Anna King Shahab goes in search of good food to help celebrate the winter solstice.
The shortest day of the year is nigh, but it's nothing to feel down about. It does, after all, mean we'll start inching closer to the longest day again. These colder months are the perfect time to hunker down and feast: certain food and drink experiences can be, quite simply, life-affirming.
SAY CHEESE
There's that marvellous Swiss contribution to winter mood-lifting, the traditional cheese fondue. Such fun, gathering round a kirsch-spiked fondue pot, taking turns to dip your stick (whoever drops their bread in has to do the dishes). Even more fun as the cheese bubbles down and you fight over the crust on the bottom. I was resigned to having to tell you that a cheese fondue is missing from Auckland's dining scene when Maison Vauron stepped in to inform me that their seasonal winter fondue will be on the menu in their cafe L'Atelier du Fromage by the end of this month. DIY is also loads of fun. Scour your local op shops for retro fondue sets (they're fairly readily had), grab a few loaves of sourdough (you want one with a great crust that will really hold up; I'd go to Pasture, 4&20 or Daily Bread for this job) and go and spend your entire weekly pay on cheese: you want a few different kinds of Alpine cheese, such as Emmentaler, Comte, Vacherin Fribourgeois and Gruyere, and lots of it. A good cheesemonger should be able to send you off with the right makings: try Farro, Sabato or L'Atelier du Fromage (the latter sell fondue kits with everything you need).
The Alibi Brewers Lounge at Tantalus has something of a cosy bunker feel; I loved it as respite from a hot day in the summer, but it makes more sense yet with winter raging outside. The design is medieval-meets-1970s, with an arched brickwork ceiling, wooden and glass cabinetry, hand-blown blue glasses with painted motifs. Settle in for a tasting paddle of Alibi beers, brewed on site, or a cocktail and plates from the bar menu (the Bengal fish sliders and the lamb ribs are especially warming).
A good ramen can make winter seem like the best season. Try Ramen Takara's slightly spicy tan-tan ramen, the lighter, perfectly balanced shoyu ramen at Zool Zool, in Mt Eden, or the much richer Hokkaido-style miso ramen from Ramen Do, Eden Terrace. Other soups worth celebrating include Selera in Newmarket's famous laksa, the magically restorative wonton noodle soup at Chinese Cuisine in Mercury Plaza, and on Waiheke, the Humblepie Village Butchery dishes out freshly made soup in a cup: $5 for an easy lunch to take down to the beach.
Chef George Saito with a dish of Tonkotsu Ramen at Zool Zool. Photo / Doug Sherring
The world owes a big thank you to China for its collective contribution to the art of comfort food. Eden Noodles' dumplings in spicy sauce draw folk from all over to the two branches (Dominion Rd and Albany). No matter what else you're scoffing at the Eden, you need a side of these on the go.
Sunday yum cha with family or a bunch of friends is a brilliant mood-booster. Grand Harbour, at the Viaduct, is renowned in this field, and I also rate my local, HKD, which is always packed and where the siu mai are plump and piping hot. A bowl of the D12 (hand-pulled noodles with braised pork and pickled vegetables) from Chongqing Noodles, in Lorne St and Dominion Rd, will blow away wintry cobwebs. And it doesn't get much more comforting than soup and dumpling in one dish - for the best xiaolongbao in the city head to Mt Albert's Taste in Memory.
hot chips in a cone from Giapo. Photo / Davide Zerilli
WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN
I put it to you that one of life's greatest pleasures on a cold day is an indoor swim (bonus points for added sauna) followed by hot chips. Top off a few laps at the Teps with the hot chips in a cone from Giapo - no typo there, that's an extra-wide icecream cone housing your favourite Giapo icecream flavour and a scoop of hand-cooked hot, crisp and soft agria chips. If you're not fussed about the swim but you're a hot chips perfectionist, follow Kate Underwood's top picks. As the Chip Group's training and education manager, she helps hunt down the top chip in the land each year. She reckons Oceanz Seafood in Botany, Northcross Takeaway in Browns Bay, Double Dutch Fries and Greenwoods Fresh Catch in Epsom are all exemplary.
Masters of making you feel looked after are the good folk at Apero, on K Rd. Chef Leslie Hottiaux deserves a medal for her sausage with homemade mustard and pickles, while partner and front of house guy Mo Koski makes spending your money way too easy with his little chats at the table that end in excellent personalised wine recommendations. It's a similar story at Cassia, Fort Lane, where the bowls of curry are fragrant and deeply satisfying, and doting staff like bar manager Prateek Arora are skilled in the way of easy, genuine chat that winds up in you sampling three different G&T combinations.
And at Coco's Cantina, on K Rd, where they sneakily use the colour red (lips, sauces) to incite appetites sated after slurping up their spaghetti and meatballs.
Sean Connolly at Gusto.
Gusto at the Grand is another spot that utilises the magical properties of red sauce, and I really must pay heed to my own reminder to head there for an early dinner one Sunday, when kids eat free (check their website for details).
