A New Zealand Food Blog

Oh to be able to whisk myself away to Denmark. Noma received the honour of top restaurant in the world as voted by the chefs and foodites that have input into the list. El Bulli and The Fat Duck rounding out the top three. Unfortunately no sign of any New Zealand restaurants showing up in the extended top 100 list, but four Australian chefs making it in. Quay taking the top Australasian spot, with Tetsuya dropping down a considerable amount, Attica from Melbourne and Marque in Sydney sneaking into the 50-100 spots. Hopefully come July I will be able to get to at least two of the top Australian restaurants mentioned here, finances permitting of course.

I’m sure all of the teams involved will be rapt with any inclusion in such a prestigious list, but I imagine that some Danes are particularly overwhelmed by the vote of respect from their peers.

One question though… the people that do the voting, do any of them ever come down this far under? I wonder if they did how the best of our restaurants would fare?

Well it’s comforting that Metro seem to have a manner of thinking inline with my own, I am now certain that I am not completely crazy and that there is hope for New Zealand food.

Tonight they announced the winners of their restaurant of the year, The Grove took the top honour of best restaurant. The Auckland based competition sees the best of the best eateries in New Zealand’s biggest city pitted against each other to see who has the goods. Along with the best overall restaurant was the announcement of Sidart receiving the Best New Restaurant nomination from the magazine.

The full list of the top 50 will be in this months Magazine. Once I track down a copy I’ll be sure to post up some thoughts.

A huge thank you to the people in white jackets that helped out last night. Putting everything together wouldn’t have been possible, and making the evening enjoyable for the guests… well that just wouldn’t have happened. Couldn’t have asked for more.

Tonight (or rather, last night) the tasting menu was held with a few friends and family serving as guests, guinea pigs, and most importantly, critics.

The dinner consisted of 7 courses, there were a few extras planned, however these did not eventuate with 2 “staff” not showing up. Below are some pics of the first 4 dishes. I would have liked to have taken a picture of every dish however tiredness set in and cleaning took priority.

Read the rest of this entry »

I love bacon. Pretty much anyone that knows me also knows this. One of my favourite things to do with food is take a traditional combination of ingredients and change it into a different format. This is the start of my BLT dessert that will be on the tasting menu in a few weeks, it has other components to it for the final plate but these are two key components. Candied Bacon and Basil Sorbet. Excuse the puddle under the sorbet, it just came out of the ice cream churn.

Read the rest of this entry »

When Meredith’s reopened for the year Claire and I tried to get in for a Friday/Saturday seating on the first week to try their tasting menu, turns out we were a little slow and in the hour or so since opening their phone lines again they were booked out. To make up for this we made a booking for three months time when we would be able to go up with Adrian and Sue from work, no surcharge, good friday, a night worth looking forward to, but I was worried that the anticipation would exceed any possible food combinations that might be laid in front of me.

Read the rest of this entry »

Details confirmed for the dinner that will be hosted by Suburbia. It will be a 7 course meal with a few extra surprises in there. The cost is $65, there will be drinks available however they will be at an additional cost. I’ve set up all the details on a Facebook event. But you can also just contact me directly here if you are keen. This is more or less a test run so the cost is to cover expenses.

Max Capacity 20 people. Fully Licensed.
A drink match list will be available on the night.

Here is the menu. Just pretend its on a fancy piece of paper and you are about to eat.

Amuse
Scallops
Chicken
Quail
Steak
BLT
Pineapple
After Dinner Mint

The boss has given the go ahead for me to take over the Restaurant for a night, it’s not a night we would normally be open, but that just means there is a little less stress for me. The plan as it stands is to be able to practice a few dishes that I have in mind for the Waikato Culinary Fare and hopefully make some great food for people to enjoy. The result will hopefully be a tasting menu comprising of approximately 7 courses plus an amuse bouche, pricing will be dependant on the number of people attending and the final composition of the dishes. The styling of the food will be my own, I will however be constrained to what service ware is available at the restaurant

In my head I am aiming for April the 25th, maximum capacity will be 20 people, although I may limit it to 15. Because all the preparation costs will be coming out of my own pocket there will be a booking charge of 20% the final cost as I wouldn’t be able to do it any other way. If anyone has any ideas on how to make sure I can fill the seats or if you would like to signal your interest in attending then let me know. The restaurant is fully licensed so alcohol and other beverages will be available (at their normal cost) so that it can be a proper night out for those that will be attending.

It came, and it went, although not nearly as fast as my saying that might imply. The finals for the Great Waikato Food Challenge were held today at the Food Wine and Jazz Festival at the Hamilton Gardens. The weather was very kind, almost overly benevolent in the abundance of sun that made its way to my neck.

The finalists (Zinc, Palate, Furnace and Suburbia) gathered to present their dishes that have been on the menu for the last month. The three judges gathered to taste and comment on the assembled plates and their wine matches. The final winner was announced as Palate, followed by Zinc with Suburbia taking out the third spot. The results will be published in this weeks Tempo but there it is for the time being. Congrats to all of the finalist restaurant Chefs and crew for getting as far as they did and preparing such great looking dishes.

A few pics follow.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve recently been fortunate enough to pick up some new books that are providing a lot of inspiration and admiration. I ordered the Fat Duck Cook Book late last year, I enjoyed Heston’s “In Search of Perfection” and drooled over the larger more elaborate version while not being able to justify the cost. The smaller format is perfect as it contains the same content while allowing for people like myself (little disposable funds and no coffee table space for such a large volume) to enjoy the magic that is the story of Britain’s premier gastronomic destination. While I have enjoyed reading through the recipes and learning from the techniques used, I gained the most satisfaction out of reading about how it all started. I love the idea that Mr B taught himself how to do what he does and trained his palate by eating his way through France. The fact that even he struggled to make it financially also shows that even the best aren’t immune to the trails of making a buck.

Claire, my lovely wife, gave me Alinea’s book for Christmas, a great read with incredible photography, sleek in it’s presentation and very specific in its instructions. I used it a few times for ratio guides and love the presentation style of the dishes. Again, the story of how Chef Achatz started his journey to becoming one of the most successful cooks even while unable to taste his creations due to a battle with cancer was incredible. A purely mental construction of a dish is something that I haven’t tried but am able to appreciate as something of a real gift.

Finally my most recent purchase is Momfuku. Less manipulated and styled than the other two books but well worth the effort with it’s simple recipes and passion for good food no matter the origin. The simple pickles are great and just show that sometimes a pinch of salt and sugar can add a depth of flavour that a ton of spices wouldn’t be able to achieve. It also got me thinking about my future plans… more on that later though.

Next on the list is The Complete Keller (The French Laundry and Bouchon) which has been ordered but will take another few weeks to arrive. If anyone has any recommendations on other titles that might take my fancy, fire away.