Former rugby-playing couple bring New Zealand-style fish and chips to Anna Maria Island
A husband-and-wife team, both former rugby players, have opened Kiwi Style Fish & Chips for lunch and dinner in Holmes Beach.
If circumstances had been different, Wayne and Nicole Tagelagi’s new restaurant might have been in New York City, rather than at 3608 East Bay Drive on Anna Maria Island.
Nicole, from Queensland, Australia, and Wayne, from Auckland, New Zealand, had opened restaurants in Australia and Hawaii, and wanted to open a restaurant in New York City. Why? It’s the Big Apple, a center of business, culture and the arts.
But with the COVID-19 pandemic, and public health lock downs, they were stymied in their plans and looked to Florida.
Searching YouTube for the best places to live in Florida, they found the Bradenton-Sarasota area and Anna Maria Island.
“They are places that seemed to be thriving,” Wayne said. “Every day is like paradise here.”
They also found a vacant restaurant space, which had previously been The Island Spice restaurant.
After some extensive renovations and improvements, they opened Kiwi Style Fish & Chips in August.
What’s Kiwi Style?
Kiwi is an affectionate nickname for New Zealanders, regardless of race or ethnicity, and is also a national symbol, a large, flightless bird.
The fish and chips served by the Tagelagis is very similar to what you might find in an English pub, minus the newspaper wrapping.
“We think we perfected the art. We were No. 1 in Sydney for 10 straight years,” Wayne said.
“I grew up in New Zealand where fish and chips is our go-to. We probably have more fish and chip places in New Zealand than pizza places,” he said.
Adds Nicole: “We are trying to keep alive the tradition of the way we love fish and chips back in Australia and New Zealand.”
But the menu is more than fish and chips, having burger, seafood, packs and sides sections.
Offerings on the burger menu — think sandwiches — include the Kiwi Fish Burger, the country beef burger, a calamari burger, a veggie burger, a Scotch fillet burger, a chicken burger and bacon and egg roll, ranging in price from $10 to $15. Combo burgers are also available.
The seafood menu includes battered, crumbed and grilled options.
The battered menu items include fish and sweet potato fries; fish, chips and salad; shrimp and chips; fish cocktails and fish tacos, ranging in price from $10 to $16.
The crumbed menu includes calamari and chips, fish and chips, fish and salad and fish and sweet potato, starting at $12.
On the grilled menu are grilled shrimp skewers, fish and chips, fish and sweet potato, shrimp and salad and steak and salad, starting at $8.
The packs or packages range from a six chicken nuggets and a serving of chips for $9 to the Kiwi Family Feed with four fish, nine calamari, four battered shrimp and large chips for $65.
Aside from their sports background, the couple had other careers being becoming restaurateurs. Nicole was in sports management and Wayne was an environmental planner.
What else to know
“Both of us cook. For me it’s a hobby. I just love cooking. You don’t get bored,” he said.
Kiwi Style Fish & Chips is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and is closed on Sunday.
The restaurant has seating for about 40 and offers dining in, take out and delivery. For more information, visit kiwistylefishandchips.com or call 941-704-5040.
This story was originally published December 2, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
