Thanks for all the encouragement/hatemail
requesting that I post more regularly. I have two solutions: the first is that
I’m in the process of putting all my Metro reviews up here on the blog; I have
half a dozen almost ready to go live, and from now on they’ll appear here a
couple of months after the magazine hits newsstands. In terms of fresh
material, here’s a little round up of what I’ve been eating lately:
Everybody does tapas these days, but Basque
Kitchen in Newmarket does real tapas: sardines and almonds and chorizo and other
things which would seem more like just ingredients if they were served anywhere
but in a Spanish restaurant. I’ve heard Spanish food described as ‘home brand
Italian’ and ‘a cuisine based on leftovers’, but nothing beats it with a glass
of sherry when you’re in the mood. The atmosphere at Basque Kitchen is nothing
to write home about, although if you enjoy the characters of David Lynch,
you’ll enjoy the friendly soak who presides over the wine selection. Tell her
what you feel like and she’ll find something to suit. Ask her to show you the
winelist and she’ll look a bit offended then ask you what you feel like.
For lunch, kebabs from Shefco Bakery at 827
Dominion Road are very good, and it’s also a one-stop shop for any Middle Eastern
ingredients you might need, including fresh cheeses of all descriptions sitting
in brine under the counter. They do Lebanese bread for a very reasonable $1.50
a packet, or as part of your kebab, or wrapped around an entire chicken like
the guy next to me was getting. This last option is advertised as a ‘family
pack’ but the hungry look in his eye begged to differ.
If you’re keen on cooking at home, lots of
shops in that general area have interesting and cheap ingredients. The
excellent local blog eatsbyanna.com put us onto the super value nuts and
cheeses at various of the Sandringham shops. Last time we were there we picked
up a coffee at the Afro-Frenchie Voila café then went across to Khyber Foods
for pistachios, macadamias, hazelnuts and cashews. We smash up a different one
each morning in delicious and virtuous quinoa porridge, recipe details to
follow.
Not so far away on New North Road in Mt
Albert is Frenchie food store Pyrenees, where I’ve started stopping for coffee
on the way home from town. They do macarons, and unpasteurised cheese, and
terrines like the wild boar and chestnut one I currently have sitting in my fridge,
waiting to be monstered.
And while we’re about it, the coffee at
Little Hero in Pt Chev is now very very good, as are the vegan delights on
offer. So it’s bad news for the lovelies at Meola Kitchen who are just a little
further away from my house and, vitally, about a 15 minute wait for takeaway
coffees at peak times. If you have the time, though, Meola are great people. They’ll
be enjoying the competition from brand new café Catroux next to the Westmere
Butchery. I’ve looked up the name on Google translate and apparently it’s
French for ‘a sauce consisting of flour, butter and cats’.
HP Wintergarden is a pop up café in
Auckland’s new Wynyard Quarter. It’s a couple of big dome tents really, but
they’ve done a great job of decking out the interior with plants and astroturf,
and the coffee is first class Kokako, with pizza from Il Buco on Ponsonby Road.
Man, that pizza is good – not the on-trend woodfired style but authentic
Italian flavours and generous toppings. WiFi is free at the Wintergarden and
it’s definitely worth a novelty visit; it’s open for the duration of the Rugby World
Cup.
While we’re in the area, despite some
predictably good experiences on the media tour I took of the Wynyard Quarter’s
North Wharf, I’ve heard some horrible things about the service in those
restaurants down there – people being overcharged, spilt on, cussed at.
Aucklanders are so stoked to have something decent happening down there that
the goodwill seems to be lasting so far, but it looks to be running the risk of
turning into one of those tourist eating districts you see in every city you
visit, where they don’t care what sort of time you have because they don’t rely
on repeat business.
Depot at SkyCity is incredibly good. The
fish is cooked perfectly (like the hapuka belly, above), the place hums and
they have a refreshing approach to a lot of things – including wine in tumblers
from the keg. I haven’t heard much good about The Grill next door to them yet –
if you’ve been, will you comment below or write and tell me what you thought?
Lastly, don’t let it’s very worthy sounding
name put you off, my quinoa porridge is a revelation, and it features the new
and amazing Clearwater yoghurt – New Zealand’s only organic yoghurt. Did you
know quinoa is the only vegetarian food which contains your complete protein
requirements? If all of these wet, middle-class liberal words haven’t already
ruined your appetite, send me an email and I’ll write you the recipe. Or I’ll
post it here if enough people are keen.
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