Oct 31, 2024 Metro Eats
Kia ora,
Food always seems to taste better under the right circumstances — when you’re hungry, when you’re sharing it with people you like, when it looks beautiful, when you’re on holiday, when you’re outdoors or when you eat it with your hands. And, as I was reminded last week, food tastes even better when you’re on a train.
I took the Northern Explorer (thanks to Great Journeys New Zealand) from Tāmaki Makaurau to Te Whanganui-a-Tara, in a journey that began at 8am at Parnell Station and wrapped up nearly 11 hours later in central Wellington — where I was greeted by the wind, of course. In a country where long-distance rail feels like a novelty (despite New Zealand’s once-thriving rail network), I would have been thrilled with literally any seat. But I was lucky enough to enjoy the Scenic Plus dining experience, complete with multi-course kai paired with wine and served on crisp white tablecloths, naturally.
Unexpectedly, the highlight of my journey was the onboard audio history, a mix of iwi, colonial and contemporary histories, geographical tidbits and highly specific train facts, but which also offered a surprising amount of information on the intersection of train travel and food, especially about the once-ubiquitous tearooms of this country’s golden rail age. By the 1950s, the country had over 1,350 train stations, many accompanied by refreshment rooms serving tea, sandwiches, cakes and instant coffee that catered to the hordes of hungry travellers who made their way between towns and cities by rail. From the 1920s onwards, the rise of private transport and short-sighted government policies meant shrinking numbers of both passengers and refreshment rooms — the last rooms disappeared in the late 1980s.
There’s a unique romance to the dining associated with train travel, captured perfectly in one of my favourite clips from Parts Unknown where Anthony Bourdain savours bagels, caviar, and truffle-laced omelettes on a VIA Rail Canada train to Québec City. Some of my own favourite meals have unfolded on trains, from a simple Boots meal deal on a trip to a northern English town I can’t remember the name of to a bento box on the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Kyoto. Now I have a new addition: a very simple cheese platter on board the Northern Explorer. The other meals I had would have been perfectly enjoyable anywhere, but also largely unremarkable had it not been for the transformative powers of rail.
Hei konā mai,
Charlotte
Comings and goings.
I’m very into the Paul Izzard fit-out at the new Mills Lane cocktail bar Quinn, which is all blue and sleek and futuristic looking. I’m also very into the names of the cocktails: “All That Glitters”, “El Niño”, “Snow Bunny”? And the food menu too: Prawn cocktails? Salmon blini? I’m so sold.
Northcote has a new cafe and bakery called Moreno. They’re open every day of the week from 6am (8am on weekends) to 3pm. The sourdough looks really good!
Dominion Rd Chinese restaurant Spicy House , which has been a mainstay on Metro lists for years, has just opened an outpost in Howick. While you’ll find almost all the same dishes on the menu there, there are a few differences: earlier opening and closing hours, a larger and slightly more formal space and the option to BYO, plus a handful of new dishes, exclusive to the Howick restaurant. I ordered takeaways from Spicy House (Dominion Rd) recently and was struck by the level of consistency that’s endured since I ate there for the first time more than a decade ago. Here’s hoping that dependability carries over to the new spot — I’ve got high hopes.
In other Dominion-Rd-adjacent news, fusion restaurant XieXie on Ponsonby Rd (which was apparently owned by the same people as Eden Noodles ), has transformed into another branch of Eden Noodles — with a lot of the same menu items, but also, excitingly, cocktails. I’m especially excited about the Sichuan martini with baijiu, gin, lychee and chilli.
While we’re talking Dominion Rd, there are three new spots along the stretch that have caught my eye of late. At the Eden Terrace end (just across from Eden Noodles), Japanese spot The Takashi, which was previously in Royal Oak, has just opened. The food is much the same, but with a much smaller space than they previously occupied, it’s mostly geared toward takeout.
Then there’s Pan Thai Noodles which you’ll find at the bottom of that new-ish apartment building near Farro. They’re focusing on noodle dishes, of all kinds, from moo daeng to boat noodles to yen ta fo and beyond. As you might have gathered from previous newsletters, I love it when I find Thai restaurants serving dishes I’ve not seen on other menus in this city, and this is one of those places.
At the Mt Roskill End is Albasha which is serving a broad menu traversing the Mediterranean and Middle East — hummus, dolma, kibbeh, mandi, shawarma, and so on. I really like that they’re open till midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Hot.
Dunkin Donuts’ deranged “Spidey” Halloween campaign.
Oeufs mayonnaise.
Fish collar noodles from Mama Kopitiam.
The lolly selection at Martin Ave Superette.
Martha on Netflix.
Iced coffee season begins!
The (slightly) cheaper-than-Auckland prices for glasses of wine in Wellington restaurants.
Agak Agak. Find them at Rose Alley in Ponsonby.
Not.
The lack of artichokes in Auckland. (If anyone knows of a source, I’d love to hear it!)
The job losses (estimated at 1,600) as a result of the changes to the government’s school lunch supplier contracts.
New World and Pak’nSave’s quiet removal of online price-sorting for shoppers.
Everything I’ve read this week about shrimp farming.
