Tasting Tāmaki Makaurau
As Aotearoa’s biggest city, it’s no surprise Auckland has a myriad of opportunities to eat widely and well. Despite a global pandemic, the dining scene has continued to grow at a rapid and delicious rate for residents and food-curious visitors. Here are a few favourites from our Guest Food Editor Kate Underwood’s latest trips north.
ADA
454 Great North Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland
Since emerging onto Auckland’s culinary landscape in November 2020, Ada has shone brightly. Inspired by Italian fare, I’ve become a die-hard fan of its modern, seasonally changing, sharing-style menu. It’s located in The Convent, a historic Grey Lynn nunnery that’s been brought back to life as a 22-room boutique hotel. Deep in the back, you’ll find the dining room, with high glass ceilings, exposed brick, and a food and wine offering that is both approachable and adored. Chef Hayden Phiskie (ex Cotto) is at the helm in the kitchen, churning out pizza fritta, a puffy fried dough adorned with toppings such as cacio e pepe or ricotta, pinenuts, and cime di rapa (turnip tops). I’m confident the fried Brussel sprouts with stracciatella, aged balsamic, and mint here could convert any sprout doubter. The beef short rib with ‘nduja (a spicy, spreadable salami), beetroot, and walnuts; is the most flavourful bite of red meat I’ve had all year. But mostly, it’s about the pasta. All handmade, ethereally thin, and always drenched in an alluring and glossy sauce. From saffron spaghetti with crème fraîche and leeks to a pork fazzoletti/ handkerchief pasta. I go to eat but also to sit in the bar courtyard to drink the cutest and most delicious pre-bottled cocktail, the Chocolate Negroni.
ALMA
130 Quay Street, Britomart, Auckland
Inspired by the flavours and flames of Andalusian cookery, Alma prides itself on being both familiar and foreign. I can personally attest to their infamous anchovy tomato tostada, a hunk of sourdough slathered with tomato butter and four giant anchovies laid to rest. It’s decadent and ridiculously moreish. With Spanish wines and vermouth, alongside a curated gin list, the food offering includes a meltingly tender lamb tagine with yoghurt and zhoug and a bowl of mushrooms drowned in brown butter that you cannot miss. The stunning brick and tile fit-out transports you to Spain; the open kitchen allows you to watch head chef Jo Pearson and her team create empanadas, beef tongue with olives or my death row dessert, Basque cheesecake. If you’re traipsing through Britomart anytime from 11am, make your way here.
FOREST
177 Symonds Street, Eden Terrace, Auckland
For passionate and plant-curious diners like me, going to Forest is like taking your tastebuds to an exciting outdoor adventure park. Owner and full-time pickler Plabita Florence is a young, vibrant, and incredibly creative chef who utilises all parts of the ingredient, making dishes like sticky purple kūmara with Marmite cream, paprika, capers, and olives through to caramelised butternut ice cream with rosemary sherbet, coffee syrup, and rhubarb. The three-course vegetarian or vegan menu changes every week – apart from the favourite seaweed fries with an addictive toasted chilli ‘goop’. In her tiny 16-seat restaurant, located on Symonds Street, while you’re sipping on a green apple whiskey sour with apple skin sugar, she can (and likely will) single-handedly transform the way you think about vegetables. Forest is plant wizardry at its finest.
HUGO’S BISTRO
67 Shortland Street, CBD, Auckland
Tucked up on Shortland Street, Hugo’s charm exists in its stylish dining room, a deceptively simple yet complex menu by Head Chef Alfie Ingham and the gentle, generous hospitality of his wife, Sophie. The grilled flatbread with washed rind cheese, thyme, and honey has my heart, and anything involving ‘Hugo’s chilli crisp’. This weekday-only dining oasis offers glorious things to eat and drink from morning ’til night. I first experienced wapiti or elk here recently, a Fiordland deer with super lean and tender red meat (like venison), served medium rare alongside celeriac, quince, and an unctuous bone marrow jus. For dessert, I still think about the wild and whimsical olive oil semifreddo, a sweet and seductively sticky frozen mousse that is cut through with grassy oil and salt flakes. A lesson in liberal balance.