A Bite in Brief: Satya Spice and Chai Shop

We came here because we were checking out the Sandringham Street Festival, and came across the intriguing little entranceway next to Satya Restaurant while hunting for chai.

Alleyway entrance to the chai lounge.

The menu was mainly taken up by drinks of various forms (including chai, craft beer and cocktails), but also had a selection of Indian, Indo-Chinese and non-Indian street food.

Part of the menu - there were also 30+ types of craft beer.

The setting was cozy and casual, with a natural look from the upcycled furniture made from coffee sacks, pallet boxes and tree trunks. Edison bulbs and plants on planks hung overhead. From other people's pictures, it appears quite magical at night with fairy lights too.

A hidden hideaway in Sandringham village.

The service was engaging and informative - the person who looked after us not only told us about the specials and provided details about the menu items, but shared interesting things like:

• his parents own the four Satya restaurants
• the chai lounge has been around for about 6 months (the spice shop somewhat longer, and the restaurant next door has been there for 16 years), but it had a quiet start as it didn't have all the signage out the front
• he decorated the place over the space of a month while his parents were on holiday, with help from his friends (one of whom works at a landscaping business and another at Allpress coffee)
• the reason there are Chinese-sounding items such as fried rice is because India and China are close to each other, and Chinese immigrants have influenced Indian cuisine
• idli and dosas are traditionally eaten for breakfast

We were also invited to take a look at the spice shop in the next room, a corner of which was being used to cook our food. Apart from spices and teas, you could also buy idli and dosa batter from the fridge!

Spice shop area.

What we had included:

• Spiced buttermilk ($2) - this was a savoury and refreshing drink, seasoned with coriander leaves and spices

Spiced buttermilk.

• Masala chai ($1 small, $2 larger) - we ended up ordering another one of these because we loved the blend of flavours in this milky tea

Masala chai.

• Vegetable manchurian ($12) - these freshly fried balls were delicious! The sweet soy flavour of the brown sauce went well with the spicy and gingery bites.

Vege manchurian.

Overall, we were stoked to have stumbled upon our first chai lounge in Auckland, where you can relax, snack on tasty food, and choose from a wide selection of drinks. Others have even apparently played a game of carrom there, but we don't need entertainment to entice us back for another visit!

Store Details

Satya Spice and Chai Shop
515a Sandringham Road, Sandringham
(09) 845 8451

A Meal in Brief: Burger Bar K'Rd

We came here because this burger bar opened at St Kevins Arcade around the same time as the glowingly reviewed Lebanese eatery Gemmayze St just steps away, yet I couldn't find anything about it online other than on their Facebook page.

The menu not only ran through their selection of burgers, sides, sauces and drinks, but gave some details that they really ought to slap on a website. Things like:

• "Our patties are handmade and we mince our beef, pork and lamb fresh on site"
• "Our chips are hand cut and condiments and sauces made in house"
• "All buns are wholemeal"
• "We stock a wide range of locally made boutique soft drinks and an even wider rage of craft beers"
• "We have a strong focus on minimising waste"

The setting had a vintage feel, which was perfectly suited to the iconic arcade. From the wonky lamp and retro furniture, to the classic board games and tea towels with burn marks, to the colourfully mismatching plates, this places manages to be both delightful and different.

Retro couches with TV dinner trays and National Geographic magazines.

Cutesy robot table numbers.

The service was given with a smile, from a lady wearing a soft burger hat. I had to ask how to open my bottle of CoAqua coconut water (just $4!)—I only realised afterwards that I captured the opener in the photo above—but I easily spotted the herb salts and sauces you can help yourselves to.

Board games, herb salts and sauces.

What we ate included:

• Lamb burger ($14) - stacked tall and skewered into place, you could clearly see each layer of filling: salsa verde, cumin and rosemary lamb, brie, kale and spinach, tomato, beetroot, and red onion, sitting between two halves of a wholemeal Wild Wheat bun. It was fresh and flavourful, and though you don't generally expect wholemeal bread in a burger, it really worked.

A tall and tasty lamb burger.

• Vege/vegan burger ($11) - we were given the option of having cheddar cheese or brie with this, but it seems they left it out in the end. No matter - it was already a filling meal as it was. The spiced pumpkin, chickpea and lentil patty was a little soft (so it squished out the sides if you squeezed too hard) and also a little underseasoned (but that was easily fixed with the aforementioned herb salts). The vibrant colours, including the bright pink of beetroot hummus and the pale green of the coriander yoghurt, helped bring out the different components of the burger.

A colourful vege burger.

• Homemade coleslaw ($4.50) - creamy without being heavy, a great addition to boost your veg intake!

Overall, the Burger Bar K'Rd has everything going for it: a great location, tasty and wholesome burgers and sides, a neat atmosphere, and an ethical philosophy. It deserves so much more press than it is currently getting, and we can't wait to come back and try some more (for instance, their duck breast, chicken liver pate and crisped parsnip special looks epic)!

The Burger Bar K'Rd is a perfect addition to St Kevins Arcade.

Restaurant Details

Burger Bar K'Rd

Shop 18, St Kevins Arcade, 183 Karangahape Road, Auckland

theburgerbarkroad@gmail.com

Opening hours:

Mondays to Tuesdays 11am - 3pm

Wednesdays to Thursdays 11am - 9pm

Fridays to Saturdays 11am - 10pm

Sundays 11am - 7pm

A Meal in Brief: Spring Trees New Sichuan Cuisine (早春二月), Newmarket

We came here because my parents suggested it for being cheap and tasty. After doing some web searches, I discovered the Sichuan restaurant is part of a chain which started in Beijing in 2008. The original store had a couple of trees growing through the roof of the main dining room, hence the name of the restaurant.

Entrance to Spring Trees restaurant.

The menu was huge, both in terms of the size of the pages and the number of items available. It was full of colour pictures, some taking up a whole page.

Large full colour menu with lots of pages.

The setting was new and modern. There was a dining room on the right, a series of booths on the left of the corridor, and private rooms down the back, which you can have a nosy at on the way to the bathroom. Along the way, you'll also see some food storage areas that are less tidy too. The restaurant was pretty much full, so I would recommend you make a booking.

Dining room area.

The service was fine, the usual busy Chinese restaurant experience. Our teapots were filled when empty, and we were able to order extra rice. Staff switched happily to English when we struggled with Mandarin. When we went to pay and asked for takeaway boxes, we were given a choice between free polystyrene ones, or plastic ones with a fee. (I recommend the plastic ones, not only because they are more environmentally friendly, but also because you don't want to run the risk of spilling red chilli oil everywhere.)

What we ate included:

• Nanjing-style salted duck 金陵盐水鸭 ($12) - as the name suggests, this was salty. It was also chilled, with relatively dry flesh, like tasty preserved meat.
• Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐 ($8) - this Sichuan dish with bean curd and pork mince was really well done, and the portion size was huge for the price.

Nanjing-style salted duck and mapo tofu.

• Mixed beef and honeycomb with chilli sauce 夫妻肺片 ($10) - there didn't seem to be any honeycomb tripe here; not sure if they didn't have any or if my parents asked for just beef without me hearing. This cold dish had nice flavours, as with everything else we ate.

Beef with chilli sauce.

• Griddle cooked lotus root 干锅莲片 ($12) - there was a generous serving of lotus root pieces with little pork slices, set atop a platter with a tea light underneath. Just a little bit spicy, we enjoyed the crisp and slightly sticky nature of this dish.

Griddle cooked lotus root.

• Fried pork with cabbage 手撕包菜小炒肉 ($10) - this was less cabbage than it looks in the photo, because there was a lot of meat underneath. In hindsight, we should have ordered another dish with greens. Despite being cooked with chilli oil like many other Sichuan dishes, this was not very hot and did taste different from everything else.

Fried pork with cabbage.

• Delicious dasheen roll 香芋吐丝卷 ($5) - literally "taro toast roll", these cigars were dipped into crispy sesame at each end, and filled with a sweet taro paste. The toast part itself was not particularly crunchy, probably due to their reheating method, but can't really complain for that amount of money.

Taro toast rolls.

• White rice ($1 per bowl) - if all the dishes above seemed ridiculously cheap, the rice made up for it by being rather steep. Each bowl was tiny, maybe only three soup spoons worth. I guess they have to make their money somehow.

Overall, Spring Trees is a great choice for flavourful Sichuan food, with low prices and decent surroundings. It will be a relatively oily meal which you will want to supplement with plenty of white rice, but the dishes are skilfully cooked and well worth trying. Call ahead as this place is popular.

Restaurant Details

Spring Trees (早春二月)
100 Carlton Gore Road, Newmarket, Auckland
(09) 302 0465

According to their business card, they also have a satellite branch at Unit 13, 16 Gooch Place, Meadowland, Auckland, (09) 533 5008.

A Meal in Brief: Paradise Indian Food

We came here because we had heard lots of good things about Paradise, including from blogger Easy Food Hacks. While Chinese eateries upped their game in the Dominion Road Dumpling Wars by switching to neon signs and more recently renovating, over in Sandringham, Paradise Takeaway was quietly expanding, gaining enough space from neighbouring shops to have separate restaurant and takeaway areas. I noticed they were building a live kitchen back in 2013, but somehow never managed to try the food till now!

Live kitchen nearly open in December 2013.

The menu was large, and featured "moghlai" food. The restaurant took particular pride in their Hyderabadi biryani and tandoor-cooked dishes, but you can also order Indian Chinese, more familiar curries and other dishes.

The setting was simple and modern. You walk down a corridor, then past the ordering area to get to the seating. The dining area did not have a view of the live kitchen (which faced onto the street), but one side of the walls were adorned with framed cricket bats, while the other had pictures and TV screens.

Live kitchen in action: view from the footpath outside.

The service was friendly and people were happy to explain things, but this place still felt a bit like a takeaway because you have to order and pay at the counter next to the dining room. We asked for rice to go with the specialty stew called harleem after the dish came out, but it wasn't until the main curries came out that we were given some.

What we ate included:

• Paneer tikka ($12) - this entree arrived on a sizzling hot plate and was served with a mint yoghurt. The fresh cheese cubes were hot and fragrant, easily one of our favourite dishes here.

Paneer tikka.

• Haleem ($12) - available as a weekend special, this Hyderabadi delicacy had a porridgey consistency, a wedge of lemon on the side, and the flavour of chicken and spices. It was pretty filling, even without the boiled egg it came with. The person who cleared our table explained it was like brown rice, which we took to mean wholemeal, since the menu said it combined "wheat and tender meat". Although nothing alike and not at all sweet, it reminded me of a Turkish dessert containing chicken. We were less keen on this dish, though it probably didn't help that it didn't arrive particularly hot, and we had no rice or naan to eat it with until later.

Hyderabadi haleem.

• Paradise special chicken masala ($16) - when you've got your restaurant name on a dish, it's got to be good. This lived up to expectations completely, with a beautiful cashew and saffron sauce enveloping the boneless chicken.

Paradise special chicken masala.

• Bagarey baigan ($14) - the "Spicy aubergines in tamarind gravy in an irresistible vegetarian Mughlai delight" was indeed delicious. This was the only dish we managed to polish off, rather than ending up in (polystyrene) takeaway containers.

Bagarey baigan.

• Mutton dum biryani ($12) - we found this rice dish to be not particularly interesting, despite being what the restaurant is supposedly famous for. Perhaps our tastebuds were skewed by the flavourful curries which arrived first.

Mutton dum biryani.

• Butter Naan ($2.50) - the freshly made naan bread was unlike any we have had elsewhere, relatively sweet and soft. Different in a good way.

Naan (and biryani).

Overall, Paradise is a pretty apt name for this restaurant. The tikka and sauced based dishes we tried were amazing, even though we were less enthusiastic about the biryani and harleem. Prices were reasonable and portions were huge. We would definitely come back to try some more dishes from here.

Restaurant Details

Paradise
591 - 595 Sandringham Road, Sandringham, Auckland
(09) 845 1144

Review: Better Burger, Britomart

When we first visited Better Burger a year and a half ago, we were not that impressed. The staff took forever to get the orders out, and the thin beef patty in the burger was dry. It was dark at night, with loud music intruding from the Britomart Country Club next door. There was no way it could be compared with Burger Burger, which opened in Ponsonby Central around the same time (and is now about to open a Newmarket branch).

While we would hesitate to call Better Burger better (they make a different style of burger, so not really comparable anyway), we have come to enjoy eating at this downtown venue, which uses quality ingredients and offers tasty food at very reasonable prices indeed. It's even better than its main rival in some ways, because it is central (not far from the Britomart train station), and the cheeseburgers have the processed cheese you expect from American burgers!

Double cheese burger.

Due to the thinness of the patties, they can only really be a medium doneness rather than medium-rare, but we now always order the double cheeseburger and they have managed to maintain the juiciness of the meat (though the cooking level can be variable depending on who you get).

Better Burger also has a superior vegetarian burger, which is filled with a crumbed portabello mushroom, along with the usual lettuce, tomato, red onion and cheese.

Crumbed portabello mushroom in vegetarian burger with upsized fries.

There isn't much else you can get with your burgers. You can have a combo with hand-cut fries and a soft drink, or upgrade to a shake (or order an alcoholic beverage from the BCC next door). There's no side of vegetables, potatoes in different shapes, a weekly special, or anything particularly "gourmet", but there is beauty in the simplity here. Oh, and the paper wrap sporting their attractive logo conveniently catches the drips which threaten to ruin your dining experience. What more could you ask for?

Picture perfect fast food meal.

Panda Recommends

There isn't much to choose from, so you hardly need our advice, but the double cheeseburger ($7) will satisfy your craving. The fries ($4) are good too, and you can upsize for an extra dollar ($5).

Vegie Pandas
You have one option, the mushroom burger ($6.50), but it's a great one. If you are after greens though, you are out of luck, unless you count the lettuce in your burger.

Short menu.

Restaurant Details

[Added 2 May 2015: Better Burger now has a second branch in Vulcan Lane.]

Better Burger
31 Galway Street, Britomart, Auckland Central
(09) 303 2541

Opening hours:
Sundays to Tuesdays 12pm - 10pm
Wednesdays to Saturdays 12pm till late

Better Burger can be found next to the Britomart Country Club.

(This is where I would normally embed a map showing where the place is, but Google's updated My Maps does not have an easy way for me to centre it on one placemark...)

Review: Legianz Waroeng Indonesia

It feels like some vibrant and refreshing areas have sprung up in Auckland in virtually no time. I suppose no one used to go to where Britomart or Wynyard Quarter are now, so their transformations were suddenly impressive. The renovation of Victoria Park Market, on the other hand, has been dragging on for years.

Peering through a window into Victoria Park Market, December 2012.

A newspaper article in 2010 reported that the new market would "include Mexican eatery the Flying Burrito Brothers, an Argentinian steak house, a New York-style tapas bar and a Japanese restaurant. A German brewery is also interested." None of these seem to be there yet, unless you count La Zeppa and Matsu Sushi. But then it also claimed, optimistically, that "the $25 million redevelopment will take nine months and could begin next month." In October 2011, the market was apparently "about to open". Nearly two years later, another article in May 2013 said that "The massive $20 million redevelopment of Victoria Park Market is all but complete." So it is just a little surprising that when you walk through the complex now, it still looks like half the shops are empty, even though it is technically more than 80% tenanted. Yet another article in October 2013 noted the "$28 million refurbishment began in 2008" and blames heritage issues for delayed construction. There were also apparently plans "under way to open up a European-style market by the end of November." Well, I haven't heard anything more about that either.

Deserted and papered up shopfronts, May 2014.

That's not to say there has been no progress. The restaurants bordering Drake Street opened early on, while work was still being done within the bowels of the market. Atico Cocina opened in late 2011, The Oakroom in May 2012, and Libertine in June 2012. Then the restaurants on the other side appeared on Victoria Street West: Buttermilk Cafe in November 2012, Mozaik Cafe in December 2012, iVillage at Victoria in June 2013, and Flavour Pitalicious in September 2013. Though people may not have noticed, shops were opening within the market too, as early as December 2012 with the Casa del Gelato ice cream store and some non-food retailers. Matsu Sushi opened in March 2013 in the Western courtyard, Tom Tom Bar and Eatery opened in September 2013, Espresso Corner in December 2013, Salash Delicatessen in January 2014, and more recently, Waroeng Legianz in March, and Viet Flames in June.

Busy lunch hour.

Although most of the market is pretty devoid of customers, there is one place that stands out. Tucked away in a corner, Waroeng Legianz (now branded Legianz Waroeng Indonesia) is a small Indonesian restaurant that is always full at lunchtimes. As a video from the Taste of Indonesia festival shows, this eatery has the support of many members of Indonesian community. Within a few months of opening, it has tidied up its image: photocopied A4 menus have been replaced by professionally printed ones, the old green logo with italic writing changed to a cleaner orange one, and the restaurant has also started opening for dinner.

New menu.

You can almost find the place by following your nose. The outdoor seating area smells more of delicious food than actually inside the restaurant, because that is where the extraction fan vents. I am not sure whether this is a marketing ploy or not, but it certainly works, unless something goes wrong in the kitchen and you are surrounded by smoke instead.

The friendly staff members bring water over without asking, and are more careful now too. Previously, when you ordered a vegetarian dish, you might have ended up with prawn crackers. Now they make sure to check if you are happy with fish oil and egg, and state on the menu that the crackers are onion crackers.

Large blackboard outside.

The menu is varied, and divided into a number of sections: rice, noodles, specialties, vegetarian and desserts.

Rice

I was surprised to see I hadn't actually tried a rice dish from here yet. A friend who ordered the nasi goreng kambing (lamb fried rice) enjoyed it very much, though he ate it without accompaniments, as the green chilli sauce was potently spicy and he didn't care for the bitternut crackers.

Nasi goreng kambing (lamb fried rice) with sate ayam (chicken satay) in the background.

Noodles

I love the fried noodle dishes because they are freshly cooked, with just the right amount of moisture and plenty of flavour. Served with pickled vegetables and a bit of chilli paste so you can adjust to your liking, these dishes are tasty and filling.

Bihun goreng (fried rice vermicelli noodles).

Mie goreng (fried noodles).

As with the fried noodles, the laksa is another dish that is pretty similar to what you would find in a Malaysian restaurant.

Laksa.

The cwi mie, on the other hand, was something I had not seen before. Served with a thin broth and a mix of sauces, this involved chicken mince, beef balls and a fried wonton on a bed of noodles.

Cwi mie.

Specialties

Apart from the satay skewers and the lamb curry, most of the dishes in the specialties section involve a variety of things on the plate: a bit of meat, a bit of vegies (urap is the name for the steamed vegetables in coconut sauce), rice, and sometimes fried potato cake and a boiled egg. These meals can be really interesting and delicious, but sometimes the food is not heated as much as you might expect, and occasionally an item will be forgotten - a potato cake or an egg might be left off by mistake, or the little dish of chilli paste goes missing.

Nasi rendang.

Nasi kuning ("yellow rice") - coconut rice, beef in Balinese sauce, fried anchovies and peanuts, potato cake, urap, egg.

In this case, we got an extra egg with the nasi campur legianz.

Vegetarian

There are plenty of vegetarian options available too. The mie goreng and bihun goreng pictures I put under the "Noodles" heading above were actually vegetarian versions of the dishes. There are a couple of uniquely vegetarian meals as well.

The gado gado is extremely filling as salads go, with diced potato, fried tofu and tempeh (fermented soybean cake) added to the lettuce, silverbeet, carrot and mung bean sprouts, all covered in a heavy peanut sauce. Oh, and it is served with egg and fried crackers too.

Gado gado.

The tahu telor is a tofu omelette, this time with rice vermicelli noodles as well as the potato, lettuce, sprouts and peanut sauce.

Tahu telor.

They really look after the vegetarians here - good flavours and no chance of going hungry at all.

Overall, my friends and I have been impressed with the quality and variety of the dishes at Waroeng Legianz, and they are at almost food court prices too. Definitely looking forward to returning to try more.

Panda Recommends

For something hot, simple and delicious, try the mie goreng ($12 - 13) or laksa ($14). For a meal with lots of different flavours, go for the specialties like nasi kuning or nasi campur legianz ($14.50).
Avoid the mie capcay (note the "c" is pronounced soft like "ch" rather than hard like "k"), which is not so much bad as just a little boring.

Vegie Pandas
There is no such thing as a light salad here. The tahu telor ($13) is an unusual dish worth trying, but what I have actually enjoyed the most were the simple fried noodles. [Added 16 October 2014: Unfortunately, tahu telor is no longer on the revised menu.]

[Added 29 April 2015: the prices have been revised, with the dishes from specialties section increasing to $16, for instance.]

Takeaway menu - page 1

Takeaway menu - page 2

Restaurant Details

Legianz Waroeng Indonesia
25/210-218 Victoria Street West, Auckland Central
(09) 379 5058

Opening hours [updated 3 August 2014]:
Mondays to Fridays 11am - 4pm (winter) / 7pm (summer)
Saturdays 11am - 3pm
Sundays closed

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