KINGI
Cuisine: Seafood bistro
Phone: (09) 300 9595
Address: The Hotel Britomart, 29 Galway St, central city
Drinks: Fully licensed
Reservations: Accepted
From the menu: XO Tomatoes $23; asparagus $15; crayfish taco $31; chickpea farinata $38; char siu octopus $43; snapper $45; tiramisu $20
Rating: 15/20
Score: 0-7 Steer clear.
We’ve made decent strides towards gender equality in some professions - around two-thirds of New Zealanders training to be doctors and lawyers right now are women, for example - but not yet in the kitchen (ironic, given that “women belong in the kitchen” used to be something sexist idiots would say to wind the rest of us up).
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Advertise with NZME.As someone who supports progress, I’m torn over whether to make a big deal of a woman becoming head chef, or to not even mention it because it should be a completely normal thing to happen. Life as a male ally is hard. You could even say we’re the real victims here??
All right, all right, I’m just trolling. But I was delighted to read about the appointment of Stefania Palermo to the top job at Kingi, and I wasn’t the only one who was pleased.
“It’s amazing to have a woman head chef,” began owner Tom Hishon in the press release. He was possibly struggling to find the right tone himself but he is the nicest, most straightforward guy in Auckland dining so I doubt he spent too long agonising over the wording of his quote. He’s happy, she’s happy, we’re all happy. And I visited the restaurant quickly after receiving the announcement to eat that happiness up for dinner.
Stefania wasn’t on duty that night, but the food part went pretty well. She’s added a few new things to the menu while some of Kingi’s old favourites (blue cod wings, kina on toast) remain. The set menu looked good but didn’t seem to be yet showing off much of the new line-up so we ordered a few things a la carte and took our chances.
Unfortunately, the wait staff were having a shocking night. Nobody seemed to want to be there, and the bare minimum was delivered with indifference, bordering on hostility.
Could our waiter tell us about the wines?
“I don’t know any of the wines.”
Do you have a sommelier?
“No.”
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Advertise with NZME.Is there anyone in the room who could talk to us about the winelist?
“I’ll find someone.”
That someone nudged us toward a bottle of Mt Rosa Pinot Blanc, but it never showed up. After 15 minutes or so my friend got up to look for it but the waiter he approached put his hand up crossly and said “HANG ON”. Eventually the message was passed on and the bottle arrived. But when the guy poured it he was in such a hurry to get away that he moved before the pouring had finished and spilt it over the table and my friend’s arm.
“How do you suggest we eat this?” I asked about a (delicious, but expensive, but generous) crayfish taco delivered in a hollowed-out exo-skeleton.
“You just …” the waiter began pointing towards the taco. But he must have lost the will to live part way through the sentence because he stopped talking and walked off. We worked it out on our own.
In their defence, it was busier than they were expecting (you might have some sympathy for them if I tell you it was a Monday night). But this was not a crack team of professionals under pressure, it was a team that needs a lot more work.
Let’s focus on the food then. I loved the chef’s new farinata, a sort of chickpea flour pancake with silky aubergine puree, agro dolce capsicums plus two types of anchovies - cured and brined. Stefania originally comes from Sardinia and this felt like the best of Mediterranean cooking - fresh, vegetable-led and with minimal fussiness.
Heirloom tomatoes were impressive: roast cherry toms that arrived snug on a plate like red balls in a snooker triangle. I found the paua XO sauce that came with it a bit full on for my tastes but it was an impressive dish.
The snapper was lovely: served pan-fried with roasted cauli and roasted grapes, along with curry leaves and plenty of melted butter. And the barbecued octopus tentacle was delicious (treat ‘em-mean seems to be the best bet with this protein) until we hit the chickpeas below it: they lacked the plump flavour of properly treated dry pulses and I’d be surprised if they hadn’t come out of a can.
Nothing wrong with canned chickpeas, but when the dinner bill is $370(!) for two you expect everything to be of the best possible quality, including the service. I’m sure they’ll get it right, but this is my third review in four years and I doubt I’ll risk another one. I chatted to the couple next to us who enjoyed their meal immensely; let me know if your own experience was different to mine.
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