On a cold and windy Friday night, Hungry Mum took Hangry Dad out for his birthday. Marco Pierre White was in town you see, and both parents had read his autobiography ‘White Slave’ years ago and were huge fans. Marco was the chef of honour at the annual foodie event, Taste of Auckland. Held at The Cloud over 4 days, Taste markets itself as ‘every foodies’ playground’ and it’s where ticket holders can purchase small dishes from some of Auckland’s top restaurants. 40,000 dishes are served to 20,000 people. We shelled out for VIP tickets which promised ‘an intimate Q&A session with Marco.’ I pictured us sitting side by side next to Marco while he regaled us with tales of his time at Le Gavroche and the Box Tree. More on that later.
First, the food (and the drinks.) Each year the Best in Taste Award is given to the most exceptional dish at Taste. Each restaurant enters a bespoke dish for judging by a panel which this year included Marco. This year, the award went to Filipino restaurant Nanam for their wagyu beef and lemongrass sausage longganisa in tortilla with chipotle mayo and atchara pickles, so that’s where we hightailed it to first. Along with the taco pao we enjoyed hand rolled beetroot steamed buns with sticky pork belly, crispy shallots and pickles. It was an excellent start to our night.
Drinks were in order so I ensconced myself at the Aperol Spritz bar while Mike went in search of Pinot. Any bar with free snacks is a win in my books so we happily crunched on free bags of mini pretzels and watched various reality TV ‘stars’ wander past.
Next stop was Lowbrow. I was already familiar with their amazing fried chicken wings but Hangry Dad took some convincing that they were not the same measly ones you’d find stuck to the side of a roast chicken. Lowbrow use free range, organic Bostock wings and holy moly those suckers are fat and juicy, fried to perfection and served on a slice of white bread to soak up the juices. We fought over that piece of bread. And because he seems to need fries wherever we go, we also ordered Nacho fries, some kind of delicious concoction involving jalapeños, brisket and nacho cheese. And because you can take your food and drinks anywhere, more chicken wings were scoffed down with Aperol Spritz #2 while Mike worked his way through the entire Gibbston Valley pinot offering.
Next up was Hugo’s Bistro and the tastiest, juiciest lamp chops with mint sauce and anchovy yoghurt. #lambgoals and a sudden desire to fire up the BBQ.
We rounded off the night with a visit to the Lucky Taco truck. Fully expecting to pay, we were delightfully surprised to receive 4 free mini tacos (steak and chicken). Sarah and Otis always have time for a chat and we chewed the fat over our mutual sadness of the Mercury Plaza food court closure 😦 You can buy your own Lucky Taco food kits to recreate Mexico in your own kitchen.
Back to Marco. We made our way back to the VIP lounge and killed the time with a few games of Cornhole. When the team started setting up the stage we realised we’d inadvertently scored front row seats to Marco’s chat! I started to rack my brain for a smart yet witty question. What to ask!! Sadly, it wasn’t to be as nek minnit, the stage was moved to the other end of the room, leaving us in the very back row. I tried to stay awake.
Then the great man arrived. He walked right past me but I didn’t feel like shoving a camera in his face. That’s probably not very VIP behaviour. He was interviewed by Simon Gault and to be completely honest, it being the end of the week, and me being 3 Aperols deep, I don’t really remember much of what he said. He still smokes, although he tries to do it away from his fans, and doesn’t give a lot of attention to hats, stars, reviews and the like, because (and I’m paraphrasing greatly) if you get an award from someone with less knowledge than you, what’s it really worth? And if you want to make sure your pantry is stocked like Marco’s, just make sure you’ve got butter. It’s his favourite ingredient and one of mine so #twinsies! A quick 10 minute chat and then he was gone, the big man heading outside for a ciggie, followed by the very people who’d just heard him say he liked to smoke in private.
Taste of Auckland.
The Cloud.
31 October – 3 November.