Monday, March 29, 2010

Essential supplies alert


Quick heads up that the tastiest condiment in the city can be found at La Cigale French Market, on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays when they haven't run out. I first heard of harissa several years ago in Cuisine magazine, although my attempts to replicate their recipe by pounding Gregg's dried chillies into a mortar full of Delmaine Pure Olive Oil resulted in an inedible casting of red spicy grease.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Review: Barolo at The Langham

Last night I ate a meal of incredible beauty and deliciousness at Barolo, inside The Langham. The hotel had invited myself and various other Earth Hour ambassadors to join in an hour of candlelight at their excellent bar, and I had earlier planned to use the trip into town as an excuse to visit Coco's Cantina on K Road. I still will do that, although my trusted friend Gemma went recently and was underwhelmed, not to mention somewhat disconcerted by the experience of eating her meal on the street while several nearby homeless people nearby did the same (the latter without tables or forks or shoes).

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Welcome to the neighbourhood


My congratulations to The Good Shop in Herne Bay for finally opening its doors last week. Although I previously expressed some doubt as to whether the whole enterprise would work, the new grocer is now up and running, and is so keen to hear customer feedback that he writes every suggestion in a large 'Good Book' on the counter. Whoever told him he needed to stock Quinoa Pasta Elbows was clearly having a joke at his expense, although I fear his current search for a reliable lecithin wholesaler is being conducted to fill a genuine demand from the trendy foodies in the area.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Good Pie Alert


On Friday night Dougie was up from Hamilton and I put on my best wingman outfit for a night on the tiles. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I was unable to find Dougie a suitable woman, and most of the ones I did introduce him to failed to be seduced by his charms – these charms mostly consisting of clasping the young woman around her waist and squeezing at her rib cage like an angry crab.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Good People Doing Good Things: The Little Grocer



There are plenty of people who love and respect food, and plenty of people who start their own food businesses. Sadly, the intersection of these two groups is so small it creates a Venn Diagram that looks like Cheeky Hobson's cleavage.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Where to go next date night


Sidart is a newish restaurant in Ponsonby which even a lot of foodies don't yet know about. After my first visit in November I described it in the New Zealand Herald as possibly the greatest meal I've ever eaten. Unaccountably, this plug failed to fill the restaurant's reservations book as I had anticipated so here I am again, having just eaten my second meal there, pleading you to please visit immediately.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Incredible Indian

I reckon you can judge a restaurant by the respect its menu gives to vegetarians. Making food tasty without the help of meat can be a challenge, but it's the successful meeting of this sort of challenge that justifies charging customers $30 each for a main, so a tasteless eggplant stack simply won't do. Good vegetarian food should be exciting, indulgent and packed with flavour. With this in mind, here are my favourite three Indian vegetarian restaurants in Auckland, in no particular order: