Ethiopian expat Yeshi Desta creates home-cooked feasts through her pop-up and private catering company My Mother's Kitchen. Photo / Supplied
Ethiopian expat Yeshi Desta creates home-cooked feasts through her pop-up and private catering company My Mother's Kitchen. Photo / Supplied
Is there anything more satisfying than arriving in a new country and stepping out to find the flavours that you've long imagined?
Ordering something as commonplace as coffee suddenly feels like a brand-new experience while mealtimes, so often a means to quickly dispel a hunger rumble, become an entire three-hour sensory event. Even a trip to the supermarket evokes an unexpected giddiness when you find yourself in foreign aisles.
To state the obvious, such pleasures are not feasible right now, but they can be recreated on New Zealand soil. With such a wealth of international culinary talent up our sleeve, there are numerous places to lock lips with authentic, global flavours. Here we round up a collection of the most unique.
Ethiopian Ethiopian expat Yeshi Desta brings a fascinating taste of her home country to those lucky enough to book tickets at her pop-up events, attend her hosted dinner parties, or chance upon her holding the occasional buna (Ethiopian coffee ceremony) at festivals and events.
Desta gets to work roasting green coffee beans, also from her home country (Ethiopia is where coffee plants were first discovered) in a small pan over a portable gas stove. "I would normally do this over charcoal", she explains, showing me her traditional charcoal-burner, "but the smoke sets off the fire alarm." The combined aroma of the toasting beans, which rustle musically in the pan, and the incense, transports me to somewhere I've never even been.
Ethiopian expat Yeshi Desta brings a fascinating taste of her home country, Ethiopia to New Zealand shores. Photo / Supplied
Greek If I had a dollar for every wistful, "rather be here" Instagram story of a sun-drenched scene on some Greek Island or other that's crossed my feed this past year (Travel editor Stephanie Holmes, I'm looking at you), I'd have a bit of pocket money. I'd use it to eat my way around all the restaurants serving Greek food here in Aotearoa.
There aren't many of them. Thai, Indian, Chinese, Italian eats abound north and south, but if it's souvlaki you're seeking, you've got your work cut out (except, as The Spinoff once revealed, in souvlaki stronghold Christchurch).
Middle Eastern Landlocked Afghanistan is framed by Iran, Pakistan and a trio of Central Asian republics, and the country's cuisine has also been influenced by its position on historic trading routes. Highlights at family-owned Samadi restaurant in Pt Chevalier, Auckland include mantu, Afghan-style dumplings with garlic-laced yoghurt and dried mint, and kabobs, skewered lamb or chicken served with fragrant rice topped with raisins and nuts.
Global flatbread Flatbread is a difficult one to categorise when so many countries have perfected their own version: naan, roti, pizza, pita, lavash - to name a few. Fortunately, you can taste a seriously moreish variant at the Sherwood Queenstown.
It's amazing how fire can transform raw ingredients into something so delicious. Having toured the extensive permaculture garden at Sherwood alongside Head Chef and co-owner Chris Scott, I returned to the restaurant where, before my eyes, sous chef Vinni gently shaped a ball of dough into a disc, scattered over a few carefully chosen toppings, and posted his creation into the hellishly hot wood oven sitting bench-height in the open kitchen. In no time I was sitting at a table with a substantial late afternoon snack staring up at me: the dough puffed up, blackened blisters cracking to reveal the airy crumb within.
Honduran Marvin Guerrero's Masterton cafe Don Luciano is named for his grandfather and occupies an Art Deco corner site with that signature Art Deco curve. Guerrero roasts excellent coffee under the Gracias brand – blending beans from Guerrero's home country, Honduras, as well as Guatemala and Brazil. Alongside more familiar brunch fare, Guerrero brings plenty of Honduran influences, like the baliadas we breakfasted on – a street food classic of flour tortillas encasing refried beans with cheese and scrambled egg, drizzled in Latin-style cream.
Marvin Guerrero's Masterton cafe Don Luciano is named for his grandfather, with flavours from Guerrero's home country, Honduras. Photo / Jet Productions For Travel
Street food After running fine dining restaurant The French Cafe for 20 years, Simon Wright and wife Creghan Molloy-Wright have opened up a new food truck-style eatery in Whangamata. The vibe is all about serving up quality street food in a casual dining environment - in this case, an industrial area on Lindsay Rd, where the kitchen is the food truck.
