PALATE

Kate Underwood, Guest Food Editor @relishthememory @eat.newzealand

Iwas in the middle of a 10-day Covid isolation period when the deadline for this month’s travel issue was looming. As much as I wanted to pull together a column that waxed lyrical about how my favourite way to travel is through my stomach, I found myself experiencing the fascinating phenomenon: the complete absence of taste. For someone whose job it is to taste food and make something meaningful of it, by day three, I was both intrigued and disheartened. It was the most bizarre experience to have a familiar ingredient on my tongue and not be able to differentiate whether it was an orange, lemon, or mandarin. I’ve always savoured the food I eat. Friends often comment about how slowly and thoughtfully I consume each meal. I’m genuinely interested in the nuances of flavour, and textures and temperature. The tingly sensations of Sichuan pepper, the chew of thick noodles, and the way the addition of sea salt flakes on a dark chocolate cookie balances the bitter cocoa, making it sweeter and even more chocolatey. Upon googling ‘how do I get my taste back?’ at 4.50am, I discovered that losing your taste is most often a result of losing your smell. When we eat, the flavour molecules are carried from our mouth into our olfactory receptors, found in our nose – it’s here that they are perceived as taste. I also stumbled upon the idea of scent training, where you inhale strong and aromatic foods like citrus, peppermint, ginger, and peanut butter for 10-20 seconds each day. I started making my way around the pantry, sniffing the peanut butter jar, taking spoonfuls of mint choc chip ice cream, and making very gingery lemon drinks. Tangy citrus, strong mānuka honey, and even wasabi (with its intense nosetingling burn) gave me some experience of a sensation. I could taste if something was sweet, sour, salty, or bitter, but I couldn’t differentiate the characteristics that set each ingredient apart. Taste isn’t all about flavour. Texture and mouthfeel play a big part as well. I discovered a new appreciation for varying textural sensations. Everything from the crunch of corn chips, chocolate melting on my tongue, and the bite of a fresh carrot to the grinding of roasted cashew nuts between my teeth. Despite feeling some sensation, without any complexity or detail, anything I ate felt dull and unsatisfying because it didn’t match up with how my brain remembered it should. If you, too, have been plagued by the loss of taste or smell through this Covid saga, you’ll understand exactly what I mean. Safe to say, when my ability to taste returns, I’ll be stoked.

As Aotearoa’s biggest city, it’s no surprise Auckland has a myriad of opportunities to eat widely and well. Despite a global pandemic, the dining scene has continued to grow at a rapid and delicious rate for residents and food-curious visitors. Here are a few favourites from our Guest Food Editor Kate Underwood’s latest trips north.

130 Quay Street, Britomart, Auckland @eat.at.alma

Inspired by the flavours and flames of Andalusian cookery, Alma prides itself on being both familiar and foreign. I can personally attest to their infamous anchovy tomato tostada, a hunk of sourdough slathered with tomato butter and four giant anchovies laid to rest. It’s decadent and ridiculously moreish. With Spanish wines and vermouth, alongside a curated gin list, the food offering includes a meltingly tender lamb tagine with yoghurt and zhoug and a bowl of mushrooms drowned in brown butter that you cannot miss. The stunning brick and tile fit-out transports you to Spain; the open kitchen allows you to watch head chef Jo Pearson and her team create empanadas, beef tongue with olives or my death row dessert, Basque cheesecake. If you’re traipsing through Britomart anytime from 11am, make your way here.

177 Symonds Street, Eden Terrace, Auckland @forest.akl

For passionate and plant-curious diners like me, going to Forest is like taking your tastebuds to an exciting outdoor adventure park. Owner and full-time pickler Plabita Florence is a young, vibrant, and incredibly creative chef who utilises all parts of the ingredient, making dishes like sticky purple kūmara with Marmite cream, paprika, capers, and olives through to caramelised butternut ice cream with rosemary sherbet, coffee syrup, and rhubarb. The three-course vegetarian or vegan menu changes every week – apart from the favourite seaweed fries with an addictive toasted chilli ‘goop’. In her tiny 16-seat restaurant, located on Symonds Street, while you’re sipping on a green apple whiskey sour with apple skin sugar, she can (and likely will) single-handedly transform the way you think about vegetables. Forest is plant wizardry at its finest.

67 Shortland Street, CBD, Auckland @hugos_bistro

Tucked up on Shortland Street, Hugo’s charm exists in its stylish dining room, a deceptively simple yet complex menu by Head Chef Alfie Ingham and the gentle, generous hospitality of his wife, Sophie. The grilled flatbread with washed rind cheese, thyme, and honey has my heart, and anything involving ‘Hugo’s chilli crisp’. This weekday-only dining oasis offers glorious things to eat and drink from morning ’til night. I first experienced wapiti or elk here recently, a Fiordland deer with super lean and tender red meat (like venison), served medium rare alongside celeriac, quince, and an unctuous bone marrow jus. For dessert, I still think about the wild and whimsical olive oil semifreddo, a sweet and seductively sticky frozen mousse that is cut through with grassy oil and salt flakes. A lesson in liberal balance.

454 Great North Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland @ada_akl

Since emerging onto Auckland’s culinary landscape in November 2020, Ada has shone brightly. Inspired by Italian fare, I’ve become a die-hard fan of its modern, seasonally changing, sharing-style menu. It’s located in The Convent, a historic Grey Lynn nunnery that’s been brought back to life as a 22-room boutique hotel. Deep in the back, you’ll find the dining room, with high glass ceilings, exposed brick, and a food and wine offering that is both approachable and adored. Chef Hayden Phiskie (ex Cotto) is at the helm in the kitchen, churning out pizza fritta, a puffy fried dough adorned with toppings such as cacio e pepe or ricotta, pinenuts, and cime di rapa (turnip tops). I’m confident the fried Brussel sprouts with stracciatella, aged balsamic, and mint here could convert any sprout doubter. The beef short rib with ‘nduja (a spicy, spreadable salami), beetroot, and walnuts; is the most flavourful bite of red meat I’ve had all year. But mostly, it’s about the pasta. All handmade, ethereally thin, and always drenched in an alluring and glossy sauce. From saffron spaghetti with crème fraîche and leeks to a pork fazzoletti/ handkerchief pasta. I go to eat but also to sit in the bar courtyard to drink the cutest and most delicious pre-bottled cocktail, the Chocolate Negroni.

What does one do when they’re at a loose end during lockdowns? Bake lockdown loaf, froth up some whipped coffee, or binge watch all of Downton Abbey? How about making cheesecake and getting really good at it. This is exactly how Bored Emma Cheesecakes was born. Emma Schimanski is the woman behind Bored Emma Cheesecakes. As managing director of the Banks Peninsula Festival, the stops and starts we have all experienced over recent years meant Emma was looking for a creative outlet to scratch that itch. Enter – Bored Emma. The name speaks for itself! Some things just go together, and this could not be more true for Emma’s two loves: cheesecakes and foraging. Through scouring Christchurch’s backyard on Banks Peninsula, Emma uses locally-sourced produce and seasonal ingredients to create her madeto-order creations. Thanks to her larder of unique ingredients, she is able to pull off some daring combinations like damson and gin, hawthorns and juniper, whiskey and grapefruit, sage and walnut, and even Central Otago thyme and rosemary. These are not your run-of-the-mill store-bought cheesecakes; they are a reflection of Emma’s passion and the landscape and amazing produce around her. They are also pretty bloomin’ delicious. In 2022, plain old cake is boring, and Emma aims to share an elevated dessert experience with her customers. Through her choice of modern palate collaborations that offer an all-around taste sensation, Emma is able to shake up the cheesecake and deliver something truly worth celebrating.

boredemma.co.nz