PicoBlog

If you haven’t yet stumped up for Viva’s Top 50 Restaurants list which I created with Johanna Thornton last year, perhaps this document will be of use. In the heady days of 1980, you would go to your trusty advertising exec if you needed help choosing somewhere for dinner (presumably they were good at sourcing all sorts of things for valued clients).

Just look at this beautiful list:

Fancy a bite at The Bronze Goat? We could catch a late nosh at Hudson & Halls then head into Jilly’s for a late one ..

All of these restaurants are closed, sadly, though we should take a moment to pay respect to Antoine’s in Parnell, which made it right through until 2021. I walked past the old place last night and fondly remembered the quirks of my final visit: ringing the doorbell for entry, eating liver cooked in masala, and paying cash because eftpos wasn’t accepted. Not accepted in 1980, not accepted in 2015. I should have brought my Diner’s Club card.

Have fun perusing the list which is technically recycled content as I shared it on my nascent food blog in 2011. Soz!

What I’m eating

The satay chicken skewers from Westmere Butcher. I’m a Grey Lynn Butcher guy but I have to say this is the most delicious barbecue chicken I have ever eaten. They stuff so much thigh onto the stick so that just one skewer is enough for lunch; it’s marinated in a sticky beautiful peanut sauce that goes crazy good when it’s scorched, and bonus points for finding a good use for green capsicum: a vegetable so unattractive grocers can’t even give it away. It has found its perfect home here, providing vegetal, slightly bitter backbone to a mouthful which is otherwise pure indulgence.

What I’m drinking

Gin again (well, it’s February) but have you tried sticking a split chilli into it? Our jalapenos are going mad this year and this is one trick for using them up, with a little cross cut at the tip for just a little hum of spice in every sip. Plus the colour is great next to the lemon and it’s a nice talking point when you’re serving them up to guests. Cheers to me bestie Sandon James for putting me onto this summer combo.

What I’m cooking

For some reason our peach tree is working too this year, so my daughter Daisy cooked Martin Bosley’s Peach and Raspberry cake twice on the weekend (the first one disappeared under mysterious circumstances, with several empty glasses filled with wet jalapenos found nearby). It’s easy to cook, easy to eat and as Martin says, a great use for the stone fruit in your basket that are showing the first signs of old age. Here’s his beautiful recipe. Sorry no picture my fingers were crumby.

Where I’m reviewing this week

Xiexie is a new restaurant down an alleyway on Ponsonby Road. I spend some time reflecting on the former tenant Miss Moonshine’s where life was good (apart from the time my older brother accidentally locked himself in the disabled toilets, the second time in a row that happened on one of our night’s out; what’s the story Henry?)

Where I reviewed one year ago

Upmarket Italian joint Bossi. “What does “10 Commerce Street” even mean? I couldn’t picture it. As we approached I realised it was in what I will indelicately refer to as “The Strip Club District”, joining such attractions as The White Lady and, on the night we visited, a woman with a supermarket trolley nursing a dying seagull.”

Where I reviewed five years ago

Auckland Fish Market with fellow substacker

What people are asking

SOS: Where can I get a Welsh rarebit in Auckland? (Golden Dawn RIP)

From, Champing at the bit

This took a bit of work but I found it.

ncG1vNJzZmiilajAprnUpaOin5Gje7TBwayrmpubY7CwuY6pZq2glWLCrcDIppitnV2cwqqwxGarqGWRqrCsuMCnm2aqlajBosHRmqWtqw%3D%3D