Metro — Pot Luck — Friday 2 August

Aug 2, 2024 Metro Eats

Kia ora,

Ah, the lolly section at the dairy — a wonderland of sugared technicolour worms, pastel marshmallow twists, jewel-like boiled sweets and glistening gummy imitations of eggs and sharks and croissants and crocodiles, all neatly consolidated and grouped together in their own little plastic bags. An affordably priced ticket to sweetness.

In the latest issue of Metro (available online or in stores now!), we have a feature by contributing writer Madeleine Ballard on New Zealand’s lolly culture. Madeleine explores the evolution of this country’s lolly industry, detailing where our lollies come from and the complex components that go into making a great lolly — which I’m now convinced is as much a science as it is an art.

The piece impressed upon me the especially idiosyncratic nature of local lolly-eating habits (e.g., it’s quite cute that we share the habit of heading to the dairy for a little sack of hand-sorted sweets). Even more surprising was the discovery that many of the sweets we habitually enjoy are produced locally by largely anonymous companies with intriguing back stories, made almost entirely for our own national enjoyment. We have our own Willy Wonka-esque factories scattered across the country (and we’ve included a chart at the end of the piece showing where your favourite lollies are made). Take Oamaru-based Rainbow Confectionery, known for their volcano lollies, milk bottles, and strawberries/boysenberries/peaches/feijoas and cream. The lolly company was founded in 2001 by a bunch of workers left jobless after the closure by Nestlé of Regina Confectionery — when I spot Rainbow lollies at the dairy now I’m hit by a soppy feeling that we’re lucky a group of people banded together to keep making them. They’re also, incidentally, the only lolly makers in the country with the machinery to produce jelly beans.

What I love most about this piece is that it does what all my favourite food writing does: it prompts you to consider your food in a new light. In this case, it has made me look at whatever tiny, colourful bag of sugar (most often rainbow straps or sour feijoas) I’ve plucked from the dairy wall with a fresh perspective.

— Charlotte

P.S. I thoroughly recommend this TikTok account which belongs to a local lolly distributor. They’re charmingly honest about what they think about the lollies that they sell, but also impressively frank about what’s going on in the industry (see: why rainbow belts have changed colour, the Zombie Chews production drama, the impact of shrinkflation Skittles).

Comings and goings.

South Korean fried chicken chain bb.q chicken has just opened a new restaurant on Queen St (in the space formerly inhabited by Wendy’s). The menu looks to include much of what you’d expect from a Korean fried chicken spot, but with a few more unexpected dishes — namely the “Pane Fondue Chicken”, which involves chicken tenders and a bread bowl filled with spicy, cheesy fondue. They also look to be offering a cabinet of ready-to-go bites like kimbap, salads, wraps, tteokbokki — handy!

Dino Hamburger Steaks opened last week in Henderson — serving Japanese-style hamburger steaks. For those unfamiliar with the dish (also called hanbāgu or hamburg), in its most typical form, it consists of a ground-meat burger patty covered in a demi-glace sauce. Dino serves this classic version, but also offers a range of more Italian-inflected sauces. I’m quite charmed by the fact that they stamp their bread rolls with their name.

While in a rush to get down Queen St last week I spotted what looked like signage for a yet-to-be-opened Cuban sandwich shop in Queens Arcade. Granted, my eyes might have deceived me in a moment of wishful thinking (I’d love a new non-trendy sandwich spot — Bodega looks very good but I don’t have the patience for their perpetually long lines). As usual, I’ll give more details once I have them.

Since Julie’s Rice Noodles opened late last year on Dominion Rd they’ve attracted fanfare for their bowls of luosifen or snail rice noodles. Now, they’ve opened a second branch in Albany. If you’re intrigued about what to expect, former Metro food editor Jean Teng reviewed the Dominion Rd branch of the restaurant in our previous issue.

Another new Albany opening: Yuán Taste, which specialises in Taiwanese sponge cakes and egg tarts and has an existing shop on Queen St, has just opened in the suburb.

Dominion Rd Asian-fusion restaurant Love Exposure seems to have closed down. While their Google profile suggests that they’re “temporarily closed”, when I drove past the other day it looked very much like the space had been properly shuttered (no more vinyl-clothed tables, no more fluorescent lights, no more purple plastic chairs, etc).

Last week, I mentioned the majestic-looking pie that my regular lunch spot PieFee had entered into the Bakels Supreme Pie Awards. The winners have since been announced and a bunch of Tāmaki Makaurau bakeries (including PieFee) have made the list, with three winning gold awards in their categories: Theara Keo from Taste Bakery and Roast in Henderson for mince and cheese; Kaing Sok from My Bakery Cafe in Glen Eden for potato top; and Tola Chhunleng from Freemans Bakery and Cafe in Glenfield for steak and cheese. Congratulations to all! You can find the full list of winners here.

After a heroic two decades, beloved dive bar and live music venue The Wine Cellar will be coming to an end this Saturday, after which Whammy will take over the venue. They’re marking their final night with a send-off show (which is already, unsurprisingly, sold out) featuring The Beths, LEAO and Dominic Hoey. Even if you missed out on tickets, don’t be shy about popping in to say goodbye. Bon voyage to founder Rohan Evans and the rest of the Wine Cellar team, who made this city a better, more interesting place to be.

Hot. (Lolly edition.)

Wazza’s watermelon belts. (From The Sweet Station at Westfield St Lukes.)

Zombie Chews raspberry lemonade. The pastel marbled finish, the high-level chew, the thin central layer of sour powder — elegance.

Rainbow Confectionery’s feijoa and cream.

Freeze dried gummy peach rings.

Empire frosted caramel bars. (From The Sweet Station at Westfield St Lukes.)

Marukawa strawberry bubble gum. Excellent packaging and impressively long-lasting strawberry-ness. (From Japan Mart.)

Not. (Lolly edition.)

Toxic Waste sour worms. Disgusting!

Toxic Waste smog balls. There was an unsettling level of irregularity between each ball in the packet. Some were shockingly soft, some looked like they’d been left in the sun, others tasted as if they’d forgotten the flavouring.

Toxic Waste sour lemon and lime soda.

Warheads tropical sour taffy. A grainy, waxy, indistinctly flavoured mess.

Fruit Gushers.

Ghouliez strawberry sour chew. Ersatz Zombie Chews.

From the archives.