A Meal in Brief: The Stall (大牌檔) (*CLOSED*)

[Added 15 March 2016: The restaurant at this location is now Legend of Noodles Cuisine 好運麵家]

We came here because the name of the restaurant (dai pai dong in Chinese) suggested we would be able to find the congee, rice and noodle dishes typical of the cheap roadside stalls that were once popular in Hong Kong. There is a lack of these little Cantonese places on Dominion Road.

The Stall is on the other side of Balmoral Road from the main cluster.

The menu indeed contained congee, rice and noodle dishes. It also had cold entrees like jellyfish, deep-fried and stir-fried meat dishes, and dim sum dishes (only available before 3pm and after 9pm for some reason). The front counter contained both Western cakes and Asian puddings.

The setting was more clean and classy than we expected. There were wooden chairs, and vertical white tiles on the walls, rather than plastic stools out in the open. Framed pictures coupled with English descriptions explained the concept of dim sum, for instance. Although a bit incongruous, there were also cakes and coffee available by the counter.

Interior of restaurant.

The service was welcoming and attentive, though it was a bit strange that we were asked if we were okay with using chopsticks. We were given a choice between hot tea or cold water when we sat down, and presented a plate of pickled daikon (the waitress called it "carrot") while we waited for our meal. Unlike most Chinese restaurants, there were shakers of salt and white pepper left on the table.

Table setting.

What we ate included:

• the aforementioned cold pickled daikon sticks (free) - these were crisp, sweet and sour
• steamed rice roll with bread stick ($5.90) - the rice roll was soft and fresh, but was missing the the fried bread stick promised on the menu. The sauces were the usual sweet and nutty ones, but included a bit of sweet chilli on one corner of the bowl, and we were also given a jug of soy sauce on the side.

Steamed rice roll which was supposed to have a bread stick inside.

• steamed seasonal vegetable ($6.00) - this turned out to be spinach, thoughtfully cut into bite-sized lengths. It was topped with minced garlic and stewed pork. Pretty good, though we didn't expect the toppings, which had the aroma of five spice.

Steamed seasonal vegetable.

• beef hor fun ($11.50) - this was hot and delicious, minus the smoky burnt oil flavour you sometimes get, so it's probably better for you too. This was our favourite dish. More places should sprinkle sesame seeds on their food.

Beef hor fun.

• preserved egg and lean pork congee ($8.50) - we needed to add plenty of salt and white pepper to this, but after that we could taste the ginger and other ingredients. The flavour was good after adjustment, but the texture was not quite right: a bit lumpy like they had tried to blend leftover rice into it.

Preserved egg and lean pork congee.

Overall, the food was slightly different from our pre-conceived notions of what Cantonese food should be like, but it was fresh and tasty. Our entire meal came to $31.90, so they clearly didn't charge us for the tea, daikon, or takeaway boxes (which were supposed to be 20 cents each).

I do wonder who their target market is: on the one hand, there are signs in Chinese only; on the other, they cater to people new to the cuisine with the explanations on the wall. Then there is the coffee shop aspect, with Hӧpt soda in the fridge, along with the cake and coffee.

Anyway, it is good to see something around which doesn't offer the same dumplings and noodles as is prevalent in that part of Dominion Road. I would be tempted to return to try their double skin milk custard and similar items too.

Restaurant Details

The Stall (大牌檔)
465 Dominion Road, Mount Eden, Auckland
(09) 631 7546
ekitchenlimited@gmail.com

Foodie Excursion: Howick Historical Village

New Zealand is a relatively young country, but it's been around long enough for plenty of changes to have taken place. Since we missed the Auckland Heritage Festival recently, we indulged our sudden interest in local history by making a trip out to the Howick Historical Village, to see how things were in the 1800s.

The village is a "living history museum" consisting of original colonial buildings as well as replica structures, designed to let visitors experience life in a fencible settlement. Communities like this were made up of retired British soldiers and their families, who arrived between 1847-1854 to protect Auckland from possible attack. They settled not only in Howick, but also in Panmure, Otahuhu, and Onehunga.

Although the focus of the museum is not particularly on food, there are still plenty of food-related points of interest, as you can see below.

Old Kitchens and Dining Rooms

The buildings range from large homesteads to little cottages (to a replica tent), and you can see what the kitchen and dinings areas were like in some of them. They may be lit by electric lights rather than candles these days, but the items in the rooms still paint a fascinating picture of of the past.

Kitchen gadgets.

Special objects in a kitchen included (not all pictured)

• an egg rack - this looked like a wooden board with round holes
• a knife cleaner - iron knives were used before stainless steel ones were available
• a honey press - the leftover wax was used to make candles
• tin mugs and plates - common in 1860, though slowly replaced by enamel ones from 1840

Dining room.

Both the kitchens and the dining rooms had a fireplace, which I imagined the families would huddle around for warmth.

Herb Garden

Lavender is a pretty common plant, and I have heard of lemon balm, chamomile, comfrey, and caraway before, even though I may not know what they look like. The herb garden by one of the cottages had some more exotic specimens as well though:

• angelica
• borage
• clary sage
• hellebore
• foxglove
• soapwort
• tansey
• winter savory
• wormwood
• yarrow

Small part of herb garden.

In another garden area, we saw tobacco and broccoli being grown, not to mention sugar cane and pomelo.

Making Flour

The museum had an exhibit on the production of flour inside John Bycroft's flour mill, which included scythes, hand operated wheat mills, a chaff cutter and peck and bushel measures, along with plenty of information. We learnt that

• wheat was introduced to New Zealand by Captain Cook in 1773
• John Bycroft had a wind driven flourmill in Epsom, until about 1854 when he moved with his brother Joseph to the windmill near Manukau Harbour in Princes Street, Onehunga
• Howick and Pakuranga farmers often took their wheat to Partington's mill in Symonds Street (where the Langham hotel is now), and were given half the flour as payment for the wheat
• flour was often bought for the quality of the flour bag, which made good pinafores, undergarments and items for the household

Chaff cutter.

In other areas of the museum, we came across old millstones from Partington's, as well as an outdoor bread oven.

Millstone from Partington's.

Given how long it took for us to drive out to Howick, it must have been an absolutely epic journey for farmers to take their wheat in to town. I also had no idea that Auckland had flour mills in the central city and surrounding suburbs, but suddenly a street named Windmill Road makes a lot more sense.

Making Butter

An exhibit in another building focussed on how butter was made, with butter churns and boxes on display. We learnt that:

• most families had a house cow
• each family had their own wooden stamp design to identify their butter
• milk from different cows and the use of different amounts of salt resulted in different flavours
• this butter could then be sold at the store

In George Sommerville's Cowshed and Creamery (built in the 1860s), we found old milk cans, milking stools, and a cheese press.

George Sommerville's Cowshed and Creamery.

Other

There were lots of random facts scattered throughout the museum. It was really interesting walking through the old schools, churches and stores, and I was surprised to find multi-coloured Indian corn was eaten.

James White's General Store.

Other nuggets of information included:

• Mason preserving jars were patented in 1858
• charcoal was used in water purifiers to remove cloudiness and bad tastes from well water
• the black Urenika potatoes were brought to New Zealand by Captain Cook. They were grown and sold to the early settlers by Maori

All in all, our visit to the Howick Historical Village was highly informative. Looking at the various old buildings is fun in itself, but if you are interested in history, you can spend a lot of time reading about the lives of the individual occupants and looking at the exhibits in detail too. If you time it right, you could also combine this with checking out the Saturday Howick Village Market.

Dishing Around Auckland: The A - Z Challenge

I've set myself a challenge. For each letter of the alphabet, I am going to come up with a dish, then go around eating it in Auckland. It'll have to be something I want to sample, be available for sale (rather than something made at home), and preferably lead to me trying something/somewhere new. Feel free to join me if you like!

The trouble is, I got stuck pretty much straight away. With something like fruit, it seems pretty easy to come up with an option for each letter, at least to begin with: Apple, Banana, Cherry, Durian, ...* With dishes though, I had trouble finding something starting with A. I kept drifting to sweet treats, like apple pie and apricot danishes. Trying to work out what starts with X will be even harder!

* Eggplant, like tomato, is botanically a fruit, but I tend to think of it as a vegetable.

Anyway, I'll update this post with links to what I've chosen for each letter as I write about them.

A - Ajitsuke Tamago
B - Bánh Mì
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Auckland Diner's Diary: September 2014

The changing face of Auckland eating opportunities... As usual, please let me know if I have missed something!

Suburban Cafes

• Meadow - cafe in Meadowbank from the duo behind Parnell's 46 & York
• Open Table - crowd-funded cafe in Ellerslie with a focus on community and sustainability
• The Collins - cafe and bar in Greenhithe with local and free-farmed produce, in an old bungalow
• Foundation on George - a new fit out underscores the brick beauty of this cafe close to Parnell's Jubilee Building, previously the Foundation Espresso Room
• Blend - coffee and bikes at Ponsonby concept store The Shelter
• [Added 25 August 2016: Armadillo - cafe in Rothesay Bay with a laid back vibe]

Craft Beer Fix

• Sweat Shop Brew Kitchen - what used to be Sale St has embraced its former life as a factory by calling itself the "hardest working bar". They've certainly put in the effort, with a boutique brewery and an in-house grill and smokehouse.
• 16tun - "a New Zealand free house" at North Wharf with an impressive range of beers, cherry picked from around the country. The food menu looks good too, from smaller items ("half tun") like paua fritters and merino lamb to larger items ("full tun") like ribs and burgers.

Breaking Bread

• Panscape - spacious bakery in Newmarket with European pastries as well as an interesting range of Turkish dishes alongside standard cafe options
• 4&20 - technically opened in August, this Remuera bakery (by founder of food store Zarbo) uses organic, free-range or locally sourced ingredients where possible

Viva Mexico

• La Taqueria - tiny container stall next to Atrium on Elliott, selling burritos and of course tacos
• Flying Burrito Brothers - this franchise that you might have known from Wellington has now opened its second branch in Newmarket

Coming Soon

• Greedy Guts - Wellesley Street food spot opening early October, from the founders of Cereal Killa
• Italia Square - cafe, restaurant and marketplace for Italian goodness in Parnell
• Miss Saigon - cafe and Vietnamese restaurant opening in Newmarket in November
• Apero - presumably a wine bar opening on K'Rd

Upcoming Events

• New Zealand Cheese Month - 1 to 31 October, organised by the NZ Specialist Cheesemakers Association. Tastings, a goat farm open day, cheesemaking demos and more (click on "Regional Cheese Month Activity" on the Cheese Month page).
• Taste of Auckland - 13 to 16 November, for the first time held at Western Springs rather than at Victoria Park

A Meal in Brief: Boy and Bird

We came here because our friends suggested it, and we had been meaning to check out Mike van der Elzen's latest venture (with co-owner Marie Colosimo) anyway.

The menu was chicken-oriented (all free range), but still catered to those who want to eat other meats or vegetarian dishes. Also, while the Food Truck Garage's focus on healthy eating meant that you could only have baked chips, Mike has brought back the deep-fried options here, clearly marked with a little red devil on the menu.

The setting was delightful. The bright colours and cartoonified food art reminded me of a theme park.

Seating area.

The service was as you would expect in a fun, casual environment.

What we ate included:

• chicken flavoured popcorn ($4) - the waitress made sure we understood that this was something completely different from popcorn chicken.

Chicken flavoured popcorn.

• son in law eggs with sticky pork, crunchy sprouts & seaweed ($16) - this unusual dish included a deep-fried whole egg which still had a viscous yolk.

Son in law eggs with sticky pork, crunchy sprouts & seaweed; chicken roll with pickled slaw.

• half bird, citrus brined, spice rubbed, rotisseried and chopped, served on chunkies with gravy ($19) - a fancier hot chicken dinner, with crunchy potato and plenty of sauce, so you can forgive the somewhat reheated feel.

Half chicken with served with chunkies and gravy.

• hot roll with chickpea cauliflower fritters, bombay mayo, crunchy sprouts, feta ($12) - you wonder why the bun is so buttery and delicious, until you re-read the menu and realise it's a steamed purple wholemeal brioche roll. The filling was also great, though you might want to remove most of the large feta cubes to prevent it from being too salty.

Vegetarian hot roll; hot carrots with seeds and truffle.

• hot carrots with seeds & truffle ($5.50) - this side dish tasted mostly like boiled carrots (albeit sprinkled with black and white sesame) to me, though our friends assured us that when they ordered it last time, it had a much more liberal dose of truffle oil.
• juices and sodas ($5) - these refreshing drinks felt healthier than you would get elsewhere, not very sugary. I am keen to come back to try their chocolate milk too, which is apparently made from almond milk, dates and cocoa.

Fresh carrot & coconut; cola.

Overall, Boy and Bird is a place that you can bring your entire family to, and it just makes you feel good. The decor is cheerful, the menu inviting, and you can rest assured that their chickens grew up free range at a Waikato poultry farm. Despite some touches of decadence, and a lack of variety in the vegetable department, the food is generally wholesome and satisfying. Unlike many other casual eateries, this chicken kitchen lets you book online for small groups too.

More good design: their business card folds out into the takeaway menu on the other side.

Restaurant Details

Boy and Bird
222 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby
(09) 361 3222

Auckland Diner's Diary: August 2014

The Auckland restaurant scene is full of comings and goings. Here are what I have noticed this month.

New Ventures by the Experienced

• The Black Hoof - Iberian ham, sherry and tapas in a beautiful upper-level space in the central city, from Will Thorpe and Logan Coath
• Boy and Bird - chicken kitchen in Ponsonby by Mike van der Elzen of Food Truck fame, also has other meat dishes and caters to vegetarians
• Siostra - meaning "sister" in Polish, this new restaurant is run by the Lamb sisters, where Delicious used to be in Grey Lynn
• Scarlett Slimms and Lucky - a crime novel inspired bar and eatery, where the Eden Cloak Room used to be. Apparently the menus are designed to resemble comic books.

City (Fringe) Cafes

• Forage - cafe on the city end of Dominion Road, with drool-worthy specials such as coffee braised beef short rib and pulled pork baguette with hand cut wedges
• Craft Cafe - small cafe on the ground floor of the Quest building on Beaumont Street, with cooked breakfast and lunch options, as well as counter food.
• [Added 28/9/2014: Dazzle Cafe - new cafe at the Three Lamps end of Ponsonby]

Ethnic Flavours

• Olas Latin Food - Argentinian empanadas, Colombian/Venezuelan arepas, and Mexican enchiladas, as well as desserts like alfajores and dulce de leche cheesecake, sharing a building with a dance school in Newton. Formerly known as Ola's Argentinian Food when they were simply selling empanadas at the markets.
• Turko Cafe - Turkish cafe in Freemans Bay, formerly the Mavi Cafe
• Santiago's - Chilean cafe, restaurant and bar on K'Rd. Churrascos (burgers), completos (hot dogs), empanadas ("Chilean pies") and other Chilean food like salchipapas, chorillanas, sopaipillas and empolvados.
• The Spoon - Korean fusion cuisine on Symonds St, near the top of Wellesley St. Looked like mainly set combos with food from the warming drawers?
• Grill and Shakes - grilled meats, some with Middle Eastern influences, and 69 flavours of milkshake
• Enjoy in BBQ & Hotpot (回回来) - Chinese eatery on Dominion Road, where Cheuk Cafe used to be

Sugar Rush

• Meet Fresh (鲜芋仙) - Taiwanese teas and desserts from a multinational franchise, on Lorne St
• Waffle Suprême - Liège and Brussels style waffles from a streetside container by the Atrium on Elliott carpark
• OKO Dessert Kitchen - high-end desserts and drinks from Mövenpick, on the Aotea Square side of the IMAX complex. I saw a chef doing something with balloons.

[Added 13/9/2014:
Burger Mania

• Lava Burger - many different types of "cooked to order" burgers, dogs, sandwiches and fries in Parnell
• TyrannoSaurus Burger - hidden little place targeting students nearby, has homemade brioche buns

]

New Branches

• Scratch Bakers - popping up for the next 6 months in Britomart
• Kanda Sushi & Grill (神田) - traditional Japanese food, where the iconic New Orient Chinese Restaurant used to be in the Strand Arcade

Coming Soon

Apart from some places mentioned in my previous post, there are some eateries being shaped up around the place. I also noticed that the renovated part of the IMAX complex has some shops leased now, so looking forward to more exciting things to come there.

• Swig French Style Cafe - on Queen Street close to the Mid City Arcade
• The Tasting Room - "a great exposition of taste" in Sandringham, presumably unrelated to the eatery in Wellington of the same name
• YB Sushi - "your best 寿司" on Queen Street, where Yogorino used to be, a couple of doors down from Giapo.

Closing

• Restaurant Carinthia in Glendowie will be closing on 31 August, though it will open for the Father's Day weekend. Final bookings requested.
• Black Monday, a little cafe on Fort St, closed on 7 August.

Amazebowls of Noodles

At the risk of sounding like a starstruck teen, I was totally bowled over by the noodles we had in the weekend (excuse the pun). For those of you who haven't been paying attention, Miss Changy held her third pop-up event on Sunday, serving up the Kuching specialty of kolo mee.*

* According to Lee Geok Boi in the book Classic Asian Noodles, the term is probably a corruption of the Cantonese phrase "kon lo meen", meaning dry noodles.

The talented Miss Changy not only cooks, but is an artist!

A few months ago, I blogged about this uni student's first event, where we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to sample Sarawak laksa. Since then, she has clearly been busy, not only constructing her own tables, stools, bowls and chopsticks (the latter from pine, jarrah and kauri), but also experimenting with making a bunch of things from scratch, including noodles (using her family's secret recipe), peanut butter, lentil and alfalfa sprouts and even tofu pannacotta from hand-pressed soy milk!

We totally enjoyed the fruits of her labour, and also appreciated the tweaks she made for her largest event yet. Rather than cooking in her own home, this time, we were fed at the Morningside cafe The Mustard Kitchen. She got a few helpers to turn it into a slick operation, instead of trying to do everything herself. There was a central station for condiments and cutlery—a bit of audience participation never hurts. And in case you didn't get the picture yet, the food had progressed in leaps and bounds.

Condiments, homemade chopsticks and curried roasted peanuts.

As with last time, we were given some roasted peanuts to nibble on at the beginning, after getting our names checked off. Everything was designed to delight, with the soy sauce and "liquid gold" of garlic-infused house-rendered lard being presented in laboratory flasks with droppers. (I didn't even realise lard could be clear and liquid at room temperature.)

Applying "liquid gold" to our noodles.

Having seen the preparation of her noodles, including drying thin sheets of dough on a clothes horse, before putting them through some kind of pasta machine, I expected straight strands of egg noodles, rather like fresh spaghetti. In fact, they were kind of roughly crumpled, all the better for sauces to cling to. No idea how she "jzeushes" her chewy kolo mee, but the end result was excellent. Together with pork, soy sauce, garlic dressing, the mild bitterness of Asian greens and the fragrance of the toasted sesame seeds and dried chillies, this dish was a flavourful taste sensation.

Kolo mee with sesame and dried chilli blend and sauces.

Vegetarians were also catered for, with a poached duck egg replacing the BBQ pork. The creamy yolk made a beautiful coating for the noodles, and the meat-eaters were jealous they did not get to experience this too.

Vegetarian option prior to the addition of sauce.

We would be back for more of Miss Changy's kolo mee in a flash, should she ever offer this again. And we were equally impressed that we ate our meals surrounded by her handiwork, using the unique chopsticks, bowls and furniture she created with her own hands. Bravo, Miss Changy! You are an inspiration.