A week of surprises

It's been an exciting week for me, being able to try a number of different items I've never had before.  Who knew Auckland had so much to offer?

Mountain Caviar and Piko Piko @ Cocoro Degustation Dinner

I'd heard plenty of good things about the degustation dinner at Cocoro, so when Valentine's Day rolled around, it was the perfect opportunity to give it a go.  I usually find that such dinners present far too much food for one person to eat, and this was no exception.  The problem is, the dishes taste so good you don't want to let them go to waste.

The seafood, such as the blue fin tuna (sustainably farmed in Japan), was exceptional, but I was particularly happy to be able to taste some ingredients I have never seen before.  On top of the beautifully light and crispy courgette filo tempura, which looked like a bird's nest, there was some "mountain caviar".  The waitress assured us this was vegetarian, and the menu called it "belvedere fruit".  I didn't even know such a thing existed.  It didn't taste like much, but I guess it's used as a garnish (the Japanese call it tonburi and it's apparently a delicacy of the Akita prefecture) because of its caviar-like texture.

One third of the third course: Courgette filo tempura, Worcestersire sauce, egg tartare, belvedere fruit or "mountain caviar".

While Cocoro is a Japanese restaurant, the chef also uses plenty of New Zealand ingredients, from the karengo seaweed sprinkles to the whitebait in the chawanmushi.  For the first time ever, I was also able to try eating a piko piko frond.  This Maori fern shoot tasted like a bitter green bean or asparagus.

From the vegetarian degustation menu: Summer vegetable tempura of courgette flower, piko piko, eggplant and baby carrot with micro mizuna, karengo and cauliflower in white vinegar dressing.

6-course degustation dinner ($80) at
Cocoro
56a Brown Street, Ponsonby
(09) 360 0927
Sundays and Mondays closed.
Tuesdays to Saturdays 12 - 2pm and 5:30 - 10pm

Exotic Fruit @ Bhana Brothers

While wandering around the streets of Ponsonby, I found myself in what looked like a well presented dairy, with fresh flowers outside and spacious aisles inside.  It had no sign on the door, so it wasn't until I bought something that I discovered this was Bhana Brothers, a family business that has existed for over 70 years now.

Apart from the handmade tortas de aceite (Sevillian olive oil wafers) which Anna from Eats By Anna had raved about, and other upmarket products like Clevedon buffalo cheese, this shop has fruit I haven't seen for sale before, not even at my local Nosh Food Market.  I call them exotic for this reason, though plenty of New Zealand families have figs and cape gooseberries (I first knew of them as "physalis") growing in their (grandma's) backyards.  Presumably figs aren't often sold because they don't transport or keep well, and I had never come across the very sweet and green little spheres called greengages before.

Greengages, fresh fig and cape gooseberries from Bhana Brothers.

Other fruits on the shelf which I was impressed to see, but less excited by, included pomelos, kiwiberries and horned melons (or kiwanos), as well as fresh blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.  Not your average dairy, that's for sure!

[Added 3 March 2012: Found cape gooseberries and greengages slightly cheaper at a grocer called Kumeu Produce Market (407 State Highway 16, Kuneu) as well today.]

Bhana Brothers
129 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby
(09) 376 5329
Mondays to Sundays 8am - 7p

Nettle Goats Cheese @ Crescent Dairy Goats

Someone told me about a little farm not far from central Auckland, where they make their own goats cheese, so I naturally had to check it out.  To get to Crescent Dairy Goats, you basically drive to the end of the Northwestern motorway and turn left before you get to Taupaki (turn off before Kumeu).  From there, it's pretty well signposted.

The softest cheese they had at this time of the year, which they called "Flat White", was delicious, creamy and mild.  They have a whole range of goats cheeses, including blue cheese, and I chose to try their "Farmhouse Sting" next, so named because the cheese is marbled with nettle leaves, which is apparently safe to eat in the cheese, though you shouldn't go around munching on fresh nettle.

Two of many varieties of goats cheese for sale at Crescent Dairy Goats.

They offer a tour of the farm for $15 (minimum of 10 people required), where you get to meet the goats, have a tour of the milking and cheese making areas, then sit down for a taste of at least ten of their cheeses with tasting notes and commentary from the cheesemaker.  I haven't got around to it yet, but I am definitely planning to round some people up for this!

Crescent Dairy Goats
177A Taupaki Road, Kumeu
(09) 412 2074
Mondays closed.
Tuesdays to Sundays 10am - 5pm

Molecular Gastronomy @ FISH

If you thought FISH was just a simple seafood restaurant, any such illusions are immediately dispelled when the waiter brings out ciabatta rolls with what looks like a pale green mousse on the side. This turns out to be a very soft and light spread made from olive oil emulsified overnight using the enzymes from some kind of tree sap.

From this beginning, the mouthful of brocolli soup served in a flat glass tube, or the oysters with balsamic and chilli sauce in eye droppers, or even the fish and chips with what looks like rice bubbles in the batter, should no longer be a surprise.

They really turned up the heat though, or cold, rather, when I ordered the nitro toffee & coffee mousse, which became a full scale performance.  A side table was set up so that we could see the swirling mist from the liquid nitrogen cooling a ball of mousse, injected with the filling before our eyes.  The outside of the ball solidified, while the inside was still gooey.

Preparing the nitro toffee & coffee mousse.

Mousse ball ripped apart.

Yes, it's gimmicky, but the flavours are right up there, and it's nice to try something like this at least once.

In related news, the first issue of the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science is out (you can download the electronic versions of the articles for free), and celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has been asked to cook the first synthetic meat burger later this year.

FISH
Hilton Auckland, Princes Wharf, 147 Quay Street, Auckland Central
(09) 978 2020
Mondays to Saturdays 12 - 11pm
Sundays 12 - 10pm

Review: Faro (화로), Newmarket

The best, and perhaps only, modern Korean BBQ restaurant we knew of was Faro in town, and I'd been meaning to write about it for a while.  We were therefore excited to hear that a new branch opened just over a week ago in Newmarket, where HP8 on Nuffield Street used to be.  Not only that, there were new items on the menu, including sesame leaf rolls!

We headed off immediately to try this new venue out.  It seemed to be less dark than the Faro in town, and tables were partitioned off to give a sense of privacy.  There was also an area to the right that could accommodate larger groups.  Otherwise, it was much the same, with a grill ring in the middle of the table for you to BBQ your food, a button on the side of the table for summoning your waiter (common to Korean restaurants) and a pipe which you can adjust to hang above your grill, for extracting the smoke from your cooking.

Extraction pipes hung above each booth.

Floor seating for a larger group.

After perusing the menu for some time, we decided to go for a selection of entrees, as well as getting some meat and veg for the grill.  We also opted to try a rice dish with radish greens called shiregi (시래기영양밥), and were mildly surprised when the outgoing waitress suggested that it would taste "healthy" and that she wouldn't recommend it.  The vegetarian had had enough of bibimbap (비빔밥) though (mixture of vegetables, optionally with egg and/or meat, on rice, served with a fermented chilli sauce, which seems to be the safest vegetarian option), so we ordered the shiregi rice despite the warning.

Our entrees came first, the stir-fried peanuts labelled kong (땅콩무침) to begin with, then the sesame ssam with rice (깻잎밥).  And here I have to digress...

Sesame ssam: rice and black sesame seeds wrapped with a pickled perilla leaf.

While I was looking up the Korean for this dish, I discovered that kkaenip ssam (깻잎쌈) is actually a wrap with a perilla leaf, not sesame, the common mistranslation.  I confirmed this with a Korean friend:

Perilla is correct. Because both perilla and sesame seeds are used in the Korean cuisine in similar (but distinct) manners, one word, '깨', refers to both.

참깨 ('true' 깨) refers to sesame, usually more expensive, used as garnish or to get sesame oil (참기름, or 'true' oil)

들깨 ('field' or 'wild' 깨) refers to perilla, used for flavouring soups, or making oil (들기름), which is used as marinade or dressing for vegetables. 

Because the word '깻잎' simply means the 'leaf of 깨', not many Korean people would know which one it refers to. But the correct answer is perilla :)

Yay.  So we seem to have eaten a green version of what is growing in my garden.  It was a bit soft and fibrous, quite unlike the crisp and juicy feeling you would expect with a lettuce leaf, though perhaps not so different from a stuffed vine leaf in Greek or Turkish cuisine.

A couple of dishes from the Dinner Special page came out shortly after this (though they still looked like entrees to me): stuffed chillis called gochu jeon (고추전) and chicken on fried tofu, or dubu dak (두부닭).

Dubu dak and gochu jeon.

Then came the food for the grill, along with the usual Korean side dishes.  Each person was given two varieties: the pickled onion and a daikon salad.  We also had four larger bowls to share between the table, which contained kimchi, a green salad, a white jelly made of mung bean starch, and a sliced soy egg.  When we polished them off, they were later replaced by battered courgette slices and a mung bean salad.

Marinated boneless beef rib fillets, fresh cut top blade, marinated chicken with hot hot hot sauce, and side dishes.

I guess the thing about cooking your own dinner is that you've only got yourself to blame if it's burnt or otherwise suboptimal.  When the bars on the grill got black and sticky, a waiter would come rushing up to replace it for you, so vegetarians don't even need to worry about contaminated cookware.  Our marinated meats were good, but we could have done with some salt for the plain one.  Thinking back afterwards, they must have just forgotten to give us the sauces they'd advertised on the cover of their menu, which were supposed to be:

Galbi-Jang: best with marinated beef
Roast Salt: best with fresh beef & pork
Ssam-Jang: best with vegitable wrap

Marinated beef rib fillets on the grill.

You can also grill vegetables, though they were quite dry and tended to burn easily.  The tomato, in particular, wanted to disintegrate and stick to the grill.  Again, these could really have done with some sauce.

Grilling vegetables.

Finally, we received the shiregi rice, which was the $17 bowl of grains that the waitress had tried to dissuade us from. Yes, it did taste healthy, but it was also delicious.  I would have liked it more if it had had more radish greens, and where was the chilli paste mentioned in the menu?  It was also served with a decidedly unvegetarian soup: we found a prawn, some little clams and dried shrimps in the doen jang soup (된장찌개), which had tofu and vegetables in the soybean base as well.

Shiregi rice with doen jang soup and soy sauce.

We were so full after all this that we unfortunately had no room for desserts.  We were happy pandas after a fun and pleasant meal.  Although some of the food was bland, partly due to the missing sauces, this was no doubt due to the fact that the restaurant had opened less than two weeks ago, and we look forward to coming back when these mistakes will have been sorted out.

Panda Recommends

Mains: something off the grill menu ($11 - $13).  This is a Korean BBQ restaurant after all.  Don't forget (as we did) to ask for your sauces.

Vegie Pandas
Unlike the menu from Faro in town, the vegetarian options are not clearly marked here.  There are a number of beautiful entrees which you could order, as well as a plate of vegetables to grill, or go for the default option of vegetarian bibimbap (비빔밥).

Menu - page 1

Menu - page 2

Menu - page 3

Restaurant Details

Faro
49 Nuffield Street, Newmarket
(09) 529 4040

Opening hours:
Mondays to Sundays 11:30am - 3pm, 5:30pm - 10:30pm

The Newmarket branch of Faro is not far from Hansan, where HP8 used to be.

View Nom Nom Panda in a larger map

Review: Industry Zen

Industry Zen - what a great name.  If you are thinking a factory floor sort of space, a large room with rough wooden beams and metal piping, you'd be right.  If you are thinking precision and perfection, dim lights and dark colours, you would also be right.  But if the name brings to you a picture of calm and peacefulness, inner reflection and understated beauty, nothing could be further from the truth.

The interior decor matches the restaurant's name

This restaurant serves food as art, for sure.  But it is a bustling, busy venue, not one you would head to for a quiet meal.  The dishes, in particular the lunch sets, are nothing short of spectacular, in a showy over-the-top way.  Some might call it kitsch; others, a pleasant surprise.  In any case, you are getting your value for money.

In most places, a Japanese lunch box consists of a tray, partitioned into many rectangular containers of food. Industry Zen takes it to a whole new level, with boxes stacked on top of each other in a rickshaw, for instance.  My photos below don't begin to do justice to these sources of wonderment.

Lunch Box - vegetarian tempura-ju.  The shigi-ju (teriyaki chicken lunch box) came with three layers in the rickshaw.

Chef's Special Sashimi & Teriyaki Chicken Set

Sashimi Boat Set

Rikka Combo - Sushi & Teriyaki Chicken - comes with circular shelving that almost hides you from the person sitting opposite

You could easily be mistaken, from seeing all those tiny plates above, that they comprise the whole lunch set.  In fact, before those main trays came out, we also received miso soup and appetisers, including lotus root chips and little salads.  And at the end of the meal, we were served a thankfully small and barely sweetened portion of dessert.

Miso soup and appetisers included in the lunch sets

Although I would recommend the lunch sets when they are available, you can also order off the main menu at any time.  With certain dishes, you are offered a selection of Himalayan rock salts (pink, black or crystal), the difference between which my palate is too unrefined to tell. At lunchtime, you are just given a tray with the salts in granule form, while at dinner, someone would actually grate the salt over your meal from a large salt ball.

But let me tell you about my one dinner experience from the beginning...  We had made a booking for 8:30pm during the Rugby World Cup.  Fortunately, we decided we were too hungry and turned up half an hour early, because at 8:15pm someone started banging on the drums and a waitress came over to ask the name of the birthday boy (yes, it was a special occasion).  The chefs stood in a row behind a pane of glass in the show kitchen (as opposed to the hidden one out the back where most of the work gets done) and were formally introduced.  More drums, then all the birthday celebrants were announced (there were four that night).  You get the idea.

Formal introduction of our chefs

I thought the main dishes were less jaw-dropping than the lunch sets, but that didn't stop the oysters from being served in what looked like a toolbox, with a bonsai tree.  There was also a lot more staff involvement, in the form of waiters grating salt for some dishes, blowtorching others, cooking items on hot plates in front of you, and even (as happened at the next table) chanting and clapping around you while the birthday girl downed a giant bowl of what may or may not have been sake.  Either she was drinking slowly, or there was a serious amount of liquid in there too, because that encouraging noise they were making seemed to go on forever.

Sushi , one of the more minimally presented dishes

Overall, I would say the food is tasty, but not outstanding in its own right.  There are plenty of fantastic Japanese restaurants out there.  Together with the presentation of the dishes and the atmosphere of the establishment, though, Industry Zen will make your meal a fun and delightful experience.  Sit back and enjoy.

Panda Recommends

Mains: the lunch sets ($19-$24). Sounds expensive, but worth it for the experience of seeing your friends' eyes bulge. You get a good amount of delicious food too.

Vegie Pandas
You can get a vegetarian tempura lunch box, or order off the bigger selection in the main menu.

Lunch menu

Main menu - page 1

Main menu - page 2

Restaurant Details

Industry Zen
104D Customs Street West, Auckland Central
(09) 3070936

Opening hours:
Mondays to Sundays 12pm - 11pm

Industry Zen is just behind the Tepid Baths which are currently under redevelopment

View Nom Nom Panda in a larger map