Oct 15, 2019 What's On
Metro brings you a round up of the best of what Auckland has to offer for the coming week in our city’s diverse and exciting food scene.
Barrio Fiesta
Celebrating the release of Halcyon Pet-Nat (Gris Noir & Pinot Noir), Carlo Buenaventura is presenting a pop up menu at Annabel’s. The Cult Project’s Filipino pop-up king is serving a 3 multi-course sharing meal, promising a new take on Filipino flavours and how it sits in a contemporary dining scene. $55pp, bookings through hello@annabelswinebar.com.
20 October | Annabel’s
Festival Italiano
Buongiorno! Learn a couple more Italian words and experience the culture at the biggest Italian festival in Tamaki Makaurau – with food, music, goods and entertainment activities. Ciao!
20 October | Newmarket
Hallertau x Cazador
Cazador will be in the Hallertau kitchen for a feast: think Kawakawa and coffee-rubbed smoked wagyu brisket, with a smoked boar and beer kielbasa sausage at the centre. Also expect house-made sauces, slaws, and pickles, plus a complimentary beer on arrival. $65pp.
20 October | Hallertau Brewery and Restaurant
Andiamo’s new spring soiree menu
It may have been premature of one particular member of the Metro team to start wearing sundresses and declare that it was spring in August, but now that it’s warmer, we can start doing spring things [Today’s hideous weather-bomb excepted – Ed]. So, to highlight the seasonal delights that come with the warmer weather, Andiamo has shaken up their menu with such dishes as linguine vongole with littleneck clams, riso verde with zucchini flower, crayfish meatball with prawn head bisque or Wakanui beef carpaccio.
Mission Reserve Old Vine Semillon 2018
This wine was released by Mission Estate to celebrate their Chief Winemaker Paul Mooney’s 40th year as a winemaker for the Hawkes Bay – and what a wine to celebrate with! It’s an entrée to summer: golden-hour-yellow honey-flavoured fruity wine that should come with a warning label. Not only is it 14.5% alcohol, it puts you in a warm-weather frame of mind. I’ll be stocking up on this as a go-to porch-sipper.
What We Ate This Week
Jean Teng (sans Alex Blackwood, who is on leave)
Baker’s Diary
Every month or so, Avondale bakery Baker’s Diary hosts a Japanese Bread Day, with a variety of sweet and savoury breads on offer. You have to pre-order via phone or Facebook, so keep an eye out for their upcoming dates on social media; the next dates are 16 November and 7 December. My favourites from the haul were the Mentaiko France – a baguette slathered in cream cheese and fishy roe, which has a distinct, unique flavour – and the green tea croissant with white chocolate.
Unit 5, 448 Rosebank Rd, Avondale
Corner Burger
The new rooftop precinct at Newmarket is now open, and I decided to dine at the most under-the-radar opening of the lot: Corner Burger. They already have an outpost in Mt Eden, with more or less the same menu. I had the “Spicy Classic”, a beef burger whose sauce reminded me eerily of Burger Burger’s chicken burger. It was sloppy and hard to eat, and while the buns were good, the flavour was underwhelming and one-note. A burger is a burger, though, and I ate the lot.
Level 4/309 Broadway
The Kimchi Project
It’s often hard to get a table at this spot – reservations are taken, and everyone seems to want to sit out back in its pretty covered courtyard. It makes sense once you eat the food, though, which is tasty and broadly pleasing, and just different enough with its blend of Korean and Western that it makes for a safe but interesting dinner pick. I had the Korean BBQ Pork Rice. I liked the char on the pork but was less into the sliced almonds, and would have killed for some spice in place of the dialled-down horseradish cream.
20 Lorne St, Auckland CBD
Tsujiri
I will absolutely go to bat for Tsujiri’s fromage cheesecake, which is soft and smooth and what my matcha dreams are made of. Love this place.
10-14 Lorne St, CBD
Viki Vietnamese Street Food
Newly opened in Glenfield Mall on the Shore, Viki Vietnamese has a pretty killer pho to its name. Although it, unfortunately, doesn’t fulfil my never-ending search for a herb-laden Auckland pho, the broth is satisfyingly flavourful and is a much better pick than KFC in the food court downstairs.
Shop 503A Glenfield Mall, Glenfield
88 Spices at Clevedon Village Farmers Market
Great, bright sambal with a couple of small prawns mixed in, fragrant lemak (rich in coconut) rice, and a generous heap of peanuts and ikan bilis (fried anchovies). Their nasi lemak is a winner.
