jam.

• Yo-Yo
  • Similar to a Melting Moment, but these biscuits include custard powder.

Other Popular Items

Ingredients & Products

• Chicken Salt
  • A special seasoning invented in South Australia. It's yellow and adds a sweet, savoury flavour to food. It's a mix of spices like paprika, garlic powder, and salt. Even though it's called "chicken salt," it rarely has any chicken in it! It's usually used on hot chips and potato cakes.

• Kangaroo meat
  • Kangaroo meat is available and popular in Australia. It's often used instead of beef in dishes like salads and burgers.

• Macadamia nut
  • A nut that comes from Australia. You can use it in desserts, savoury dishes, or just eat it roasted as a snack.

• Mānuka honey
  • Honey made from the Mānuka tree, found in Australia and New Zealand. It has a strong, earthy, and slightly bitter taste. Many people around the world think it's a healthy food.

• Marinated Feta/Persian Feta/ Marinated Goat's Cheese
  • An Australian style of cheese. Feta or goat's cheese is put into jars with olive oil and spices. These cheeses are used in dishes like Avocado Toast and Chilli Scrambled Eggs.

• Tomato sauce
  • A popular condiment made from tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, and spices. It's often eaten with pies, sausages, and bread.

Beverages (Drinks)

Hot Drinks

• Billy tea
  • Black tea boiled over a campfire in a billycan (a metal pot). Sometimes a Eucalyptus leaf is added for extra flavour.

• Chocolate Malt Powder
  • A powder made from cocoa and malt, with added nutrients. You mix it with hot or cold milk. The most famous brand is Milo.

• Flat white
  • A coffee drink with espresso and milk that's steamed to a very smooth, foamy texture.

• Long macchiato
  • A double espresso poured over a little hot water, topped with a splash of steamed milk and a dollop of milk foam.

• Magic
  • A coffee drink with a double shot of ristretto (a very short espresso) and smooth, foamy milk. It has less milk than a Flat White.

• Piccolo
  • Espresso and steamed milk served in a small glass.

Cold Drinks

• Blue Heaven Milkshake
  • A milkshake with vanilla and raspberry flavours, dyed a bright blue colour.

• Lemon, lime and bitters
  • A refreshing soft drink made by mixing lemonade, lime cordial, and bitters. You can often buy it already mixed.

• Passionfruit soda
  • A fizzy drink with passionfruit flavour. Popular brands include Passiona and Kirks Pasito.

• Pub squash / lemon squash
  • A lemon-flavoured soft drink. Popular brands are Solo and TruBlu.

• Spider
  • A type of ice cream float. It's vanilla ice cream mixed with (traditionally) raspberry or lime soda.

Images for kids

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  Avocado toast.

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  Chilli scrambled eggs.

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  Eggs Benedict.

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  Cheese slaw.

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  Cashew Parmesan dip.

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  Pipe loaf.

• Puftaloon.jpg

  Puftaloon.

• Parāoa rēwena.jpg

  Parāoa rēwena.

• Sweet chilli scroll.jpg

  Sweet chilli scroll.

• Conti roll (cropped).jpg

  Continental roll.

• Curried Egg sandwich.jpg

  Curried Egg sandwich.

• Salad Sandwich.jpg

  Salad Sandwich.

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  Strasburg sandwich.

• Curried beef pie (cropped).jpg

  Curried beef pie.

• Ned Kelly pie.jpg

  Ned Kelly pie.

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  Scallop pie.

• Steak and pepper pie (cropped).jpg

  Steak and pepper pie.

• Vegetarian Pastie (cropped).jpg

  Vegetarian Pastie.

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  Corn Jack.

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  Ham and Chicken Roll.

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  Sweet chilli chicken tenders.

• Bolognaise Chicken Parmigiana.jpg

  Bolognaise Chicken Parmigiana.

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  Greek Chicken Parmigiana.

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  Hawaiian Chicken Parmigiana.

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  Mexican Chicken Parmigiana.

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  Surf and Turf.

• Colonial goose.jpg

  Colonial goose.

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  Crumbed Cutlets.

• Crumbed sausages.jpg

  Crumbed sausages.

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  Garlic bugs.

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  Macadamia crusted lamb.

• Paperbark fish.jpg

  Paperbark fish.

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  Whitebait fritter.

• Billy kee chicken.jpg

  Billy kee chicken.

• Bully beef and rice.jpg

  Bully beef and rice.

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  Boil up.

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  Chow mein/Ki si min.

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  Creamy prawns.

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  Curried prawns.

• Semur chicken.jpg

  Semur chicken.

• Sop sop.jpg

  Sop sop.

• Bull-boar.jpg

  Bull-boar sausage.

• Bung fritz.jpg

  Bung fritz.

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  Cabonossi/Kabana.

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  Devon sausage.

• Kangaroo sausage.jpg

  Kangaroo sausage.

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  Strasburg sausage.

• Jubilee Twist.jpg

  Jubilee Twist.

• Pineapple tart.jpg

  Pineapple tart.

• Apple slice.jpg

  Apple slice.

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  Cherry Ripe slice.

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  Coconut slice.

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  Fruit mince slice.

• Passionfruit slice.jpg

  Passionfruit slice.

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  Peppermint slice.

• White Christmas.jpg

  White Christmas.

• Jelly cake.jpg

  Jelly cake.

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  Passionfruit sponge.

• Frog in a Pond.jpg

  Frog in a Pond.

• Flummery.jpg

  Flummery.

• Sago plum pudding.jpg

  Sago plum pudding.

• Lemon sago.jpg

  Lemon sago.

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  Port wine jelly.

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  Apricot delight.

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  Chocolate bananas.

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  Coconut rough.

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  Dark chocolate cherry bar.

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  Fruit sticks.

• Liquorice bullets (cropped).jpg

  Liquorice bullets.

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  Minties.

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  Raspberry bullets.

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  Chocolate ripple.

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  Hokey Pokey Squiggles.

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  Milk Arrowroot.

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  Wafer thin.

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  Kangaroo Meat.

• Rosella jam.jpg

  Rosella jam.

• Toroī.jpg

  Toroī.

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  Lemon myrtle tea.

• Creaming soda.jpg

  Creaming soda.