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News from Down Under! Auckland (NZ): Where to eat in 2005! By Freddy Santamaria Summer is coming and maybe some of you will go to travel around the world. I know Auckland & New Zealand are not next door, but you never know, New Zealand is one of the new countries where the scenery, people and food are very interesting. In April, the List of Awards of the "Best Restaurants" in Auckland or in other words "Where to eat in 2005" was published, courtesy of "Corbans", a leading New Zealand winemaker since 1902, and the Auckland’s magazine "Metro".Today’s "Gourmet Corner" just wants to inform and let you know that Down Under, good food and good restaurants exist. Best Fine Dining Restaurant: THE FRENCH CAFÉ The French Café offers the very epitome of look-at-me food. Every dish is so labor intensive that you can’t imagine there is even time to get it out of the kitchen, yet get it to you with perfect timing. Best Bistro: EURO Euro opened with great fanfare just in time for Auckland’s fist time hosting the America’s Cup. The fact that you can come here on your expense account, or you can come and have a light meal and a glass of wine – at the Euro it doesn’t matter, it is a kind of democracy, great service, (waiters always in the crispest white and sharpest black), is the particular Euro flamboyance that makes you feel caught up in a restaurant as a theatre. Best Local Restaurant: THE MAPLE ROOM Suburban restaurants that take their food seriously, with value and a distinctive local style are slightly hard to find. The impressively generous menu at The Maple Room bears a light Mediterranean influence, tasty, fresh, simple, down-to-earth food at reasonable prices. Best New Restaurant: MOLTEN Taste the novel side dishes, such as the "Black Salad" of roast vegetables. Best Seafood Restaurant: HAMMERHEADS The restaurant has one of the nicer sites in Auckland, with "porthole" window tables looking out over Okahu Bay to the city skyline & a deck that’s one of the more pleasant spots to have lunch on a sunny day. Top quality fish, on any given day you can range over: "Blue Nose", "Hapuka", "John Dory", "Yellow Eye Tuna" and more … Best Italian Restaurant: AQUAMATTA Auckland is full of Italian restaurants, many actually owned by Italians, but they stray a long way from what one might find in an up market restaurant or trattoria in Italy. – Aquamatta is the exception! Best Chinese Restaurant: SUNSHINE Biggest New Chinese Restaurant, great baskets to offer a selection of "dim-sum" and mixed seafood, good wine list, quick service, great place & good value. Best Japanese Restaurant: ARIAKE A city institution, it’s worth taking the time for the Chef’s special dinners: the 10-course Boso, sounds excessive, but great; appetizer, soup, sashimi, sautéed, steamed & simmered dishes, ending with noodles, fruit & dessert. Ariake is priced at the high end, but offers very good value considering the standard of cuisine. Best Thai Restaurant: WANG THAI The menu offers a mix of Royal Thai & the north-western Isaan dishes, uncommon in other Thai restaurants. Try the "Tom Yum Soup" with cabbage & pork or the fascinating Starter; where you wrap chilies, lemon grass, ginger, peanuts & toasted coconut in a spinach leaf with a dipping sauce. The Steamed Fish with raw cabbage & hot & spicy sauces, and the Stir-Fried Duck with honey sauce & pickled vegetables. Best Restaurant Service and Wine List: EURO Where a phalanx of intelligent, savvy & sometimes-sassy waiters get your number and keep up the charm all night.And my personal award goes also for EURO, after visiting the restaurant for three years, is always a great experience.As they say in Auckland! If you don’t have dollars, go to Euro with your Euros! *************************** Freddy Santamaria " The Smooth Operator"
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