All posts filed under: Culinary Adventures

Friday Favourites: The best seafood buffet

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SBF Brasserie has the very best seafood buffet in Auckland and reserved for special occasions in my family. Fresh oysters, salmon sashimi, crab and hot smoked salmon are my personal highlights and I’ll happily have 2 helpings of seafood. Crab isn’t popular in New Zealand for some reason – perhaps the high grapple factor puts people off – so it’s nice to see it offered here. The hot food selection is good too but I didn’t need more than 1 plate of it. Service is great, water top ups a plenty and plates are cleared regularly. The golden kiwi and pavlova flavoured icecream was interesting and yummy. The chocolate fountain is a fun (though messy) for adults and kids. My only complaint are the booths. I’m not a large person and found it hard to get in and out of the booth seats. Not much space between seat and table. The cushions while pretty only get in the way and with people on on either me, it was a hassle to get out as I had …

The Last Fish Supper

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I just read an article by Anna Hart called The Last Fish Supper. If you eat seafood in New Zealand, you should probably read it. You can read it here. Here are some insightful parts: …Some of the hoki caught off the coast of New Zealand is sent to China to be processed, before being imported back into the country… In New Zealand, Hoki is really popular as a cheap, everyday fish. It’s nuts to think that we’re sacrificing freshness for cheap labour. What can we do about this? I’ve heard of produce that are sent elsewhere to be processed and packaged and then distributed nation or world wide. This includes being sent back to the area it was grown/harvested at in the first place. What’s the point in buying locally when there’s a huge carbon footprint? …most restaurants in Waiheke have to source their fish from Auckland, as only one local fisherman has a quota entitling him to sell fish from an island renowned for abundant snapper, kingfish and trevally… This is ridiculous. Why aren’t …

Breaking the fast around the world

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A weekend brunch in Auckland is something of an institution. Aucklanders flock to their favourite cafes in the weekends to eat familiar dishes they can easily prepare at home. Big breakfasts, eggs benedict, creamy mushrooms on toast…all delicious and all can prepared at home for a fraction of the price. Dining out for brunch is a treat. Sometimes you just want to be waited on first thing in the morning. Sometimes you need someone else to do it all when you’re hungover or just want to relax on your day off. People eat brunch and breakfast all over the world, so why are there no restaurants and cafes that specialise in food from other countries? Okra, one of my favourite local brunch spots used to offer Bus-Stop Eggs (served in the pan). This was a dish of spiced lamb koftas and capsicum in a tomato sauce, baked with eggs ($15.50). Fairly exotic. Unfortunately, they took that off the menu, but they’ve replaced it with what they call Spanish Breakfast which is pretty similar, still served …

Friday Favourites: Nachos

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Best nachos I’ve ever had. It’s not your standard mince concoction, but pieces of slow cooked beef in a savoury sauce. The process disentegrates the beef into small melt-in-the-mouth pieces and that tasty, tasty sauce. Comes standard with all the trimmings – guac, salsa, sour cream and even pesto. Some places charge extra for those bits, but not here. I couldn’t finish my portion unfortunately. I desparately wanted to and I feel like I’ve failed. I hope the chef wasn’t offended by my leftovers. I can’t vouch for authenticity since I’ve never eaten in Mexico, but I can vouch for the fact that this food is freakin delicious. Other Mexican places I’ve been to pale in comparison. El Camino is small and popular so it is a good idea to book to avoid disappointment. They play good music here (well, the stuff I listen to at home) but it might be a touch loud for some people…say if you didn’t like that kind of music. Price for nachos was reasonable at $12.50 and is one of …

Inspired by Noodle Pillows

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Reading a book about Vietnamese food and travel inspired me to make this chicken noodle soup. No recipe, I just made it up as I went along, so no claims on authenticity here! Vietnamese food to me, is really fresh, simple ingredients that enhance their flavours. Vietnamese food is highly underrated here in New Zealand. Hardly anyone talks about Vietnamese cuisine. I guess because it doesn’t have the hot, bright, bold or loud cuisine of Thailand or India, or the elegant, regimented cuisine of Japan, so it gets forgotten about. Chinese cuisine is pretty big here though, so maybe it’s simply been overlooked because it’s fairly similar to Chinese cooking? Vietnamese cuisine the kind of thing I can eat very often. The food is balanced and light. There is a strong Cantonese influence as well as a French influence on Vietnamese cuisine. It’s like someone grabbed two of the world’s culinary giants and married them up. Herbs help make everything fresh tasting and you are encouraged to interact with your food, adding each ingredient to …

Noodle Pillows by Peta Mathias

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Just finished reading a great food travel book called Noodle Pillows by fellow New Zealander Peta Mathias. Published in 2003, this is an account of Peta’s journey through Vietnam as a single woman, eating everything that stood in her way. It’s always nice reading a Kiwi perspective of food from a faraway location. Full of recipes and at only 182 pages, it’s a very easy read. Some of my favourite bits: Nobody could communicate with anybody, so he took the Russians into the kitchen and pointed to things. They were delighted and wanted everything, absolutely everything. The meal went very well and a light snapped on in the entrepreneurial Vy’s brain. The very next morning she put a sign outside the Mermaid, listing what the customers had eaten the night before – this was their first menu. ‘Vietnamese don’t use menus. It’s like songs. Everyone knows all the dishes and they just ask for what they feel like that day.’ Have you ever been to a restaurant where there was no menu? Where the chef …

Friday Favourites: Pan Fried Chicken with Lemon grass

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Sometimes all you want is tasty meat, noodles or rice and maybe some broth. No fuss, no show, no silly prices. The Pan Fried Chicken with Lemon grass at Hansan Vietnamese restaurant comes on its own ($9), or with rice, vermicelli, rice noodle soup or egg noodle soup. For $10.50 it’s a delicious bargain. All mains at Hansan are around $10. Also try their summer rolls ($5) and spring rolls ($4.50). Come here for a healthy, quick, cheap meal. Hansan Glenfield Vietnamese Restaurant Unit E, 31 Link Drive, Glenfield, North Shore Ph: 09 4433 836 Open 7days 11am til late Hansan Newmarket Vietnamese Restaurant 55 Nuffield St, Newmarket, Auckland Ph: 09 523 3988 Hansan Panmure 525-528 Ellerslie Panmure Highway Ph: 09 570 6338 Open 7 days & Nights 11am-late

Mastication and food voyeurism

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I went for a lovely walk this warm spring evening around Mt Eden. There are some beautiful homes in my neighbourhood, as well as some horrible looking concrete blocks. At one apartment I could see right into this lady’s street level kitchen and saw her facing me, standing at her kitchen counter, stuffing her face with food. I guess she didn’t think that I could see her or she didn’t care. A glimpse out of context is a funny thing. I wonder if it’s a once off, or if she always eats her meals like that. In our kitchen, there is a possibility a neighbour could look into our kitchen, but hopefully no one has caught me standing over my food on the kitchen bench, stuffing my face. There’s something very informal and a bit naughty about standing alone in the kitchen gorging yourself. You’re saying: this food isn’t important enough for me to sit down to enjoy it. Or maybe it’s a time issue. There is no time for me to move this show …

Friday Favourites 4: Western Springs Road Roll

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One of my favourite sushi rolls is the Western Springs Road Roll at Taiko in Kingsland right by the train station. It is grilled teriyaki eel on cucumber avocado roll. It’s just a coincidence that we lived on Western Springs Road when we first tried this sushi dish. Taiko is one of my favourite Japanese restaurants because of its location, ambience and fantastic food at reasonable prices. Plenty of good sake and Japanese beers are available and Taiko also have wonderful banquet set meals for groups. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had the banquet but it’s been wonderful every time. Banquets are great as you just put your trust in the chefs and they bring out dish after dish of food throughout the night. They happily cater for vegetarians and pescatarians too. Best to order dishes tapas style to share or to dive into the banquet. Taiko Japanese Restaurant and Bar 460A New North Road Kingsland Auckland 1021 New Zealand Ph: (09) 815 0610 sake@taikokingsland.com http://www.taikokingsland.com Hours: Tues to Sun, 5pm to late

Kai to Pie and World on your Plate: Maori

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Kai to Pie “Kai to Pie — Pie to Chai — Nosh to Posh. Whatever way you slice it, Auckland’s stories can be told through food: from the extraordinary wealth of people and cultures, to its fertile abundance of land, sun and sea, come up to the Museum for a serving of Auckland on your plate.” If you haven’t already been, check out the Kai to Pie exhibition at the Auckland Museum. There’s still 3 weeks until it ends and it’s free to all Aucklanders. 12 June – 25 October 2010 Special Exhibitions Hall Auckland Museum Free entry Here are some of my photos from the exhibition. World On Your Plate: Maori Running in conjunction with this exhibition is World On Your Plate – Saturday demonstrations of cuisine from around the world. I attended the Maori food demonstration by Charles Royal and his family in July. Charles is “a fierce advocate of sustainable local cuisine, indigenous produce”. Sadly, Maori dishes and native ingredients don’t feature in the day to day cuisine of the majority of New Zealanders. …

Freestyler – Gregg’s & Taste Magazine demo

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In July, I attended a Freestyle Cooking demonstration at Auckland Fish Market’s Seafood School. The event was hosted by Gregg’s and Taste Magazine and was free for Taste Magazine subscribers. Chef Alison Robert demonstrated three yummy dishes: A Chinese canapé of of prawn & sesame toast with five spice dipping sauce A Mexican starter or lunch of black bean soup with crispy tortillas A Jamaican inspired main of chicken thighs filled with Jamaican stuffing We were served generous tasters of all three dishes with wine from Grove Mill. Alison was a pleasure to watch and listen to. Equal parts comedy and education, a fun night was had by all. We took goodie bags including a freestyle apron, some organic black beans, wholemeal tortillas, and of course, a few of Gregg’s spice blends: spicy toasted sesame seasoning, Mexican seasoning and Jamaican seasonings. There were also with plenty more edible prizes for quick thinking audience who answered freestyle questions. Sorry, no prawn toast photo as I ate my pieces before I remembered to photograph it. You’ll just have to use your imagination! …

Osaka Food Review

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Osaka, Japan is considered to be the city of gourmets. Bunny, eats and design can all be found all over this city. We also did a day trip to Kyoto. Eating out Eating out can be a confusing experience for the uninitiated. Some restaurants have machines by the door. You are supposed to put money in the machine and push some buttons to receive a ticket of your order. You sit down at a table and hand the ticket to the person serving who takes it to the kitchen and later brings out your food. We didn’t know this so when we sat down at a table without visiting the machine first, it became a very confusing situation for all involved. The server needed our ticket and we had no idea what she wanted, we just wanted menus so we could order or at least point to something randomly. After a bit of gesturing and watching other diners, we figured it out. Although the machines don’t have any English, they have photos of the dishes …

Friday Favourites 3: Deep Fried Oyster sushi

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Deep Fried Oyster sushi from Bian Sushi. It’s divine. Bian Sushi is one of my favourite sushi places in Auckland. They play light jazz, have a great selection of sushi which gets eaten quickly due to demand. High turnover means fresh sushi. At lunchtime, the queue can snake from  along the sushi counter, through the shop and out the door. Thankfully the line is a fast moving one. You should avoid sushi places that don’t have any customers. An empty dining room might be a warning, but the sushi that you eat will probably have been sitting there since the morning. Bian also have a menu if you want to order hot food from the kitchen and these come in full and half sizes. Half size is perfect if you can’t decide between sushi or hot food. You can have both! Highlights: Free green tea and free tartar sauce, Deep Fried Oyster sushi, green beans sushi, unagi and their spicy chicken rice dish (karaage). Bian Sushi & Donburi 183 Symonds St Newton Auckland Ph: (09) …

Taste of Auckland

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Taste of Auckland is a celebration of Auckland’s top restaurants and local food and wine. This year’s event will be held in Victoria Park, in the city centre from 18 – 21 November. Taste of Auckland is great for eaters like me that would love to eat at fine dining restaurants but don’t have the budget for it. Instead of paying $50 for a meal at Auckland’s top restaurants, try a $10 sample of their top dishes instead. There are also many gourmet food products. I tried Zest ice cream here for the first time. I’m a devoted fan now. I also tried Paraiso Lychee Liqueur for the first time at Taste last year. That stuff is magic. One thing I love about food expos is that you can ask questions to the presenters and the sellers and they all know a lot about their product and can give you advice. You just can’t do that down at your local supermarket chain. The format is a little different this year with set session times instead …

Rarotonga Food Review!

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Rarotonga is part of the Cook Islands which a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. The island is small – you can drive around the entire island in under an hour. We came here at the end of autum last year for our honeymoon. What is a honeymoon on a tropical island, without amazing seafood and fruity cocktails? Maybe I’m weird, but after a full day of snorkelling, I just want to eat seafood. “Oh look hun! Pretty fish! Can we eat that?” We had been pre-warned that the food in Rarotonga was good. We were even given a few recommendations on places to eat. These were Kaena – a tiny nondescript dinner restaurant by the diveshop and of course, Trader Jacks in the town centre for their amazing seafood platter. Both of these places we visited twice during week we were in Rarotonga. We also visited Flame Tree Grill which with a massive pet moray and a very kiwi feel about the place (kiwi owned perhaps?) promised much but didn’t quite deliver. The …

Food on the box

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We don’t pay for tv so we don’t have the food channel, but I feel spoilt by the amount of foodie programmes on the free channels. On TV in the last month or so: Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey Rick Stein eats in many of the South East Asian countries we plan on eating in very soon. It’s like watching a travel show written for hungry people just like me. Rick’s shows have a seafood slant on everything. I adore eating fresh seafood in Asia, so the seafood slant is fine by me! This series covered: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bali and Bangladesh. Peta Unplugged in Marrakech New Zealander Peta Mathias and her gastronomads on a culinary tour of Marrackech….just finished and replaced with… River Cottage – Spring Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage winter season has only just finished and now we’re onto the spring series. River Cottage isn’t just about food, it’s also about sustainability and lifestyle. It’s about growing, catching, gathering as much as it is about cooking and eating. We would love …

Friday Favourites 2: Chicken & mushroom pie, with pesto & parmesan

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Chicken and mushroom pie, with pesto and parmesan from The Fridge. Big pieces of chicken breast and mushrooms in a creamy pesto sauce snuggled by a puff pastry shell. Actually, The Fridge do a lot of pies and they are all good. The Chicken and Mushroom pie just happens to be my favourite, but do try the others if they tickle your fancy. New Zealand’s most popular pie has got to be the humble mince and cheese pie, but at The Fridge, you will have to opt for a mince and mozzerella instead. Their Bacon and egg pie has mozzerella in it too. These pies can be wrangled with your hands, but they should be eaten with a knife and fork. If you’re not quite feeling up to a pie, the chicken and bacon caesar wrap is worth your time. The Fridge has been very kind to us in times when we are nursing a hangover. Their brand of gourmet lunch bar food fixes a hangover quick smart! The Fridge 507 New North Rd Kingsland Auckland Phone …

Naked Little Dumplings

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I had all the ingredients for dumplings but I didn’t really feel like wrapping them. So I made these naked dumplings instead. What makes these different to meatballs? Well, they have pork, prawns, ginger and shitakke mushrooms in them, so they’re dumplings! Naked Little Dumplings Ingredients 200grams pork mince 100grams raw, frozen, shelled prawns 4 dried shitakke mushrooms 1 spring onion 1 teaspoon salt Ground black pepper 1 tablespoon applesauce 1 teaspoon minced ginger 1 egg, beaten 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce oil Serve with rice, vegetables and coconut cream. Preparation of naked dumplings Thaw prawns in water and chop each prawn into 3 pieces. Boil mushrooms for a minute and drain. Cut off the hard stem and chop the mushrooms finely. Add all the ingredients except for the oil to a mixing bowl and mix, mix, mix. Add a little oil to a non stick frying pan. Using wet hands, measure out a tablespoon of mixture and roll into a ball. Add to the frying pan. Repeat until the mixture is all used up (about …

Friday Favourites 1: Salt Pepper Hapuka

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Welcome to Friday Favourites! Every Friday I will post 1 favourite dish from 1 favourite restaurant. Salt Pepper Hapuka at Canton Cafe I dream about this dish all the time. Firm, bite sized chunks of  hapuka with a little chili and dice onion. This crunchy, boneless, deep fried number is never greasy. I can’t count the number times I’ve ordered this over the years but it’s always a winner. Nici Wickes (World Kitchen) from The New Zealand Herald put Canton Cafe down as number 17 in her 50 dishes to die for article last year. 17. The Canton Cafe in Kingsland has heaps of great dishes but we reckon the standout is chilli ginger prawns, closely followed by their salt, pepper and chilli hapuka. Canton Cafe is BYO with no corkage fee and is cramped, busy and noisy. Don’t come here for a romantic dinner. Do come here for cheap, fast, delicious food. Make sure you book ahead and allow some time to find that elusive Kingsland parking. All you can eat rice and tea to wash …