Johney Zhou and his mum Jackie.
Freelance journalist Stuart Whitaker is a contributor to NZME’s Te Puke News and former editor of the Te Puke Times. He wrote this on behalf of Flavours of Plenty Festival, which launched its programme this week.
The dumplings from Johney’s Dumpling House represent a fusion of three food cultures – but one ingredient is universal.
Production manager Jackie Zhou, mother of founder Johney Zhou, provided much of the inspiration for the business and now leads the team that hand rolls the dumplings.
She says the dumplings are made with love.
”When I see people eat my dumpling I’m so happy because we make all the dumpling with love, with care. When people enjoy the food we make, it’s the most important thing I love about it.”
Jackie arrived in New Zealand as a refugee in 1986. She married Hang Zhou and in 1994 the family moved to Waihi.
”Growing up, the foods that mum would make were probably a lot different than in most households,” said Johney.
”Mum’s Cambodian and my dad’s Chinese and everything was very influenced by Chinese cooking, but also influenced by Kiwi culture and Kiwi foods.”
Food was a big part of the family’s identity and Jackie and Hang owned a green grocers in Waihi.
”Mum used to have a huge garden growing lots of different vegetables and legumes and all that stuff, potatoes and herbs, and then she used to take us out to a secret spot to get an abundance of seafood – kina and paua if you could get deep enough, tuatua and stuff in the sand, and we used to go crab fishing.”
Even when Jackie cooked Western food, there was always Asian flair in her food, a Cambodian influence also being part of the mix.
”She taught me to like all types of foods and try all types of food, and a lot of the flavours that I know come from the mixed cultures.”
Those mixed flavours would come together at Chinese New Year as part of a family tradition.
”Every year we’d make Chinese dumplings for the kids to celebrate the Chinese New Year to show them and let them know this is our tradition,” Jackie said.
As the children grew older, they began being part of the ritual.
”You can put any recipe in a dumpling. I made my own pastry, they did the wrapping. I’d teach the kids how to do that as well so they’d sit down together in the one family to do it.”
When he left school, Johney’s destiny seemed to be about as far away from the food industry as it could possibly be.
He studied electrical engineering in Tauranga but struggled to find work. Inspired by a book, by his adolescence working for his parents, and a by desire to help their enterprise “because I saw how hard they worked”, he started to study business.
He gained his diploma and he was part way through a third year when he hit on the idea of combining his business studies with selling food. His parents were selling fresh produce at various markets.
”I love food and Asian food and mum and dad used to do the markets, and that’s how I decided to start - selling food at the markets.”
He quit his studies.
”When I was in class I couldn’t think about anything except what was I going to cook, or thinking, I need to print those signs, or to do this and that - I just couldn’t study any more. I really tried, but was so passionate about wanting to make this thing better.”
He was encouraged and inspired by his parents.
”I think I sold, from chicken wings to slow-cooked pork on rice and heaps of different things and gradually worked towards dumplings. Once I started selling dumplings, I just started to see it take off compared to everything else I sold.”
Selling at Rotorua Night Market led to more demand for him to be at other markets and he was eventually approached to be part of the Rising Tide – then Brewer’s Bar – at Mount Maunganui.
“They approached me and a few other people to do food inside the restaurant and, of course, I jumped at it – because I’ve always wanted to have my own place.”
While the initial idea was to have a range of foods prepared by different people, in the end just Johney’s Dumpling House teamed up with the bar.
”I’d never run a kitchen or worked in a kitchen before and I think it was a week or a week and a half before opening they said I was going to be the only one in there and I had to create this menu for them as well, so that was a challenge, but it was good, we got there in the end.”
Over the years, the menu has evolved as Johney learned what is popular and what isn’t, although one flavour has remained a hit – pork and vegetables.
“That was the first one I ever created. It was Mum’s flavour, but it was so different back in the day. We were saying, it’s not quite palatable for Kiwi people and we need to put a bit of a Kiwi twist on what I’ve learned.”
Johney’s partner Shan Pullman said the pork and vegetable was the most popular dumpling and was the only one that had never come off the menu.
”Every other flavour has changed or come off or been taken off and put back on due to seasonal change or popularity.”
Two years ago, ownership of Johney’s Dumpling House transferred to the Rising Tide’s parent company, Bay of Plenty Brewery Ltd. Rising Tide managing director Niall Harley said there was never any intention to change things.
”We’ve still got pretty much nearly all the employees from when we bought it and we are stoked to still have Johney and Shan on board and to have Jackie on board.”
Johney said the sale eased a lot of the burden of running a business.
”It’s nice to have love for the food again and for what we do,” he said.
Shan said they weren’t expanding or trying new products for ages because the risk was too big if it didn’t sell.
Niall said the dumpling house was important to Rising Tide’s two venues at Mount Maunganui and Ōmokoroa.
”Obviously we have a brewery and 38 taps as well which is a bit of an attraction, but a lot of people like to come here for the dumplings, although a lot of people don’t realise every dumpling they eat here is handmade.”
As part of next month’s Flavours of Plenty, the Rising Tide will be hosting two dumpling rolling events, one at each venue.
”People will come and we’ll have a load of ingredients ready for them and we’ll have wrappers on site as well and they will be going around and teaching people how to roll dumplings, then they can take them home and cook them for themselves,” said Niall.
At the Mount Rising Tide there will also be a sausage and beer matching evening as part of the festival. Check out the festival programme at: www.flavoursofplentyfestival.com.
Police recovered a stolen silver Mazda used in the robbery.