The carpark across the road outside Bay Audiology is half full.
Diners are sitting outside The Bees Knees Cafe and Courtyard Cafe, and at the picnic table on the village green.
At 12.11pm there are eight people in Hoko Sushi, which has more room for customers than neighbouring Knead.
I was at Hokowhitu Village the Friday before when a woman commented Hokowhitu was becoming a foodie place. I felt a Jottings coming on immediately.
That Friday there were queues outside both the bakery and sushi shop. The woman said she couldn’t get a car park. She was on the search for a sweet scone and had already tried both cafes, which had sold out.
There I was was my bags of goodies talking to this woman and a man in a T-shirt with pictures of fruit on it quipped “you lining up again”.
Last Friday, most people took no notice of me hovering and jotting.
But then a rubbish truck driver approaches, pulls down his sunnies and says “What the f*** is that?” Before I had a chance to answer he adds, almost rhetorically, “Is that a toilet down there?”
It is indeed sir. But the mural looks different. Aha, it’s a new one - by G Whizz Designs and sponsored by Knead, Four Square Hokowhitu, and Hoko Sushi. How appropriate given the village’s growing reputation as the place to go for lunch, even if you work at Massey University or in the city.
Hoko Sushi opened in 2021 and Knead in June. The Four Square is also expanding its ready-to-eat offerings.
So, with me more than sated I decided it was time I finally tried to find out the meaning of Hokowhitu. Te Aka Māori Dictionary says it means “140, band, company, party, complement of men, army”.
Te Hokowhitu-a-Tū means Māori Battalion.
In an unnamed periodical found on the Papers Past website, Thana na Nagara writes Hokowhitu was the gathering place of Rangitāne war parties. The name speaks of the fighting strength and mana of Rangitāne.
We should be counting our lucky grains of rice and flakes of pastry that modern Hokowhitu has such vast quantities of food available to us. All we have to do is politely wait for a car park, or park a little distance away and walk. Or better yet, embrace the village concept and walk, bus or cycle there.
I declare Hokowhitu Village, with enough food to feed a party, to be Palmerston North’s foodie equivalent of Parnell or Khandallah. Plus the village is the home of Hokowhitu Farmers Market.
When I first moved here 16 years ago, marketing types were fond of saying you could get anywhere in Palmy in five minutes. I quickly learned that was a pie of the proverbial. The city, and consequently the traffic, has grown tremendously since then but we are fortunate many of us can park our cars close to work and delve into suburban lunch options come noon. Such habits fly in the face of the city council’s vision for us to be an eco-city but we are certainly innovative, creative, and growing.
