Dux Dine - Christchurch

Like everyone else I am partial to a cold glass of beer on a hot day, avec barbeque, or without. The intense guttural relief of beer in gullet cannot be explained in mere words, rather by promidial, Stone Age grunts, deeply expressive  sighs of satisfaction and the mangled, highly spiritual notes of   post-deglutitious  paeans.

A romantic notion perhaps, but isn’t that what drives us all to seek out the pleasures of the flesh, in particular those delights offered by way of food and wine…or cold beer?

Richard Sinke and his team may very well have understood these sentiments when deciding to  revive something of the spirit of the legendary Dux by sniffing out an old villa in Riccarton just ripe for renovation. With the careful addition, into the culinary cauldron, of  a spoonful of style,  considered use of indoor space, welcome parking, ample outdoor dining spaces and a menu that works, the owners have managed to draw the crowds and invite favourable comment thus far.

As  with most cafes and restaurants of note in the west at the present time you need to call in advance, book, make a reservation, all six of one and half a dozen of the other to forewarn the management that you and your curmudgeonly lot are wanting to impose your blessed selves on the other diners. Seating, morning, noon and night, is at a premium.

Reminiscent of former times you still must queue to place your order from the blackboard menus, pay and retreat to your table. The waitress who brought our drinks over stayed with us, so to speak, throughout the meal, accepting reorders of drinks and additional food. It worked well and exempted us from having to jostle for position in the long queue which would have been an irritating inconvenience and possibly even  a huge disincentive to return. We were not singled out for preferential treatment as a flock of costumed  waitresses  attended to the random food and drink  needs of all the tables, as much as I could see.

A cold Dux Lager was a fine start to my dining experience and, “because I’m worth it”, I championed the cause by having a second; after all it was a hot afternoon.

While others at my table picked away at Semolina flat bread, Caesar salads and fried calamari I gently spooned in luxurious mouthfuls of seafood chowder, scooping out the delicacy of the two small clams floating on top and savouring the rich consistency of the broth.  

Glasses of Coopers Creek Syrah, with  hints of spice and modesty of body, were enjoyed by all and certainly complemented the Massaman Curry I had for a main, providing a pleasurable flow to the afternoon and loosening up the tongues of my four scintillatingly charming guests. The curry itself, resplendent with spiced tofu, baby carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and more, sat comfortably with those of us who had it, notwithstanding the heat of the day.

Whether you’re in shorts or a skirt, this smart/casual restaurant is a place to consider if you’re looking to dine with colleagues or friends. Like so many of the former inner city eating houses that are reopening in slightly changed form, Dux Dine and its operators bring to your table years of experience, tried and tested food options and a relaxed sense of style. It works…

 

 

Sarhad Food Kitchen & Restaurant, Attari- Wagah, India

After immersing oneself in and enjoying the almost comical entertainment and eccentric showmanship with 10,000 others, of the spectacularly uniformed Indian Army officers who carry out the carefully rehearsed Wagah-Attari border flag lowering ceremony, there is no better way to end the evening than to retreat to Sarhad, a mere 1.5km back along the road to Amritsar.
Easiest access is to drive against the traffic on the wrong side of the multi-laned road for the final 300 metres as otherwise you will have to go a long way indeed to find a break in the median strip. Fortunately this is not an uncommon procedure in India, where it seems anything goes on the roads. Oncoming traffic will simply move to the side of the carriageway to let you through – very polite behaviour I must say.
Sarhad was highly recommended to me by an Indian man in Singapore; he insisted that if I dined anywhere in Northern India it had to be at this restaurant. The restaurant celebrates the Amritsar – Lahore connection, dating back to the pre-partition days of Punjab, suggesting in its menu that it offers customers a “unique fusion of Indo-Pak food and culture. You can now enjoy Lahore food without going to Lahore!”
My driver and I knew we had to allow several hours out of our frenetic schedule to dwell on the blissful culinary offerings, bask in the fascinating architecture, appreciate the duplicated Golden Temple style floor and patio tiles and reflect on this intriguing part of the world so close to the only gateway from India into Pakistan. It wasn’t hard to do as the day’s sunshine had warmed the patio tiles to a pleasant temperature underfoot, the still night air was beautiful and balmy and the restaurant staff were ready, willing and able to serve us well.
It was a chilled, salted Lassi to start followed soon after by Lahori Mutton Chops and Lahori Chapli Kebabs, both dishes giving up their tenderness and succulence, sizzling with spices to maximise their appeal and coat the deserving tastebuds with the influences of the region. A special moment.
Nihari Gosht, yet another Lahori special according to the restaurant manager, wasted little time in jostling with the Papads (poppadoms), Lahori Naan, Mixed Vege Raita and Vege Biryani for pride of place before us. What interested me about food throughout the Punjab was the ability to detect individual flavours in a dish that, at first glance, looked just like an Indian curry on a plate. The skilful addition of ingredients at the right time in the cooking process and the timely sprinkling & blending of spices and herbs essential to ensuring the integrity of taste is maintained are quintessential procedures guaranteeing palatal satisfaction. It is no wonder that Punjabis have been successful purveyors of food around the world for many decades. Theirs is a masterful combination of culinary history, passed down through the generations, access to an exceptional, enviable array of herbs and spices and an innate ability to extract the best out of what they have to work with.

Soiled Seats in Sector 35

In Sector 35 of Chandigarh City there are more than enough nondescript eating houses and, quite frankly, many more beyond even thinking about. Appearances in South-East Asia can be deceptive and what often looks like a restaurant worthy of one’s custom turns out to be the stuff of nightmares. Fortunately Shangri-la Plus at No. 324, Sector 35-B wasn’t at the seriously horrendous end of the scale but did leave much to be desired.
The seating was plush, in an Indian kind of way, the decor ornamental, tablecloths white and starched with red overcovers, the lighting subdued and we had the place to ourselves. Little did I know at the time but there was a large downstairs area in the basement, similarly fitted out and full of evening diners. Nevertheless, the apparent lack of fellow diners in our part was of little concern.
I used the torch facility on my cellphone to read the menu and the periphal light glanced upon the upholstery of my seat and that adjoining to reveal what can only be referred to as filthy discolouration. This was offputting but this is such a common thing in India (and indeed in parts of China) that you just have to put up with it as every seat is equally as scummy! The months and years of food, oil and other spillages on these seats leaves them in a very soiled state and, of course, we Westerners who like things to be just right for us when we’re paying to dine, find it hard to comprehend why a restaurant wanting to attract customers would refrain from picking up some spray-on upholstery cleaner and cleaning up. Or better still call in a contractor who, in probably less than three hours, would do all the upholstery and leave everything looking rather delightful!
The filthy state of both the interior and exterior of most of the buildings in Chandigarh, especially the stairwells and lobbies, was explained to me by a client I visited in the first days of my time in India. He told me that building and business owners won’t spend money on such things as painting, cleaning etc as they don’t need to. Customers will not stop coming to their premises just because they’re disgustingly filthy. Work that one out for me please? It is especially interesting given that the cost of labour is so outrageously low in India that you could employ 20 people to work for days scrubbing and painting for no more than a handful of coins. Remarkable state of affairs.
Back to the Shangri-la Plus – notwithstanding that it was considered winter the temperatures were still in the mid to high 20s and a Southern Man like myself has no choice but to keep his cool by indulging in ice cold beer, Kingfisher beer of the very strong and potent variety. Somewhere between 5.25% and 8.25% according to the bottle.
The entree of pork dumplings was enough of a meal in itself and suitably well presented but regrettably the casings tasted like, and were the consistency of, warm cardboard. Who knows what the provenance of the filling was....
Up next was a Lamb and Onion Chilli dish which was straightforward, spicy, just a little on the greasy side, a tad chewy but altogether passable. Finally, an enormous bowl of Chicken Fried Rice which, as you will see in the photograph, was bursting with variety. The rice was not at all gluggy, not too dry, very adequately cooked and a more than reasonable representation of this dish.
Oddly enough my Indian dining companion ordered me a Diet Coke to finish off with – after I’d had several of the aforementioned Kingfishers. I noticed on the bill later that this was described as a Diet Cock....and on that fowl note here endeth the tale...

Mao's Family Kitchen, Beijing

It is no secret that I tend to see China through rose-coloured glasses and, for this reason, seem always to find fantastic reinforcement of these views.

My business partners had booked me into a basic, no frills hotel, part of the Orange Hotel group, in the south-west, close to the third ring in Beijing and so naturally I had to explore the area as my previous experiences had  been in Chaoyang and Sanlitun.

It was a chilly late November evening and my cheap, market jacket was an absolute blessing! Not more than 200 metres from my hotel I saw an impressive stone building with what looked suspiciously like a restaurant on the first floor – I could see diners through the upstairs windows and also what looked like elaborate chandeliers. In I strode.

As is so often the case I was met by three beautifully dressed, beautiful Chinese girls who greeted me with exceptional smiles. One escorted me upstairs to the wide open space of the restaurant and the Maitre d’ took over to usher me to my table in this great dining hall. A glance about indicated a mezzanine type internal balcony that ran around three sides above with many private dining rooms leading off. The décor was stunning, very oriental and in a perfect state of maintenance.

The menu arrived, a large, bound book of colourful photographs, dishes described in Chinese as well as English and a ‘beverage’ list, the latter featuring Chinese wines, beer and an impressive selection of exotic cocktails and spirits as well as mocktails and many other non-alcoholic drinks.

Strangely enough I chose a Coconut juice and followed this up later with local beer. There are fundamental risks in drinking Chinese wines as the industry is awash with contaminated wine as well as fake wines so better to avoid completely!

Being confronted with an extensive menu boasting both exotica and universally well-known dishes makes the selection process difficult. It’s true, I was dining alone on this occasion but I didn’t want this to impair my wide-ranging tasting experience so I lashed out, ordering far too many items from the menu, much to the concern…or was it amusement….of the waiter and the other floor staff. However, I pressed on with my intentions and began with Pork and Scallion(spring onion) dumplings, a filling meal on its own, suitably whetting my appetite for boiled, shredded bean curd in chicken soup, a delicate, soft expression of melting taste, the bean curd noodles so absorbent and smooth, soaking up the chicken fat infused liquid of the soup. All this complementing the sprinkling of greens and the firm texture of the prawns.

A plate of BBQ pork in honey sauce tossed me back to meaty heaven  again, so sweet in its honey coating, so tender and beautifully cooked, artfully presented and so much appreciated.

Vegetables (and seafood) always feature prominently in Chinese dining and the selection in restaurants is invariably a salivating lineup of highly desirable delights. One of my all time favourites is Garlic beans – the green string bean variety – these are seen everywhere and are simply addictive. For me though, at Mao’s Family Kitchen, it was to be Iced celery and three other dishes,  organic Ginseng Leaf with sesame, “Signature baked pumpkin” and “Hot & Spicy Mandarin Fish”. Of course, I merely sampled each of these as even my stomach has limits on its ability to hold more than an average amount of food in one sitting. Nevertheless, I managed to experience what I believe was the closest thing to a non-sexual orgasm, my senses singing with utmost joy the praises of food prepared by people from a culture so ancient and so well practiced in the art of culinary excellence. These foods celebrated their individual flavours, they boasted unselfconsciously their heritage and made their culinary statements with dignity and poise. Jumping across the table from a chopstick of iced celery to the other end of the ‘musical’ scale, hotly spiced fish, was exhilarating, each conveying its taste with certainty and confidence. The fish was as fine as any I have tasted in China, its inner flesh so thoroughly agreeable to the palate.

“Sauteed flank beef with baby cabbage”, as you can see in the accompanying photograph was also creatively plated and the skill and care extended through to the taste – 15 evenly cut pieces of succulent beef, bite-sized and exuding a sweet yet powerful grandiloquence so seductively enhanced by the soft bed of greens below.

My salute to one of my favourite cities was to order the BBQ pork puff, Hong Kong style. Finger-sized bites of bliss, sweet Eastern sensations with tantalizing black and white sesame seed coated pastry jackets, small tidbits of pork within and enough to add pleasure aplenty to an already exceptionally joyful evening.

I finished with more Chinese beer (usually only 2.5 to 3.5% ABV) as coffee was unavailable.

For your edification and information I list below a few other items from the vast menu; you may like to try these when you are in Beijing and can find this restaurant.

Tasty jellyfish head; Signature smoked duck tongue; stewed live sea-cucumber with Aweto; braised Yajian shark’s fin with brown sauce; live sea cucumber in clear soup; diced foie gras with lettuce; stewed Dalian abalone with yellow fungus and cashew; Signature original duck blood; grilled pork intestine; braised yak meat with paste; Signature donkey shank; bullfrog in stone pot; simmered turtle; baked fish head; pork heart, liver, sausage & streaky pork West Hunan style; catfish in white soup; beef tripe and shrimp in hot chilli oil; shredded eel with sizzling oil and yellow pepper; Australian lobster (seen a lot in China); Australia Wagyu beef

Middle 8th Yunnan Restaurant, Sanlitun, Beijing

Be inspired! Easy enough to say but where is the impetus? My post India diversion to China took in the great megalopolis Chongqing before the economic prize and pride of the Orient, Beijing, became my base for more than a week.
Many of you will have been to Beijing many times and you will know, as I do, that there are so many hidden dining pearls in the Hutongs, down dimly lit alleyways and just about anywhere you can imagine - even in major hotels!

Local knowledge can be enormously valuable and I have oft relied on a Cantabrian in the food business in Beijing to throw interesting suggestions my way. Relying on Concierges at Western hotels is of little use as they have no personal experience dining at top restaurants other than in their own establishments; this time around my contact suggested I immerse myself in Yunnan Cuisine at Middle 8th Restaurant in the vibrant Sunlatin district (Where, incidentally, the NZ Embassy has relocated while renovations are being done at its usual location).

No selfish, self-serving foodie can avoid being moved by the aromas this restaurant thrusts under the nose and the tastes it massages the palate with; indeed, the sheer authenticity offered so far from home (Yunnan Province, SW China) is excruciatingly beautiful and gloriously delicious. As with so many quality restaurants in China the menu is, in itself, a spectacular & substantial, beautifully bound sacristy of pictorial wonder aided and abetted by textual content that does not fail to sweep the lucky consumer along on a journey of half-crazed delight.

It was close to 9pm when my companions and I swung in through the entry to be greeted by the expected immaculately dressed female staff, ushered to a table sumptuously beautified with gleaming glassware, spotless linen and deeply upholstered, “ may I lie down and meditate” bench seating.

It took us more than twenty pre-prandial minutes to digest the menu, explore the many and varied options and contemplate the extent of our adventure.

The Crispy chilli roasted pork – described simply as “Baby pig and sweet chilli” was important to keep the fat content coming in and add ever more necessary spice to our ‘reach for the skies’ lives. Some thought it might put a bit of lead back in to respective pencils but I think that’s beef’s forte….
Next, bring on the wild herb medicinal soup – yes, it may seem less than exciting with the word ‘medicinal’ in there but the very essence of Yunnan food is its connection with the earth, its love affair with roots and herbs and the everpresent damp, tropical nuances that prevail so longingly in that deeply southern, earthquake-prone and mountainous region. I know well that the restorative and recuperative powers of Chinese medicinal herbs, present in many foods and soups, is an endearing attraction especially when coupled with indescribably beautiful flavours that make the heart literally sing.

Sauteed top grade beef tenderloin with wild Porcino mushrooms found instant favour with me and my fellows. I admit we often use the words soft and succulent when talking about fine cuts of beef but these words do convey well the sense of the food. Mushrooms are everywhere in Yunnan and the Chinese are the consummate masters of Fungi fun and finesse; if you like these most exotic of foods then this is for you. So many mushrooms, so many distinctive differences in taste and flavour, so many ways to maximize the delivery and elevate the appeal of this exceptional food type.
Still on the subject of fungus – a very pungent Shrimp paste omelette with black fungus is a heart-stopping, show-stealer that may not appeal to everyone but it had strong, wet earth influences, evocative of forest floors, water-logged clay, dripping leaves, even flood damaged carpet steaming in the sun. This was a dish of, again simply, scrambled egg with black fungus and salted shrimp paste. Never, ever, underestimate the power of a few well chosen ingredients to combine and make magic.

Mud Chunk Tiramisu was our little tribute to decadence and a chance to indulge in something creamy, soft and luxurious before finishing off with cups of Pu’er Tea, aged for 8 years. This is one I won’t forget and hope to return when next in Beijing.

Fisherman's Wharf, Lyttelton

It seems only appropriate that Lyttelton, being a port town, should have its own dedicated seafood restaurant. Sadly, the latest attempt at providing this at 39 Norwich Quay falls far short of a boastable standard. I don’t like to be the castigator of small businesses but I’m firmly of the opinion that Fisherman’s Wharf Seafood Eatery & Bar has opened its doors too soon, certainly before ensuring staff are trained to a level above the bare minimum standard, a wine list with more than almost nothing on it has been established and a menu representative of fine southern waters is drawn up.
I was under no illusion that this eatery was anything other than a fish and chippery with casual dining options; notwithstanding this, the view across the port was quite splendid, the seating comfortable and roomy, the atmosphere heaving with activity as the staff scurried in and out of the open kitchen. The potential exists for this establishment to work well for the owners but someone needs to take charge of the operation and bring it together as a well-oiled, working machine. At the moment the staff seem to be charging about in all directions, each oblivious to what the other is doing. Guests are left wondering whether they will be offered another drink, whether cutlery will appear on the table, which of the handful of wines on the tiny wine list is still available – several were sold out on the night we visited.
The menu offers a choice of chowder, mussels (spelt muscles on the menu), scallops, seared fish(freshly caught), salmon, crayfish and prawns as well as a chicken and a beef option.
The seafood chowder was mediocre and was presented with what seemed to me to be a cheap Pak n Save type bread roll, sliced up; what’s wrong with that? Nothing in essence except it further dumbed down the experience for me.
My seared fish of the day, Groper, was a fine enough specimen, as fresh as the morning breeze, but the taste was dominated by the charcoal coating; the plate was adorned with a salad of tomato, lettuce, onion and capsicum and a sizeable handful of fried chips – to reinforce the casual nature of the place no doubt.
In defence of the owners of Fisherman’s Wharf it should be conceded that it is not easy to recruit wait staff in Christchurch at the moment and, in some instances, even harder to train those you do manage to get, but this cannot and must not be used as an excuse for poor service and fundamental operational mistakes, omissions and oversights. The difficulties in hiring staff should not in any way, shape or form become the restaurant diners’ problems. You have to roll out your red carpet for your guests at all times and without fail as the competition for the private discretionary dollar is fierce in this town and shortly to become more so as many more restaurants and cafes open their doors.
This restaurant, I’m told, is in partnership with Pegasus Bay Fishing Ltd, and so has the advantage of access to freshly caught fish on an almost daily basis. This, I would have thought, is an enormous opportunity to deliver something quite special to us all; giant platters of smoked, seared, fried and raw fish perhaps? Interspersed with prawns, scallops and crayfish, fresh salads, bright yellow lemon wedges and cold beer…..or champagne. Casual eatery or not, I’d pay handsomely for such a dish.

The Great Governor's Bay Hotel

You might think that midweek in Governors Bay is a place of solitude & quietude but there’s action aplenty in the kitchen of the Governors Bay Hotel; in fact, should you require above average sustenance served in thoroughly agreeable surroundings with a damn fine view straight down the harbour then the sprawling deck out the front of the hotel beckons.
Sit down, as I did, albeit inside, with a fetching presentation of balsamic Portobello mushrooms filled with pistachio & feta, adorned with cherry tomatoes & roasted pepper coulis. Follow up with an eminently slurpable Bouillabaisse, so rich, so complex and organoleptic, its effulgent sheen the very picture of indulgent palatability, the seafood, fennel and chorizo offering up such lingering goodness and smooth graciousness.
Before, after or in between don’t miss out on further edible salvation by neglecting to sample the Duck Liver pate, an arresting blend of Cointreau, cornichons, cherry tomatoes and relish with a flick or two of delicate herbage for good measure.
Couple the above with an Ataahua merlot and you could end up as pleased with yourself as I was. The weather was being its difficult self when I visited but if you pick a sunny, windfree day you will get the best out of the deck dining in the comfortable looking chairs and, as mentioned, an iconic, enduring Lyttelton harbour view.