Travel bites: Finding the best bagels, in New York and New Zealand

Aside from perhaps pizza, no food is more beloved in New York than the bagel.

These boiled-and-baked rings of dough make for the perfect portable breakfast, with a huge variety of spreads (or “schmears”, to use the local lingo) and toppings to choose from.

But I’m all about the classics, so on a recent trip to New York, I couldn’t leave without scouting out the city’s best salmon and cream cheese bagel.

The bagel, which originated in Poland, arrived in New York City with Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in the late 19th century.

Many settled on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and by 1900, the neighbourhood was packed with bakeries. A union specifically for bagel bakers was even formed, to safeguard their methods.

It was in New York that the classic combination of cream cheese and salmon on a bagel was born. According to Jewish food writer and historian Gil Marks, it emerged as an alternative to eggs benedict – which had become popular in the 1930s.

The problem with the brunch dish was it contained pork, and mixed dairy and meat, which is against Jewish dietary laws. But a sliced bagel in place of English muffins, cream cheese in place of hollandaise sauce, and lox (cured salmon) in place of ham, proved to be an ideal kosher version.

To this day, it’s considered a match made in heaven.

While in New York, I visited Russ & Daughters, which has been based on the Lower East Side since 1914.

The family business started life as an “appetising store” – a shop selling food that goes with bagels. Later on, they decided they might as well offer the bagels, too.

After a century of having to stand in line to get your smoked fish and bagels, in 2014, they opened a sit-down cafe just around the corner from the shop.

The all-day restaurant features plenty of nods to the original store, like shelves stocked with caviar tins and jars of pickles.

I sat at the counter, where I was served by staff members dressed in white coats – the same uniform as the shop workers who hand-slice the fish to order (apparently, it should be thin enough that you can read the newspaper through it).

Bagels and their trimmings come presented on boards, so you can compile your own sandwich. I went for “The Classic”, which came with smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, red onion and tomato.

I requested my bagel toasted, which I’ve since learned is an embarrassing tourist move. Bagels this fresh have no need for the toaster.

But I did redeem myself by washing it down with Russ & Daughters’ famous “egg cream” – a beverage made with milk, chocolate syrup and seltzer water. It was basically a very light and frothy, slightly fizzy chocolate milkshake.

For the closest thing to a New York-style bagel, head to New Zealand’s only kosher deli – , on Greys Ave in central Auckland.

Chef Sam Lewis churns out bagels which he describes as a “hybrid between a New York and Montreal style”. He makes them all by hand, using no machinery other than a mixer. The result is an authentic, teeth-sinkingly chewy bagel.

The OG comes filled with lashings of whipped cream cheese, smoked salmon, and house-made pickles. You can get one instore, or order a bagel brunch box online.

Keep an eye out for Lewis’ latest creation, which is coming soon – the “double bagel”. This genius invention consists of two bagels looped into one, so you can enjoy two different fillings.