Nevanah, who also does catering, makes mouth-watering pastries, which I try hard, but often fail, to resist. Ambrosia has an attached coffee-house restaurant, La Bolsa Negra, which serves a luncheon menu showcasing her talent. That talent was recognised in the Dominion Post's inclusion of Ambrosia's recipe for coffee and walnut slice in its recent restaurant menu collection.
On sale are a wide variety of speciality ingredients, some simple, some exotic, from cheeses to strawberry dust. Whenever I'm looking for a hard-to-find recipe ingredient it's usually here.
Sushi took about 20 years to become a familiar staple in the US. An American friend, who once claimed he'd prefer torture to eating raw fish, has become something of a connoisseur of the different varieties of raw bluefin tuna.
Judging from the growing number of sushi places in Wanganui and the absence in any of a Hoshizaki, the Japanese cooler and display case of raw fish, it's clear we're at the beginning of the revolution. Our luck is that there are several fine spots serving sushi, including even New World. I frequent them all. My own favourite is in Trafalgar Square Mall, OCGGI. OCGGI is an offshoot of one originally opened in Palmerston North. This small bar run by Jason Lee, assisted ably by chef Yoshitaka Maeda, serves a similar menu to that more widely available - various rolls featuring raw salmon or cooked chicken. The difference is in the rice.
I never understood the significance of the rice to the fish, simply accepting what was offered. Then I saw the movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi, about the 80-year-old proprietor of a sushi bar in a Tokyo subway station that's been awarded three Michelin stars. An assistant chef who studies with the master spent 10 years learning to cook rice.
It's that kind of concentration and focus that is reflected in the rice at OCGGI. It does enhance the experience of the fish, giving it a light, moist, yet solid texture and taste. It may not have Michelin stars, but I'll give it two of mine.
We do have some great food choices here. Now all we have to do is rebuild the old Polytech Cooking School.