Hungry? Here’s the Auckland food news for the month ahead.
In July, we eat pies. Also crab crumpets, Aunty Bee’s curry and a statistically approved chocolate biscuit. It’s a month of collaborations and competitions – and one truly excellent croissant.
Naughty croissant, really nice view
Spectacular harbour views with a
San Ray turns one and it’s shouting the first margarita
Why party when you can fiesta? Happy first birthday, San Ray, and thank you for the complimentary margarita – served with a selection of the kitchen’s favourite dishes so far. The July 8 party menu includes kingfish crudo, the legendary shoestring fries, buckwheat churros and a barbacoa brisket taco special.
A Malaysian matriarch comes north
Little Penang is a Wellington restaurant icon, owned by Tee Phee, with a menu influenced by her oldest sibling, Aunty Bee. Family lore says Aunty Bee started cooking as soon as her hand was big enough to hold a wok. And, for three nights only this week (July 3-5), that hand is heading north for a full Malaysian takeover of the SO/Auckland kitchen. Key dishes from the Little Penang team will include otak otak (spiced fish custard wrapped in banana leaf), a rich, dry-style rendang tok and Kapitan curry – a Nyonya chicken dish. The takeover is an Auckland first for Little Penang, whose matriarch says “what I am most proud of is that it provides me a platform to showcase and share my treasured family recipes handed down over the generations and to keep the art of Nyonya food alive!”
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According to the Food Standards Code, a meat pie must contain a minimum of 25 per cent of meat flesh, defined as: “The skeletal muscle of the carcass of any buffalo, camel, cattle, deer, goat, hare, pig, poultry, rabbit or sheep, slaughtered other than in a wild state (i.e. not bush meat), plus any attached animal rind, fat, connective tissue, nerve, blood and blood vessels.” Something to think about if you’re contributing to New Zealand’s annual per capita pie consumption (15 a year, according to the most recent data) or have entered the Bakel’s NZ Supreme Pie Awards. Winners of the 2025 competition will be announced at a 1970’s themed event at Auckland’s Cordis Hotel on July 29.
Tala and Tommy Hope
Tommy Hope’s CV includes Attica, Town Mouse and Embla (Melbourne) and Sid at The French Cafe (Auckland). Now, the Auckland-born chef has taken up residence at Parnell’s Tala. Hope is the new head chef, working alongside executive chef and owner Henry Onesemo at the contemporary Samoan restaurant where Viva’s Top 60 judges said “everything is designed to surprise and delight”. Expect more on both counts – new dishes on the snacks menu include soft boiled quail eggs, peeled and rolled in a burnt hay ash with a carrot sauce and oil for dipping – and, at a recent interview with Viva (watch this space) Hope was espousing the virtues of vaisu, a method of smoking coconut milk by pouring it over burning charcoal or fire-heated stones.
Sweet rewards
Peter “I could eat chocolate mousse for three meals a day” Gordon is putting his critical faculties where his mouth is. The world-class chef heads the judging panel of a new competition called Mousse Masters. The event has been launched by Weave Cacao, a company that combines Papua New Guinea-grown cacao with chocolatier expertise from Aotearoa. Gordon and co will select winners in two categories – Promising Young Chef and Pro Chef, with the latter ultimately heading to PNG to meet cacao-growing communities and learning the process from tree to bean to couverture chocolate. (And if you are now experiencing a sudden urge to make your own homage to the 1950s, head here for this Viva-approved version that updates the classic with white chocolate and a finger lime garnish).
Forks at the ready
Four judges, 25 food vendors – and six categories that signal this is not your usual culinary competition. Commercial Bay’s inaugural, month-long Harbour Eats Fork and Fame Awards got underway in Auckland this week. Judging categories include best value dish (“Bang for Buck”), most gloriously messy indulgence (“Don’t Wear White”) and the best dish to eat with your hands (“Zero Forks Given”). Two additional categories will showcase creative ways with Best Foods Mayo and Pic’s Peanut Butter – the latter judged by founder, Bruce “Pic” Picot. A People’s Choice Award comes with the chance to take home a $5000 dining voucher at, arguably, the city’s fanciest food court. Eat, scan, nominate and never eat leftovers for lunch again.
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July is competitions, collaborations – and the Auckland Food Show. Get your (reality) TV dinner fix with cooking theatre demonstrations from MasterChef alumni from both sides of the Tasman. Nat Thaipan, Australia’s 2024 winner, will deliver a menu that includes toasted rice ice cream and a Wagyu beef tartare. Sam Low, who took the local title in 2022, does eggplant and a banquet-style chicken sweetcorn soup. Crowd favourite and contestant-turned-judge Nadia Lim makes the trip from Central Otago with Moroccan lamb shank pasties and a sunflower oil dark chocolate mousse. The trio will join Annabelle White (lemon bauble tarts, et al), 250-plus food and beverage companies at the July 24-27 event at the Auckland Showgrounds.
More chocolatey chocolate?
Mess with the classics at your peril. Griffin’s made headlines when it changed its Sultana Pastie recipe and retired Cookie Bear. Can the biscuit manufacturer make good with a relaunched Chit Chat? It’s front-footing the change, promising more chocolate, more creme and a new-look rectangular shape, but the proof is, apparently, in the statistics: “In a blind taste test with over 100 people, consumers rated the flavour of the new Chit Chat Original higher than Tim Tam Original.” Obviously you should be the judge.
Grandma’s soup (but make it fancy)
Southland pāua via a Seoul grandmother’s master stock. Ballotined snapper with a silverbeet and taro wrap and spicy prawn bisque. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when modern Korean and Filipino chefs collide, then get to Auckland’s Boda on July 17 or 18 for the collab between its executive chef Hyokeun Choi and chef Migo Razon of Melbourne’s Miss Mi. They’re promising culinary excellence, cultural story-telling and De Bortoli wines in the venture that celebrates the Movenpick Hotel brand on both sides of the Tasman.
Mindful consumption at the movies (and Viva popcorn at home)
DocEdge, Aotearoa’s Oscar-qualifying international documentary festival, features almost 80 feature and short films. On the, ahem, menu, are the likes of Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea. Pulled from the Filippino festival circuit and invited to premiere in New Zealand, the publicity blurb promises a film that “looks at the risks faced by Filipino fishermen, Coast Guard, and Navy delivering food to communities in the contested West Philippine Sea while defending their livelihoods and national sovereignty”. It’s one of a number of food-centric watches on the schedule. Others include Fatal Watch (“four marine observers vanish at sea under suspicious circumstances”), Mana Moana Mana Tangata (“chronicling Māori in a defiant struggle against systemic racism and colonial injustice to reclaim their fishing rights”) and the intriguingly titled The Sardine Roaster. Pair your cinema experience with dinner out (Balmoral’s Kiss Kiss is offering 15% off for festival attendees until July 13 or buy a ticket and log into the virtual viewing room with a bowl of Angela Casley’s caramel popcorn).
That viral chocolate is also a cocktail
“Breaking sugary news”. Honestly, they had us at the intro. Not content with hosting the Little Penang takeover, SO/Auckland had just announced it will be the only place in the city serving Batched Cocktails’ Pistachio Chocolate Martini on tap. Inspired by that viral chocolate, they’ll be $18 each, and available at HI-SO Rooftop Bar.
Love letter to Wellington
Looking ahead to next month, Wellington on a Plate is back with a full August programme. This year’s theme is Food Is Love and if you’ve ever wanted to renew your vows in a cocktail bar or dine on the Sky Stadium pitch or experience the ultimate Kylie Minogue tribute then this is the food festival for you. The 2025 programme is serving up over 100-plus love-themed events and 200 outlets are participating in the adjacent Burger Wellington event (tbh, it’s more of a Love/Hate affair at the city’s Southern Cross restaurant – think L&P-battered onion rings, spiced Kiwi onion dip and Marmite mayonnaise with salt-and-vinegar fries).
More to savour
Our best dining rooms and the newest openings.
Viva’s Top 60 Auckland Restaurants For 2024 Discover the top 10, supreme winner and watch behind-the-scenes video.
What to do with that roll of pastry taking up space in your freezer Recipes that rise (or puff) to the occasion.
Eat, Drink, & Shop Waiheke: An Insider’s Guide To The Island’s Best From oysters by the dozen to exciting tea blends, these carefully curated must-visits will fill your cup on the big rock.
Jesse Mulligan: Feeling Blue in Ponsonby Viva’s dining out editor implores you to eat the persimmon salad.
