Hansik Restaurant chef Alex Kim. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Hansik Restaurant chef Alex Kim. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Kiwi-born Asian chefs create original recipe, writes Lincoln Tan
New Zealand is on the verge of having its own unique Asian cuisine thanks to a new generation of ethnic chefs.
"For a long time, Asian food in New Zealand was modified to meet rather bland and conservative tastes," said Massey University sociologist Paul Spoonley. "But we are moving into a new phase where the New Zealand-born or raised are beginning to explore a post-migration cuisine that experiments with traditional flavours and ingredients, New Zealand Asian or Asian New Zealand cuisine."
Like Britain's famous curries, the cuisine will most likely also be Asian dishes but cooked or plated with a New Zealand influence.
A Massey University report, Migrant Spaces and Places, found the wave of Asian migration in the past two decades had transformed the food landscape of New Zealand, especially in major cities.
The demand from the Asian community had also grown large enough for ethnic restaurants to make "no concessions to the food sensibilities" of customers who were non-Asian.
"Post-migration cuisines have led to the Pakistani and Bangladeshi balti restaurants and curries in the UK or the Mex-Tex food of the USA," said Professor Spoonley. "New Zealand is also now entering a phase that will add another layer, experimenting and adding to imported cuisines and traditions."
New-generation Asian eateries are moving beyond "authentic" Asian food.
Namam, a modern Filipino restaurant in Royal Oak, opened this year to rave reviews, with a menu comprised of modern interpretations of classic Filipino dishes. And Hansik at Victoria Park Market serves centuries-old Korean royal court cuisine in modern Western fashion.
Both these restaurants are owned and operated by ethnic chefs who have either worked or trained in Western or New Zealand food establishments.
Another, Madam Woo, serving modern Asian dishes inspired by Malaysian hawker food, is set to open in Takapuna on Friday.
"These communities are producing talented individuals who are altering New Zealand's educational landscape, and why not food?" said Professor Spoonley.
"I would be very surprised if New Zealand did not produce new dishes or even cuisines that are built upon Asian food influences and practices."
Professor Spoonley said New Zealanders had experimented and had moved away from the bland fare that was the product of British colonial influences.
Although he could not say what New Zealand's unique brand of cuisine would be, he thought it would evolve within the next decade.
AUT University Professor of Diversity Edwina Pio said ethnic chefs crafting new cuisines could be construed as "deep symbolism around immigration and inclusion".
"These new-generation ethnic eateries transgress persistent low-skilled images of ethnic minority migrants and invite all to experience the entrepreneurial outcomes of New Zealand education and training plated through source-country culture and tradition," she said.
"This new generation has vaulted over barriers that many of their elders were hesitant to do."
The Massey report said British immigrants transformed the food of a colonial era, and by the 20th century food that was considered traditional to New Zealand was defined by its British roots.
Typical meals at the time included scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast and roast beef, baked potatoes and greens for dinner.
Chinese food gained a foothold in the 1960s but was adapted to Western tastes.
The first Chinese restaurant, the New Orient or Wun Loy, opened in the late 1960s or early 1970s, and was joined by shops such as Gordon Sai Louie and Co in Onehunga which stocked Chinese food products.
Despite the close colonial ties, a major difference between the UK and New Zealand was that Anglo-Indian foods, like butter chicken and vindaloo, were not adopted to the same extent here.
Indian restaurants such as Paradise on Sandringham Rd serve Western versions of butter chicken and original butter chicken.
In the past, New Zealand food had been dominated by its British origins with some concessions to Maori foods, and some pockets of immigrant-related food practices in the Chinese, Indian, Dalmatian and Dutch communities, the report said.
The arrival of the first major wave of non-European migrants from the Pacific Islands did not alter the food scene much, and the consumption of Pacific foods was "largely confined to the communities concerned".
However the food landscape of New Zealand was "transformed" by the second major wave of non-European migrants from Asia.
"By 2000 ... restaurants or retailers made little effort to ensure that they appealed to someone from another ethnic community," the report authors said. "The signage was in Mandarin or Korean; the presentation of the food or the organisation of the restaurant was arranged according to the practices of the homeland; most if not all of the customers and staff were from the ethnic group concerned."
Past: Dream of 1970s evolves
Mabel (left) and Eileen Kan carry on at Pearl Garden. Photo / Chris Loufte
When the late Pauline Kan started Newmarket's Pearl Garden four decades ago, her dream was to share authentic Cantonese and yum char cuisine with Aucklanders.
But her daughters-in-law, Mabel and Eileen, who took over the reins of Auckland's oldest surviving Chinese restaurant after she died last year, remembered what a mission that was.
Mabel Kan said in the 1970s and early '80s, about eight in 10 customers were non-Chinese or New Zealand-born Chinese who had a "western taste" for food.
"Mama [Pauline] Kan had written a cookbook and was eager to share her Cantonese cuisine, but at the time we didn't have the customers who could appreciate that style of food.
"Also, we didn't get many Chinese vegetable varieties in New Zealand 40 years ago."
Pearl Garden started in 1975 as a small restaurant with eight tables, 30 plates and 30 bowls, and a menu that catered mainly to European tastes. Popular dishes - sweet and sour pork, combination fried rice, black pepper beef and fried Singapore noodles - have survived the test of time and are still on the menu today.
"Deep fried or with lots of gravy, that's how they liked it back then," Mrs Kan said.
The closest it got to yum char dishes then were spring rolls, fried won tons and siew mai (pork dumplings).
Eileen Kan recalls having to wrap the siew mai while pregnant with her second child. "It was hard work, but it was fortunate also that we didn't have all the other yum char dishes like chicken feet and steamed buns, otherwise it would have been impossible."
Until 1987, the Chinese made up just a tiny portion of the population. From the early '90s, changes to immigration policy saw an influx of Chinese business, investor and professional migrants.
Mama Kan was finally able to realise her dream of authentic Cantonese and Chinese cuisine. Today the menu includes a full yum char range with everything from chicken feet and honeycomb tripe to bean curd rolls and shark fin dumplings.
The dinner menu offers herbal duck, Peking duck, steamed live fish and crayfish, and even scallops with Chinese whiskey.
• Pearl Garden Restaurant is at level one, 1 Teed St.
Present: Cook's dishes real deal
Claudia Cheng serves authentic stinky tofu.
Claudia Cheng wants meals at her Dominion Rd restaurant to "take you to Taiwan" and to be "a reminder of home" for Taiwanese immigrants.
Before she took over Hao Ke ROC Taiwanese Cuisine from her mother-in-law last year, Ms Cheng, who has lived in New Zealand for 27 years, returned to her native Taiwan three times to learn the right way to produce the dishes.
The restaurant's menu includes traditional dishes such as stinky tofu, or chou doufu, a form of fermented tofu with a strong odour, and pig's blood pudding.
The traditional method of producing stinky tofu is to marinate it in a brine made from fermented milk, dried shrimp, Chinese herbs, vegetables and meat, and leave it to ferment for weeks.
In Taiwan, it is a very popular snack, sold at night markets and roadside stalls.
Pig's blood pudding is a combination of sticky rice and coagulated blood, and is also a popular street food.
Ms Cheng said the high number of ethnic Chinese migrants in Auckland and an increasing number of Kiwis who had been to Taiwan and were familiar with its cuisine meant there was a demand for authentic flavours.
"When customers walk into a Taiwanese restaurant, they expect and demand authentic Taiwanese food," Ms Cheng said. "And because they know what they are ordering, we have to cook the [dishes] how they would get them back in Taiwan."
Taiwanese eat often and well, preferring xiaochi - literally translated to "small eats" - to larger, more substantial meals.
Other xiaochi dishes on the menu include grilled Taiwanese fatty pork sausages and wine-soaked deboned chicken drumsticks.
Ms Cheng said her Taiwanese beef noodle soup was popular with most of her customers, 70 per cent of whom were Asian migrants or international students.
"We do it the traditional way, simmering the bones for the stock for up to 14 hours to extract the flavours without using MSG," she said.
The dish, topped with suan cai (Chinese sauerkraut) and fresh chillies, was so popular in Taiwan, some regarded it a national dish, she said.
• Hao Ke ROC Taiwanese Cuisine is at 1276 Dominion Rd, Mt Roskill.
Future: Passionate pursuit of a culinary yin and yang
Alex Kim creates Korean food for Western palates. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Alex Kim, Korean chef and Auckland restaurant owner, is a man on a mission.
His dream is to create a unique New Zealand-style "Korean luxury cuisine" that he can introduce to the world.
Three months ago he started Hansik, a modern Korean bar and eatery at the top of Victoria Park serving dishes inspired by the cuisine of the royal court of the Joseon Dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910.
Mr Kim, 35, said Westerners were still not as accepting of Korean cuisine as they were of other ethnic foods, such as Japanese, Indian and Thai.
"One way we hope to change that is by presenting traditional Korean dishes in a way that is accepting to non-Koreans," he said.
The dish, Yukhwe, created by Hansik Restaurant chef Alex Kim. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Most royal dishes were served in bangjja, or bronzeware, and meals were accompanied by 12 side dishes of different colours and divided into yin and yang energy foods.
At Hansik, however, the dishes are served mainly on clay, ceramic or stone platters, and plated in a style closer to what you would find in top Western or Japanese restaurants.
A signature dish is gujeolpan, which consists of nine assorted foods served on a large white ceramic plate, instead of the traditional wooden plate divided into nine sections in an octagonal shape.
Also on the menu at Hansik are ddukgalbi, made from short ribs and yukhoe, raw ground beef seasoned with various spices or sauces, and accompanied by julienned bae (Korean pear), pine nuts and raw egg yolk.
Mr Kim admits it has not been easy to break away from the norm.
"Korean customers say the foods we serve are not authentic because they look different - and Westerners who are not familiar with royal cuisine but just Korean street food say what we have is also not authentic," he said.
One restaurant reviewer criticised Hansik for the lack of kimchi, a traditional fermented spicy Korean side dish made of vegetables that is synonymous with Korean food.
But Mr Kim explained the reason it was not readily served at his restaurant was because it was never part of royal court cuisine. Early kimchi was made of only cabbage and beef stock.
Mr Kim is passionate about finding the "right mix and balance" and producing unique dishes where Western palate meets Korean food.
"When we get it right, we will take it to the world," added Mr Kim, who already has plans to open a similar restaurant in Australia. Lincoln Tan
• Hansik Restaurant & Bar is at 19 Drake St, Victoria Park Market, Freemans Bay.
