Review: Woodpecker Hill, Parnell

The eclectic refit has transformed a pub called The Bog into the splendid Woodpecker Hill. Photo / Doug Sherring

Woodpecker Hill
196 Parnell Rd, Parnell
Ph: (09) 309 5055
woodpeckerhill.co.nz

The newest restaurant in Parnell achieved something special before even opening for business. Supplanting a pub charmingly called The Bog, it reduced by one the number of Irish bars in the world. When it comes to ridding the planet of colcannon and beef-and-Guinness pie, every little bit helps, I say.

It's hard to recognise the building now, after a wildly eclectic refit that includes clamshell lampshades, sheepskin seat-covers, wrought-iron gates and upward-opening windows, which were propped ajar on the warm summer evening we went. The goblin's-cave dunnies, with music piped through excellent speakers, are an adventure in themselves.

Woodpecker Hill had been open only a few days when I booked, a week ahead, but I could only get a table for 5.30. That's hardly surprising: it's the new venture by restaurateur-chef team Mark Wallbank and Che Barrington, who have form as creators of original and exciting cuisine.

MooChowChow brought fine-dining technique to bear on the street-market food of Asia. Blue Breeze Inn added a Pacific vibe to Cantonese and Szechuan cooking. The only reason I've avoided rhapsodising in these pages about Chop Chop Noodle House out the back of Blue Breeze is because I don't want to spoil my chances of getting a seat at the bar for my regular fix of their beef brisket soup.

In culinary terms, Woodpecker Hill is their boldest undertaking yet: a marriage of southern (specifically Kansas City-style) barbecue with Asian (predominantly Vietnamese) flavours - think tamarind, lemongrass, green papaya and stuff you may not have even heard of.

Perilla was a new one on me. A herb of the mint family, it is used, in one variety or other, from Korea to Laos and west to India, but the one Barrington serves is the Vietnamese kind. Purple on the underside of the leaf, it has a bold, faintly anise flavour and we had it with a prawn cocktail reinvented into a sweet-sour prawn salad with beans and witloof. You spoon some into the leaf, roll it up and crunch in. The dish was supposed to feature betel leaf, but for some reason we had both, and the perilla was definitely the better. Elsewhere on the menu, more familiar ingredients come in striking combinations: raw kingfish with segments of pomelo (a pink grapefruit); roasted cauliflower with green peppercorns and watercress.

I was alarmed to find that one of my mates had given up meat (the other's Australian, so he eats anything if someone else is paying), since the menu is meat-heavy.

A note at the bottom offers "vegetable substitutions" and there are three meat-free small plates, but the absence of a purpose-built vegetarian main course is regrettable: replacing the pork with tofu in a red curry just doesn't cut it.

Fortunately, he eats fish and seafood so was happy with a sensational dish of soft-shell crab, stir-fried with mild yellow chilli. But I don't mind saying that I had come with meat-eating in mind.

Saving the duck and pork (oddly, both are red curries) for another visit, we concentrated on the beef: the crisp burned ends (Google it) of the smoked brisket, and rib, braised to fall-apart perfection. In entirely different ways both were sensational, tender and moist, and highlighting how perfectly the vinegary, herb-rich Asian styles cut through the greasiness of the meat. This is barbecue, but not as you know it.

I strongly recommend the two puddings, particularly the mango, piled with great rasped slices of fresh coconut. They exemplify what's great about the food here - an improbable blend of boldness and subtlety. Your tastebuds will never be the same.

Plates: $6 to $32; desserts $15

Verdict: Cross-cultural marriage made in heaven

Cheers

- By Joelle Thomson, joellethomson.com

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