Thursday, February 9, 2012
[Pictures: David Straight] We’re getting mixed messages. District Dining is a self-described combination of sophisticated food with a bistro buzz and price tag. But while the food is good – by God is it good – we didn’t really feel much of that promised energy: District Dining is just ever so slightly off, slightly too [...]
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
[Pictures: David Straight] Such is the pace of development at Britomart – where, lucky you, half a dozen restaurants have opened in the past year or so – that Ebisu is already something of a classic. When it first opened in March, we liked it, a lot. Though if we’re honest, we did wonder quite [...]
[Pictures: David Straight] James makes Auckland feel like a bigger city than it really is. It’s in a bunker-style building, a concrete block that was once a steel mill at the bottom of Parnell rise, flanked by advertising agencies. Inside, the world outside disappears, and you’re ensconced in a stark space, moodily lit and softened [...]
[Pictures: The very wonderful David Straight] Somewhat disingenuously, Cocoro describes its dinner menu as “izakaya-style”. Cocoro could not be further from the bustling, steamy izakayas of Tokyo or even Auckland. It’s in a back street in Ponsonby, a beautiful bricky space with timber battens and touches of exposed concrete. There is one large table in [...]
[Pictures: David Straight] We’ve been waiting for this for a very long time. We gave up on Thai in Auckland, sick of canned bamboo shoots, crinkle-cut carrots and watery curries with too much sugar. Then we went to Moochowchow, which opened in April in a big villa up the top of Ponsonby Road that used [...]