Wellington chef Asher Boote from vegetarian restaurant Hillside Kitchen is hosting Hillside Autumnal Forage, a two-part foraging and fine dining event at this year's Wellington on a Plate. Photo / Jacqui Gibson
Wellington chef Asher Boote from vegetarian restaurant Hillside Kitchen is hosting Hillside Autumnal Forage, a two-part foraging and fine dining event at this year's Wellington on a Plate. Photo / Jacqui Gibson
As Wellington on a Plate returns to the capital, Jacqui Gibson meets chef Asher Boote ahead of Hillside Autumnal Forage, a two-week foraging and fine dining event.
I meet chef and forager Asher Boote at the foot of Wellington’s Matairangi (Mount Victoria) with one thing in mind: dinner.
It’s 11am and my goal is to scour the north-facing flanks of the town belt for enough sustenance to feed my husband and me later that night.
Today’s guided hunt is the first part of the Hillside Autumnal Forage, a two-part foraging and fine dining event designed by the local chef for the country’s largest annual food festival, Wellington on a Plate.
This morning’s excursion will double as a preview of the upcoming event, which has hosted more than 1000 hungry festivalgoers since its debut at WOAP eight years ago.
“If you’re lucky, in autumn you’ll find mushrooms like Slippery Jacks and porcini, especially near pines and on a full moon - and seed pods and other stuff that’s changing form as it goes into winter hibernation.”
A longtime forager, Asher wants people to get familiar with the edible bounty in their backyard.
“Foraging is becoming more and more popular,” says Asher, who owns the tiny, 22-seat vegetarian restaurant Hillside Kitchen. “Sure, it’s always been around. But Covid lockdowns caused the interest in wild food to explode.”
The format for the Hillside Autumnal Forage is simple, he says.
“It starts with a group forage at a secret location on a Sunday. Together, we look for ingredients and share our knowledge. I talk about how to harvest culturally important kai like kawakawa, avoid nasties like Queen Anne’s Lace and discuss different ways to cook wild foods at home.”
Dining at Hillside Kitchen as a group the following week completes the experience, he says.
Walking the Hataitai to City Walkway, Asher soon spies wild brassica (tastes like radish; great in salads), kawakawa (culturally significant; the flavour of Wellington!) and lots of leafy plantain (high in vitamins; good as a poultice; the survivalist’s favourite).
He presents me with pikopiko, a tiny green fern shoot that tastes like asparagus.
He hands me some wood sorrel. I chew it. A pop of sourness. “Excellent with seafood,” Asher notes.
As we veer up a well-worn path towards a forest of sky-high pines, my eyes are peeled (and my fingers crossed) for mushrooms.
Wishful thinking pays off. I see a porcini growing in a mess of grass and pine needles.
Pulling out his pocket knife, Asher slices the brown-capped fungi off at the base of its chunky white stem.
“That’s a good meal for two,” he says, seemingly as chuffed as I am. “Slice it and fry it with lots of butter,” he suggests, handing the bolete to me with a reminder of what it would sell for at the supermarket.
Wellington chef Asher Boote from vegetarian restaurant Hillside Kitchen forages for a wild porcini mushroom. Photo / Jacqui Gibson
I feel like I’ve won the jackpot with (an estimated) 40 dollars worth of mushroom in my paw and tonight’s dinner plans sorted.
Dining at Hillside Kitchen the following week, I’m excited to dig into a multi-course menu, showing off what’s been either foraged and locally sourced that week or grown in the restaurant’s Horowhenua garden.
I start with a slab of soft sourdough made from Asher’s 16-year-old starter (which, apparently, Asher’s mum minds any time he’s overseas) slathered in cultured butter.
There are tart snacks made of pickled cucumber, fresh figs and tiny handmade curls of pasta crafted from locally-grown durum wheat.
I try the chef’s aperitif, a vodka spritz, flavoured with slivers of fresh plum.
The final dishes of polenta, wild carrot, zucchini-two-ways and a ginger and plum dessert wraps up a busy night in the Tinakori Rd restaurant.
A saying written on tonight’s menu aptly sums up the special vibe of this place and the philosophy behind foraging and seasonal eating overall.
Quoting “mum” it simply says: “You’ll get what you’re bloody well given.”
Masterchef winners Karena and Kasey Bird will be talking about modern Aotearoa kai at Eat Your Words, part of this year's Wellington on a Plate festival. Photo / Supplied
How to book
Buy your ticket online to dozens of Wellington on a Plate events from visawoap.com or travel to Wellington during the festival from May 5 to 21 to take part in a range of pay-as-you-go pop-ups, chef collaborations, and cocktail events.
This year’s festival features a one-day Eat Your Words speakers’ symposium on Saturday May 13. Speakers include Tasmanian food writer, broadcaster and chef Matthew Evans talking about open, fair and accountable food and farming systems, as well as Masterchef winners Kārena and Kasey Bird talking about modern Aotearoa kai.
Burger Wellington
The city’s annual burger festival runs for two weeks from August 11.
