Tagliolino with kina, pork cheek and cauliflower puree, from the menu at Spiga, Remuera. Photo / Alex Burton
Tagliolino with kina, pork cheek and cauliflower puree, from the menu at Spiga, Remuera. Photo / Alex Burton
OPINION
A kina-cauliflower-pasta combo wows Canvas magazine restaurant critic, Kim Knight
In their own words: The Spiga website contains no cute, snack-size summaries of its ethos. Go to peruse the menu and stay for the story of chefs Fabrizio and Taryne Napolitano. When you get to the bit that reads"Fabrizio has an innate knack for bringing Italian food culture into the 21st century" nod sagely, because this, in my opinion, is an indisputable truth.
First impressions: My three-month attempt to get a seat suddenly made sense. Spiga is small - just 15 tables, including a heated and covered outdoor area. They're waiting on a consent to expand across the courtyard but right now it's a calm and uncluttered space where you (mercifully) don't have to shout to be heard.
On the floor: If the design aesthetic is relatively austere, the wait staff ooze professional warmth - witness our willingness to say an immediate "yes" to the charmingly upsold mulled wine and truffled negroni. (Sounds weird, smells and tastes amazing.)
The menu: I particularly wanted to order the pizza with the anchovy sauce and wagyu beef tongue terrine, but I had already ordered a crispy tube of cannolo, two starters and a pasta, plus I had definite plans to proceed to dessert. Something had to give and it was not going to be my pants. Arrive hungry, leave with plans to come back. (A note about that cannolo - it's a crispy pastry tube, piped full of chicken liver parfait and you can really taste the liver. If you're tired of that ubiquitous, cream-diluted version that's on every other menu, order this and have your faith in offal restored.)
Spiga restaurant in Remuera. Photo / Alex Burton
Best bite #1: When Adrianne, who had never eaten kina, speared an entire segment of sea urchin roe and lifted it to her mouth, I feared the worst. Too much! But I was wrong. This was the best kina I've tasted. Not a hint of bitterness with a flavour that was one part mussel, one part oyster and one part long weekend at a Northland beach. It looked just as pretty as that beach, too. The orange roe was plopped on top of a tangle of bright green kale-infused pasta. Cauliflower puree intensified the rich mouthfeel and there was a different kind of salty, mellow background note that came from cured pork cheek. Italy meets Aotearoa in a surf 'n' turf combo I can't stop thinking about.
Best bite #2: In a restaurant, you want your food to taste good. But if you think about the dishes you've really loved, there's usually something else going on. It's the presentation or the back story or a bit of theatre or culinary licence that has evoked surprise and delight; that moment where you know, absolutely, that you won't be making this at home. At Spiga, that dish is the cotechino e lenticchie "Beluga". Trust me.
The jury's still out: James did not think the saffron tagliatelle that came with his veal shank ragu was cooked al dente. I did. We have been married for four weeks and I hope all of our future arguments are this delicious.
Best bite #3: Yes, this is customarily the part of the review where I talk about the chips or the veges. Spiga doesn't really do "sides" and the fact is everything we ate was terrific. Octopus with a mole sauce and potatoes was another example of land-meets-sea brilliance. My pasta took the minimalist simplicity of cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) and then packed it inside a ravioli. When I bit, it burst. I wasn't expecting that, but the liquidy filling combined beautifully with a buttery, scampi-studded sauce. The surprise ingredient that brought it all together? Noticeably large strips of lemon zest. In future, I may ignore any recipe that instructs me to "grate finely".
Dessert: Here's that cannolo again, in its more traditional position on the menu. Purists will be looking for sweet ricotta, but I'm a sucker for minty chocolate and loved this clever, ganache-loaded play on a square of "After Eight". James said his tiramisu - not too sweet, with a gloriously creamy mascarpone - was amazing. And I agreed.
Perfect for: Broadening your Italian horizons (and also, possibly, your circumference).
How much: We spent $368, with cocktails and wine, for three.
Well, I've never had a Grapparita, a Rum Kopioni, a Vermuttino or a Kirchinato, but dangnabbit Spiga, you've got me ready to leap in! Once you've licked your chops through the very tidy selection of cocktails, vermouths, spritzes and spirits up the wahzoo, you'll be very pleased to see la lista dei vini is as eclectic and electric. It's practically compulsory to kick off with fizz and, in addition to the attractive Perlage Canah organic prosecco, there's a light, sparkling Lambrusco from Chiarli, (a 162-year-old producer from Emilia Romagna) and Billecart Brut Reserve if you just HAVE to have Champagne. Apart from just three exceptional local wines (Clearview Reserve Chardonnay, Craggy Range Te Muna pinot noir and Trinity Hill Homage syrah) the rest of the list is devoted to pretty much every Italian region imaginable and all but one are available by the glass. Hooray! White wine fans, here's your chance to sample Puglian verdeca, Piedmontese arneis and gavi, and verdicchio from Marche. Red fans can funnel their way from Tuscan Chianti, Sicilian Nero d'Avola, Montepulciano from Abruzzo, Amarone from Veneto, Aglianico from Basilicata and Brunello from Montalcino.
The Birre (Beer) selection has four brews from two producers Menabrea and Amarcord and, if you absolutely have to sip cider, then Zeffer have you covered. Nice one Spiga, very sippable indeed!
