Address: 46 Customs St East
Ph: (09) 379 9311
Returning to Auckland after a lengthy spell in exile in London, our guest was keen to know about the latest Auckland eating hotspots. The Britomart area was not on the radar on her last visit but on a busy Saturday night the territory provided a fine range of people watching.
As a representative example of what Auckland now offers, District Dining was a good choice. It has chic decor, the food is a fair reflection of the contemporary Auckland restaurant approach and it has that indefinable feel of an inner city destination venue - laid-back but smart.
The small plate selection dominates but for those who don't regard such offerings as serious food there are some main courses of substantial, if not huge, dimensions.
There are several of those novelty items calculated to remind you are not at home unless you are the most adventurous domestic performer - crispy pigs ears with Szechuan salt, kingfish with soy tapioca and wasabi snow, veal tongue with pickled turnip - along with simpler items like smoked fish croquettes with dill mayonnaise. This was one of our first selections and was good - hot, crisp croquettes with a firm, smoked flavour enhanced by that delightful hint of dill that goes so well with fish. The school prawns were also good, like sea-flavoured crisps and probably just as bad for you. There seemed to be a quite a lot of them, but like all crisps they proved irresistible and soon disappeared. Our third little sharer was braised brisket pancakes, a neat twist on the Peking duck theme although the braising would have profited by being more sharp than sweet.
