Raglan chef set to pop up with eatery on ‘crazy side’ Foodie fads come and go – and one of the latest coming to Raglan soon is the pop-up restaurant that promises an exclusive, fine-dining experience. It’s that “crazy, scientific side of fine dining” that Raglan chef Lerryn Hawken loves, and he’s keen to see if there’s a decent number of foodies around town who want to join in. Come late January Lerryn – resident chef at The Shack for the past 18 months or so – will reveal his “random location”, move in for a night with maybe one big table and another chef on hand and provide the best menu he can possibly come up with for about 25 fellow gastronomers. It’ll be a style of food Raglan’s never seen before, he promises. Think sake champagne sorbet, wasabi tobiko and coconut shaving cream – the recipe not the skin-care product. Add a dehydrated kiwifruit and honey pearls which are like caviar balls of honey that “explode in your mouth”, explains Lerryn, and you’ve got some very technical tastes to play with. “Geeky chef stuff”, Lerryn admits, but serious food all the same and achieved by experimenting with hydrocolloids for instance, which means a chef can create almost any shape and texture using food without compromising flavour. Essentially it’s molecular gastronomy – or edible experiments designed to “blow your socks off”! This is not the kind of cooking you’d get at home or in a restaurant, Lerryn points out. It’s a “big fad” in the UK and has taken off in Auckland where a library and a carpark building have been used as the venue. “Prep-wise” it’s all done in another
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Multi-talented: Lerr yn Hawken is typically comfortable in a recording studio or kitchen kitchen, says Lerryn, then he sets up somewhere else for his ideal eight-course degustation or tasting menu which will include complementary cocktail drinks and wines matched to the food by a sommelier. It’s about being inventive, playing with the senses and having a fun dining experience, he adds hinting at the possibility of flambéd food. “I like to surprise people and throw in a bit of theatre for good measure.” And everything on the plate will be locally produced, he says, if not from the likes of Whale Bay’s own Kaiwhenua Organics then at least from within the South Waikato region. Even the plates of wood and slate are being personally handcrafted by Lerryn’s father in Hamilton. The 29-year-old chef – who divides his
time between Raglan and Hamilton where he’s also a DJ, producer and engineer at The Porch Recording Studio – kicked off his restaurant career in the city, first at ‘Domaine’ then ‘Tables On the River’ before more recently starting ‘Nash’ in Cambridge. While he wanted to be counted among the country’s top 10 restaurants within six months of opening, he got to be firstequal with Auckland’s The Grove in Metro magazine’s awards last year after only three months. And while at The Narrows in 2010 he was a finalist in Waikato Food and Wine Festival. Lerryn will be selling tickets and finalising arrangements for his pop-up restaurant a month or so before the gourmet event. Edith Symes
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Forget the candles - it’s carols by glowstick light Carols by candlelight gets a new twist next month as Raglan Union Church gears up for its first GLO carol singing night – with glowsticks instead of candles. Lighting candles in the old wooden church would be too risky, says Alan Vink whose wife Jeanette is the minister, but with the church windows “blacked out” the glow-in-the-dark effect will add to the festive spirit. “We really do want the whole family (to come),” Alan told the Chronicle. He expected glowsticks to appeal especially to the children at the early evening event. Although he stressed it was primarily “a community carol singing night, not a concert,” local musician Dave Maybee and his carols group have been invited as guests along with one or two school groups. Dave’s choristers have spread festive goodwill around town for the past few years as the Christmas Elves, singing carols outside the homes of people in need of some cheer. A sound system is already set up at the church and a “very competent” pianist has
also been invited to play for the occasion, adds Alan. The old church will be decked out with Christmas decorations. It won’t be all singing and music as an auction will also be held to raise funds for the local St John Ambulance. While the event, with a $500-$700 budget, is being hosted by the Union Church it has some local sponsorship to help cover costs. “I’d like GLO to become an annual event if all goes well,” Alan says. A new service – since Jeanette took over as minister 18 months ago – which targets families has more than doubled the church’s congregation, Alan revealed last week. The mission now is to change the predominantly traditional image by drawing younger families with a more “contemporary and relevant” message. Meantime, St Peters Anglican Church will again host its popular Carols and Kai evening next month. It’s “open to everyone”, says Reverend Rhonda Chung, and Dave Maybee’s ‘Slipped Discs’ will also be singing for their supper. Edith Symes
Smooth talking on the surface Waikato District Council has moved to smooth over a complaint about the stony surface that retailers, shoppers and visitors have been left with – temporarily at least – after the resealing of Raglan’s main street. The gripe came from one-time local councillor Matt Holl, who told the Chronicle he was “confident” someone had got it wrong with the type of sealing laid in Bow Street. It should have been a smooth, more user-friendly surface that also prevented stones being traipsed into shops, he commented. But just as the stones have been sticking to people’s shoes or jandals, the council was this week sticking to its guns and insisting the road surface was appropriate. “The new surface has been prepared with a combination of smaller-sized stones to give a smoother driving surface,” a council spokeswoman said. “The chosen surface provides good waterproofing and friction qualities while at the same time a smooth driving surface at a relatively low cost.” But what really sealed things was probably in the council’s final word on the matter. “A superior asphalt surface was considered,” the council spokesperson added, “but it would have cost nearly 10 times the amount of the chip seal surface.” Edith Symes
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