Samurai Bowl, Christchurch

I try to hit up Samurai Bowl at least once every time I visit Christchurch. My love of this place goes back years and years, to early on in my student days in when I was first exploring Christchurch eateries on my own, with a car, beyond the fish and chip shop near my grandma's house in Riccarton or the Chinese restaurant just up the road. 

Back then, Japanese food in Wellington was still pretty limited (it still is, in many ways) and I was really, really excited to find a place serving cheap, authentic gyudon and ramen. Back then, it was just a dark and tiny hole in the wall on Gloucester St, walls covered in printed A4 sheets advertising menu items and specials. But it was good. (And did I mention it was cheap? Important during my student days.)

Over the years they expanded, taking over a bigger space next door to the original shop on Gloucester St, but continued to serve decent, authentic, affordable Japanese rice bowls, noodle soups and other bits and pieces. And every time I visited Christchurch I'd make sure to call in for some ramen or gyudon. 

And then, and I almost don't even need to say this because you'll already know because it's in Christchurch, the earthquakes. If I'm not mistaken, I seem to recall Samurai Bowl was closed after the September 2010 earthquake and remained closed after the February 2011 ones which saw the old Samurai Bowl building eventually torn down. (I could be confusing this with Burgers and Beers, which was also closed from September 2010, but in any case the old Gloucester St Samurai Bowl is long gone.)

Finally, in September 2011, old Samurai Bowl reopened in a new spot on Colombo St, right near the South City shopping centre. I didn't find out, though, until I was down in Christchurch for Christmas, when I was driving along Colombo St and had to pull over when I saw the familiar old flags flapping out the front. You know that kind of emotional surprise-relief you get when you find something really dear to you that you thought you'd lost forever? Yeah, that. 

The following is just a small selection of what's on offer at Samurai Bowl; what I've eaten during my last two visits to Christchurch. It's all been good. If you're in Christchurch, I highly recommend it for cheap Japanese eats, pretty close to how you'd get in Japan.

First of all: tonkotsu ramen. There is nowhere in Wellington that serves ramen like this: a deeply rich, salty, milky-thick pork bone broth with chewy, al dente noodles, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, pickled ginger and pork belly. The egg, boiled just so that the yolk's not quite solid, and soaked in a soy-based seasoning (I believe), is a dollar extra. Definitely worth it. For those who aren't so keen on the super-rich tonkotsu broth, there are other flavours: shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), miso, spicy miso, curry, and their signature samurai ramen (tonkotsu and shoyu). All up, it'll cost you around ten bucks, more if you add extra toppings like the egg. 

Not on the official menu, but really awesome and definitely worth trying if you're into ramen: tsukemen. If you've read the ramen issue (Issue 1) of David Chang's new-ish food quarterly, Lucky Peach, you'll know what I'm talking about. For everyone else, here's a quick rundown. 

Ramen is usually served like the tonkotsu ramen above: noodles and toppings swimming in broth. If you break ramen down into all its parts, though, it consists of the noodles, the toppings, a concentrated flavour base (tare) and the broth. Tsukemen is where you get the noodles and toppings separately, and dip them into a bowl filled with the tare, which is super salty and intense - definitely a sauce for dipping, not something you'd drink. Apparently, though I've never been able to do this (too full by the time I've finished the noodles!) you can ask for the tare to be topped up with the broth once you've finished eating the noodles. Not sure if Samurai Bowl does this, but if you make it through the noodles, it's worth a shot. 

Anyway, this is good. Really good. And quite possibly the only place in NZ that serves tsukemen. Let me know if I'm wrong...

In Japan, if you're at a typical ramen shop, you can almost guarantee they'll be serving gyoza too. Samurai Bowl's are great: with chewy, soft tops and crispy bottoms, they're cooked just the way I like them, the best of both the fried and steamed dumpling worlds.

And, what first made me fall in love with this place: gyudon. Your average gyudon consists of a bowl of rice topped with thinly sliced beef and onions simmered in a sweet soy sauce. It's pretty typical Japanese fast food, too; the Yoshinoya chain of gyudon shops is almost ubiquitous in Japan and is one of the few fast food chains I get excited about (hint: it's most excellent at 3am, and beats a greasy kebab/burger/slimy noodles hands down any day). 

This time I went for the ontama-kimchi gyudon: gyudon topped with an onsen-tamago (really slow-cooked egg that's only just set) and kimchi. It may not be for everyone; you may want to stick with plain gyudon. But for me, this combination of toppings (pretty common in Japan) brings back lots of memories of gyudon-eating in Japan. 

On a recent visit I took my dad and grandma along. Dad's choice: this vibrantly coloured avocado-maguro don. Perfect for summer, perfect for sushi-lovers: this was like a deconstructed sushi roll; the fish and avocado served atop sushi rice with nori, ginger and wasabi (add your own soy sauce to taste). 

I feel like Samurai Bowl's karaage has been pretty hit and miss in the past, but the last couple times I've been (coincidentally, since they've reopened in the new location), this Japanese fried chicken has been great: really crispy, really flavourful, just perfect dipped in some Kewpie mayo.

On the specials menu the last time we visited: soy sauce-seasoned grilled scallops, really tasty and tender and, at $5, an easy little nibble to add to your meal.

I'm really glad Samurai Bowl has reopened and seems to be going strong in its new location. It's cheap, casual (grab a menu yourself and order at the counter), food arrives pretty fast, with friendly staff, Japanese beer on tap and a BYO license. Plus they have the best ramen in the South Island, maybe even in all of NZ (though I haven't been to any of the ramen shops in Auckland so I can't say for sure!). 

Samurai Bowl

Shop 5, 174 Colombo St

Christchurch

(03) 379 6752

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Elements Cafe, Lyall Bay

You know how there's always that one cafe or restaurant you've always meant to go to but have never been? Where every time you walk/drive/cycle by you're all, "let's go there next time!" For the longest time, Elements was that kind of place. I even followed them on Twitter for ages, mostly so that I'd be reminded to go there every time they tweeted. And still I didn't go. 

I guess it was because I got into this routine over the last year or two: I'd head to Miramar for brunch and, on the way back, do a meandering drive back around the bays and sometimes drive through Lyall Bay on the way home. So each time I'd pass Elements, I'd already be full. 

But I've finally broken that habit and incorporated Elements into my rotation of weekend brunch spots. I'm so glad I did. The following is an amalgamation of food eaten there, by friends and me, over several visits over the last couple of months. 

On a visit with Sophie and Sophie, I snuck a bite of Sophie's twice-baked goat's cheese souffle. It was light yet substantial at the same time, airy with a whiff of that unmistakably tangy goat's cheese flavour. I quite liked it, enough so that I ended up ordering one for myself on another visit.

Sophie's beetroot, salad & halloumi open sandwich on olive toast seemed easier to eat as a salad than a sandwich, and she reckoned the olive toast was pretty salty and intense, but good. I'm a sucker for anything with halloumi on it so I was pretty happy to have a taste.

On a visit with Eric I got to try some of his macaroni and cheese. Elements' version is a huge, hearty bowl of big macaroni elbows baked in cheese sauce studded with chunks of shredded roast pork. Herbed breadcrumbs are a nice touch, too. This was filling and tasty, though the pork needed more flavour - perhaps we're just too used to bacon? 

I couldn't write this blog post without trying Elements' famed lambs fry & bacon. So many people have raved about it that I was a little worried my expectations would be too high, that it'd be okay but I'd be disappointed. I shouldn't have worried: holy crap it was good. It even looked good (if you've ever tried Google image searching lambs fry and bacon, you'll know what I mean), enough so that we could hear the elderly man at the next table commenting about the presentation, and when I had finished the last drop of gravy he leaned over to ask me if it was good, though I suspect he knew the answer.

And it's funny, because I thought it was going to be such a rich, heavy dish that I wouldn't be able to finish it, and there I was mopping up the last bits of gravy with the last of Sophie's side order of bread, totally satisfied but almost wanting more. It was the perfect balance: thick, minerally lambs' liver, meaty thick-cut mushrooms, crisp bacon, sourdough that soaked up all the gravy. And oh, the gravy. I think it was the best part, the underlying sweet tones from the caramelised onion softening up all that savoury richness. So, yeah. Get yourself to Elements. Get yourself this dish. It's seriously so good.



While we're on the topic of seriously good, can I just say I love golden syrup butter almost as much as I love maple butter (which featured on some crumpets at Cafe Polo a while back - sadly it looks as though they've disappeared off Polo's menu) and miso butter? So I couldn't not order these crumpets. They were hot and tasted fresh, albeit a little gummy in the centre - perhaps a bit underdone. Still, the golden syrup butter made up for any shortfalls in the crumpets (and frankly, I'd prefer a slightly-undercooked homemade crumpet to a supermarket version any day). Awesome.

Thought I'd quickly mention coffee - I ordered a flat white on each of my visits to Elements, and kept kicking myself afterwards for not asking for it in a tulip cup as I often do at cafes that I know serve flat whites in bigger sized cups. Is it just me, or have cafes started serving larger and milkier flat whites over the last few years? It's just my personal preference, but I do prefer them not to be too milky - I would order a latte if I wanted a lot of milk.

Anyway, little personal quirks aside, Elements does a pretty decent coffee. I'm having a brainfreeze moment and can't remember who they get their beans from, but when I remember I'll put it up here - or if you know, leave it in the comments!

So, that's it for now - Elements has firmly wedged itself among my favourite weekend suburban cafes and I'm all the happier for it. I can't wait to go for dinner sometime (though I've been saying that about Cafe Polo and the Larder for years) aaand they have cooking classes which look worthwhile. But for now, I recommend this: if you haven't been for brunch, get there quick smart and order yourself some lambs fry.

Elements Cafe
144 Onepu Rd
Lyall Bay
Wellington
(04) 939 1292


Open Mon-Sun 8:30am-5pm; Tue-Sat 6pm-late

Gusty Gourmet in 2011 and beyond

It's true that I haven't posted here for a while.

It's not that I haven't been eating or blogging (oh, I have), but I have cut back quite a bit on eating out this year. I guess the main reason for this is I've been wanting to spend a bit less money so that I can travel a bit more (my New Year's resolution for 2011, which I'll be reusing for 2012, was to leave Wellington at least once a month, even if it was just going somewhere an hour away). And in 2011 I did travel, to new places (Pakiri, Taranaki, Mexico, Melbourne) and old (Auckland, Singapore, Christchurch, Sydney, Chicago, Tokyo, Taupo, Gisborne). Now that I list it all I'm a bit astonished that I actually did all that. Also feeling incredibly fortunate that I was able to. But anyway.

Most of my travels, rather unsurprisingly, had a heavy food focus, from markets to street food to cafes, restaurants and bars. But it's something I haven't really written about, mostly because food and travel writing doesn't fit neatly into my other blog, and I wasn't really sure whether Singaporean hawker centres and Mexican street food belong in a blog about the Wellington food scene. 


But you know what (besides "this is my blog, I can do what I want")? I like to think that eating new things when you travel informs how you eat at home. And maybe part of the reason why the culture of food is so strong in far-from-everywhere places like Wellington is because there are people who have shared what they've experienced somewhere on the other side of the world, whether it's a place from which they've come or just a place they've spent time in. And maybe that idea-sharing leads to innovation, and new and exciting and delicious things.

Maybe. It's one possible way of looking at it. Or maybe it's my long-winded way of saying: in the future, you might see some posts about food in places I've visited.

But what else has 2011 meant for me, and for Gusty Gourmet?

• Finally, a blog post about the Larder, quite possibly my favourite cafe in Wellington
• I discovered the best strawberry milkshake ever, and drank it often
• Wellington on a Plate set menus and a chocolate festival
• Lunch with a celebrity chef
• I reviewed some cafes for the Dominion Post
• A food bloggers' conference (mentioned here)
• Meeting lots more cool people in the world of food

And, a couple of events I haven't shared with you yet:

FAST, FRESH & TASTY APP LAUNCH PARTY

Yes, I know. This app came out in October, and many of you may already have it. But in case you don't, here's a quick recap: Fast, Fresh & Tasty is a recipe app for the iPhone and iPad. It's different from the other recipe apps out there in that it's (hooray!) made for New Zealanders, featuring local ingredients (I love that it features New Zealand fish, for example) and with seasonal updates for Southern Hemisphere seasons. 

Plus it's relevant to this blog in that it was developed by the Wellington-based interactive media company Click Suite. And it's always cool to see Wellingtonians doing cool things, especially food-related.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch of Fast, Fresh & Tasty held at Bettys back in October and finally meet the lovely folks behind the app after months of Twitter conversations. The best part was getting to sample some of the things you can make using the app. (I apologise for the photos taken from my phone - but it was an iPhone app-launch, after all!)

The venison meatballs with tzatziki sauce were flavoursome and made for great finger food. The recipe looks simple, too - one I'd like to try at home.

The somewhat blurry photo above is of salt and pepper squid with garlic aioli and caramelised limes. This was so good, and one I'll definitely be making this summer: the squid was delightfully tender and well-seasoned and I couldn't help but go back for more and more.

BEES BLESSING LAUNCH PARTY

The other exciting event I was lucky enough to attend recently was back in November - the Bees Blessing launch party at the Empire in Petone. Bees Blessing have actually been around for a few years now, and are a mainstay at the Harbourside Market on Sundays (along with other local markets on other days, it seems). But this event was a celebration of their new (gorgeously adorable) branding for their range of natural, honey-sweetened cordials.

I'd tried a few Bees Blessing cordials before but always as cordial, just mixed with sparkling water. The coolest thing about the launch was seeing all the different possibilities of using these cordials, from cocktails to ice cream to marinades to salad dressings and more. 

In one corner there was a cooking demonstration by Adam, a wwoofer at Ian and Jo (the forces behind Bees Blessing)'s farm who just happens to be a chef (and now has his own blog!). Naturally I hardly left this corner, and got to sample Adam's creations.

This was a favourite: an apple, fennel and radish salad (I love radishes!) dressed with a vinaigrette made from Bees Blessing Cider Vinegar & Honey cordial (easily my favourite cordial anyway - so versatile), served with halloumi. Very crisp and refreshing. 

And I couldn't get enough of this ice cream, made with Bees Blessing Lemon, Honey & Ginger cordial. It was so smooth and delicious - I'd love to try making some at home. 

Wellingtonians doing cool, food-related things! I love it. 

*if you are reading this before Christmas there are still a few opportunities for you to get your hands on some Bees Blessing cordials: they'll be at the Kapiti evening market from 3-8pm on Wednesday, 21 December, at the Hutt Night Market on Thursday, 22 December from 4:30-9pm, and at the Paraparaumu Beach Market on Saturday, 24 December. (These details from Bees Blessing's facebook page). Plus I believe you can get these cordials at Moore Wilson's. Leave a comment if you've seen their products anywhere else!