IN
On a Friday evening, things are chaotic at our house, so what we demand from a takeaway at that time is a sense of order. Jemima's Kitchen, which opened late last year, in a cool, converted container in Glen Eden does not yet take phone orders, so you turn up at 6.15pm with two demanding, tiring preschoolers and you look at the 15 people waiting and you pray that the staff don't say, as you near the counter, that the wait is half an hour. When they do, you go home to deal with the disappointment and try again on Saturday, at 5pm, when things are much calmer, both at home and at Jemima's Kitchen, and you hope the whole thing is worth it.
OUT
On Saturday at 5pm, there were only three other customers. The friendly staff remembered me from the day before, and apologised. The converted container that is their premises is rustically, classily fitted out, fronted with hardwood bricks and sided with a short blackboard menu of three burgers, four shakes and five sides, although the burgers change regularly and adventurously. Out the front is an elegant deck with planters full of rosemary and high stools. The place is an oasis in a carpark.
THE TAKEAWAY
We ordered the fries with homemade aioli ($6), the prime NZ beef burger ($13) and the chicken burger made with cornflaked chicken thigh ($15). The beef burger is made in-house from two separate cuts, and contains a thrilling homemade sauce, burnt pickled onions and sourdough buns from outstanding local breadmaker Crafty Baker; the chicken is soaked overnight in an infused whey before being coated with the crunchy cornflake crumb; the potatoes are hand cut and cooked on site to a perfect, crisp, chunky lightness; the aioli is bright and tangy. The whole place reeks of the sort of love, care and attention of the best takeaway places in the city, because it is comfortably among them. The chaos of Friday night, transfigured by the delight of Saturday, was just evidence of the place's independent charm.
Jemima's Kitchen
470 West Coast Rd, Glen Eden
Ph: (09) 320 4208
Open: Weds-Sat 11am-7pm, Sun 11am-6pm