Clare Inn, Auckland... what a find!

We went to the Clare Inn one Sunday evening, hungry for good Irish Pub food. Some pubs in NZ are very friendly and welcoming and others look real sleazy or are really a "guy's only" kind of watering hole. However, we had heard a lot of good things about the food here, so off we went.

Not quite sure of what it'd be like, we pushed open the doors and entered into a cool dark hallway Took a while for eyes to adjust after leaving the bright afternoon sun outside on Dominion road, we saw that the walls had dark wood panelling, lots of framed awards for food etc. Straight ahead as you entered was the bar (they had their priorities right) and to the right was a small room where happy people were having a few pints and on the left was what looked like the front room of an old country inn. We had not made any reservations, thinking that arriving at 6pm should find us quite a few empty tables. Wrong. Nearly full. Lots of regulars, having a drink or two and some tables well into their food. It looked as if we had wandered into the home of an extended Irish family.

We had a very friendly and warm welcome, and were seated at a little table for 2 by the fireplace (not lit, since it was summer). Service was quick, efficient, we got our menus and looked through the small but very enticing menu whilst enjoying our drinks from the bar (a Guinness and a lager). I think it's better for a restaurant to have a small menu and do it well, than to have zillions of items and all of them mediocre.

Beef and Guinness Spring Roll, Salad Greens

For starters we shared a beef and guinness spring roll. Very tender and tasty beef in a crispy skin, served with salad greens, followed by Slow Cooked Duck, Courgette fritter, pickled beetroot and Blood Orange marmalata. This has to be their star dish. The skin was crisp and light, meat tender and falling off the bone, full of flavour. Richness nicely balanced by the blood orange marmalade which was sweet but had a good amount of acidity.

Slow cooked Duck, Blood Orange Marmalata

Friend had Beef and Stout Wellington (which turned out to be a larger version of the Spring Roll). The green pea and smoked pork puree that came with it was to die for - just smooth enough, smoky, porky.. if you like mushy peas and smoky bacon, this one's for you!

Beef and Stout Wellington, Pea & Smoked Pork Puree, Whole grain Mustard

After such a feast, we could not manage dessert after that.

As we enjoyed our food, the place more and more crowded and it REALLY felt like some kind of family reunion that we had stumbled into. People seem to know each other, pulled up chairs and chatted. They did not mind us "strangers" and we did'nt feel out of place, and no one rushed us to finish our food and vacate our table.

What a find... we'll be back

The Clare Inn, 274-8 Dominion Road, Auckland, New Zealand. Tel: (09) 623-8233

Sambal Prawn Spaghetti

Sambal Prawn Spaghetti

 I have an enduring love affair with Italian food. It has many elements that resonate with Chinese food. Lots of garlic, quick stir frying of ingredients into a tasty sauce, tossing noodles into the said sauce.
We had a guest over for dinner this long weekend. Being mindful it was still within the Chinese New Year (CNY) fortnight, we wanted to serve something Chinese or Asian or Singaporean. But. Hot summer weather does'nt encourage slaving over a hot stove for hours on end.
...what to eat, what to cook.. can't be too spicy.. something "simple"
Looking back at our CNY Reunion dinner menu, sambal prawns was a winner, so decided to serve it as a one dish meal. (Plus salad).
Note:
1. I marinaded the prawns with cornstarch - a tip handed down from my grandma - keeps the prawns nice and "crunchy", prevents them from hardening up when cooked.
2. Cook sauce and pasta at the same time, if possible. Remove pasta from water whilst very "al dente" as it should finish cooking in the sauce.

Sambal

Ingredients: (serves 4 mains size, 6 entree)

• 36 medium prawns, tail on
• 1 500g pack San Remo No 220 Organic Spaghetti (bronzato style)
• 500ml tomato passata
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon Sambal  Chilli with dried shrimp
• 1 roasted red bell pepper, cut into 3-4mm wide strips
• 6 gloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 inch fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 1 -2 spring onions, very finely sliced
• 1/4 cup Chinese Shao Hsing Cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt for boiling pasta
• peanut oil for frying prawns - 1/2 cup
• salt, pepper to taste
• thinly sliced red chillies (optional)

Ingredients: (Clockwise from Top Left) Spring onions, tomato mixture, prawns, white part of spring onion, ginger/garlic. Centre - roasted red pepper

Method

• Marinade the prawns with a quarter of the minced garlic, ginger and cornstarch for 20-30min
• Mix the sambal, tomato paste, tomato passata, Worcestershire sauce, sugar in a bowl, set aside
• Bring 4L of salted water to a boil in a large deep pot, cook pasta according to instructions.
• Meanwhile, heat the peanut oil till smoking, in a deep skillet or wok
• Drain the prawns, add to wok and stir fry till half cooked, about 2min. Set aside
• Add remaining ginger and garlic to oil (add more oil if mixture catches) stir fry briefly, do not allow garlic to burn. Deglaze with Shao Hsing wine.
• Add tomato mixture, bring to boil.
• By this time the pasta should be as cooked as you want it to be - just before the ideal "al dente" texture.
• Scoop pasta into sauce, stir well to mix and finish the pasta cooking in the sauce. (about 2minutes). Add salty pasta water as required. This contains starch and helps to thicken the sauce.
• Add the prawns, spring onions, red pepper and cook for another minute, season to taste with additional salt if necessary.
• Serve immediately

A Tale of Two Chippies (apologies to Charles Dickens)

"IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.... " Indeed. A hot summer evening.. a Sunday that had seen some weather change from grey and blustery to warm sunshine. What better than a walk down to the Waterfront for a bite and a drink or two? The Viaduct was teeming with people, locals, tourists, all wanting a bit of sun and sea-breeze. The more popular watering holes were already crowded with revellers who looked like they had been there enjoying themselves for a while. Flushed faces (or was it sun?), laughter, music. Lively guitar music emanated from O Hagen's Irish Pub which was bursting at its seams with a very happy crowd. As it looked like we could not get in, we decided on a neighbouring drink spot from which we could hear the music. Sky Sport Bar and Grill had been advertised on local TV as having an amazing range of beers on tap and the sister F&B Outlet of the famous Foodstore restaurant just round the corner. Menu looked decent, usual suspects for a Sports Bar and decent prices too.  Can't be too bad, might even be good.

SkySport Bar and Grill Beer Menu Part 1

Sat ourselves down, took a while to look over the extensive list of beers on tap and I ordered an Epic Armageddon IPA, and Foodie Friend (FF) had a Renaissance Perfection Pale Ale. Beers came quickly, nice and crisp and cold. The way they should be. The Epic IPA was wonderfully hoppy, flowery and bursting with zingy flavour in the mouth. Refreshing, thirst quenching. Made a mental note to look for it in local supermarket. Foodie friend's Perfection Pale Ale was good too. but paled (sorry) in comparison to mine. Was supposed to have toffee notes.. it was sort of caramel-ly, but mine was a better summer drink.

Thirst quenched, we decided on food. That was when trouble started. Sorry, we have run out of beef, lamb and pork. (This was 6pm) Hmm.. that's bad planning on the part of the management. It wasn't even dinner time yet. Never mind, I chose fish and chips ($19.00) and friend chose 3 sliders from the limited chicken or fish selection. Food took about 30min to arrive - which was rather long as there weren't many people eating. Most were still making the most of Happy Hour, amassing un-drunk pints on the table before 7pm. My fish and chips arrived in a newspaper cone, kitsch but acceptable presentation. The portion size was amazing. Amazingly small. I could count the number of chips, which turned out to be just barely cooked, dense and neither crunchy on the outside nor fluffy on the inside. The beer battered fish (what fish ?) tasted fishy and the batter was soggy. And it was smaller than an iPhone. The Worst.

SkySports Fish & Chips

Underwhelmed. FF's sliders - why are they called sliders? Some reference to baseball I'm sure. Sliders are like mini burgers with meat / veg / whatever in between and meant to be a tasty little morsel.

SkySports Sliders

Well, the sliders that we had, the buns - were stale, we could have played baseball with them. The chicken was ordinary as was the piece of beer battered fish. Hmm.. wait a minute, did they serve the portion of fish meant for the slider on my plate of fish and chips? Sad. Quickly ate up, paid and went out into the fresh air to enjoy the lively music from O Hagen's.

Still hungry as we drove home, we decided to stop by The Chip Shop at the Royal Oak Roundabout. This multi-award winning chip shop is consistently good and has been a favourite for many years.
Always busy, and when we arrived the wait was 20min, but that was fine. We strolled to Pak and Save to get us a pint or 2. 1 scoop of award winning chips, a breaded Tarakihi and (horrors!) a fried Mars Bar. All for $10. Cheerful efficient service. Walking back to the car with warm pack of fish and chips - and later enjoying it at home - affirmed our conviction that good food, cheerful service in unpretentious environs beats fancy stuff hands down. The portion of chips was generous, crunchy on the outside and fluffy within, they did not become soggy even after an hour of slow eating. The fish was fresh, with a delicious breadcrumb coating. The Best.

The Chip Shop's Fish & Chips

Fried Mars bar (we wont repeat that again soon) deliciously sinful.

So, as I said, it was the best (of fish & chips) and the worst (fish & chips).