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Top foodie brands Auckland ‘twice as good as London’

William Sitwell says he wants to take ‘every idiot chef and wait staff from the UK’, shove them into Depot, and tell them ‘this is how it is done’.

Emma Clark-Dow reports.

Top British food writer William Sitwell has revealed he was blown away by his recent visit to Auckland, deeming the city’s dining scene ‘‘twice as good as London’’.

On his first-ever visit to

Ta¯ maki Makaurau, Sitwell was taken under Ta¯ taki Auckland Unlimited’s wing and shown around some of the best establishments, including Homeland, Miann and Depot.

Sitwell, who has been in the food scene for more than two decades and is a judge on MasterChef UK, told the Sunday Star-Times he was impressed by the hospitality and mouthwatering cuisine on offer.

‘‘There’s such a broad span of cuisine, and even though I have just dipped my toe in, I can see there’s a casual confidence that’s not evident across the world,’’ Sitwell said.

Sitwell described himself as ‘‘not like other food writers, dreaming of their next meal’’.

‘‘I was a scrawny little boy, I didn’t eat anything when I was smaller, and I never showed any interest in food at all. But then I discovered chocolate cake when I was eight years old, and I realised that life wasn’t just about boiled cabbage.’’

Although Sitwell didn’t set out to be a food writer, it soon dawned on him ‘‘that food was the greatest subject on Earth’’.

‘‘It’s about everything – it’s hugely serious, it’s very trivial. Food is about having great times, it’s about poverty. It’s an extraordinary privilege.’’

When asked for particular highlights from his dining tour of Aotearoa’s largest city, Sitwell poured praise on Depot owner Al Brown.

‘‘One of the greatest people I met is in the last 24 hours,’’ Sitwell said, describing the renowned Kiwi chef.

‘‘It’s hard to get a restaurant right, but I go into Depot and I want to grab every idiot chef and wait staff from the UK and shove their noses in Depot and say ‘this is how you do it, this is how it works’.’’

Sitwell also commended the number of independent restaurants around Auckland, unlike the ‘‘big, horrible, ugly chains’’ that are often found in the US or the UK.

‘‘You create the pulsating, beating heart of Auckland through independents,’’ he said.

As an example, Sitwell cited Cazador, which has been a

Dominion Rd staple since 1987.

‘‘It’s a family endeavour that has survived the years, it’s good to see the younger generation taking it on,’’ he said, after meeting with Cazador’s husband-and-wife team Rebecca Smidt and Dariush Lolaiy.

Sitwell was impressed to learn about Cazador’s unique point of difference, which allows diners to bring in their own home kill and have it turned into a customised dish.

The food critic then wandered down to the waterfront to visit with his old friend Peter Gordon, another iconic Kiwi chef who now owns and runs Homeland. The pair had last seen each other in Peckham, London, where they shared a meal at Gordon’s cramped flat.

‘‘He told me he wasn’t going to open a restaurant again, but he landed in Auckland and he’s running the biggest establishment he ever has,’’ Sitwell laughed.

He said he was in awe of Homeland’s ‘‘amazing space’’, which also functions as a cooking school and supports local suppliers by not only using their products, but selling them too.

Sitwell would not be a food critic if he did not share some of his restaurant gripes – which notably did not occur while dining in Auckland.

He would rather avoid square plates, which he described as ‘‘vapid’’, and he’s also ‘‘fundamentally averse to a tasting menu’’.

‘‘I’m not someone who eats out for theatre once or twice a year, I’m doing it every week,’’ Sitwell said.

‘‘I like simplicity, I like to have food that is reflective of culture, the neighbourhood that you’re in.’’

He said the ‘‘worst restaurant I have ever been to’’ was in the Maldives; a ‘‘cultural void’’ that was ‘‘delicious, but there was no soul’’.

Sitwell said one thing he particularly appreciated about Auckland’s restaurant scene was the standard of hospitality, and the way wait staff ‘‘took the anxiety out of their customers’’ by placing water and a snack in front of them as soon as they sat down.

‘‘In England, you spend half an hour waving trying to get someone’s attention, it’s so easy to fix, but they don’t understand it,’’ Sitwell said.

He was pleased to conclude that Auckland was ‘‘comfortable in its own skin’’.

‘‘The service is really good in the city, and you notice the relaxed, professional attitudes,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s as good as New York, and twice as good as it is in London.’’

‘‘There’s such a broad span of cuisine, and even though I have just dipped my toe in, I can see there’s a casual confidence that’s not evident across the world.’’ William Sitwell

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2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282076281244118

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