LA COLLINA

Inside Outside

Free Olives, Tiny Mini Pizzas.

Spaghetti alle Vongole. Clam Pasta.

Footsie Under The Table x

The Aperitif Wine

And The Vines

Gratin scallops, bread crumbs, sun-dried tomato, garlic, lemon wedge

Whirr Whirr, Twirl.

Chicory Salad with Walnuts and Parmigiano

Homemade Wild Mushroom, Black Truffle Ravioli topped with Crayfish tails

Al Fresco Subterranean Garden

Tiramisu to Share

#40 Naughty Forty

Running Up The Hill 

Recently I have taken to running up the hill. I dont think its the hill which Kate Bush referred to, as I havent been trying to make any deals with god. Just trying to enjoy the green lung capacity of a metropolitan city. The hill being Primrose Hill.

'The Hill' when translated in Italian is 'La Collina' and the aptly named La Collina is a fantastic, discreet, modern Italian restaurant with a homemade feel located near the bottom southern end of Primrose Hill.

The restaurant is essentially a warm home from home, which is enhanced by the proprietor's clever choice of acquiring a residential georgian town house. It's ambience feels like just another neighbour going about its business. One neighbour is The Albert Pub which is a lovely place to have a pre dinner drink.

Spike Milligan would have loved it here at La Collina. Spike felt that piped music made a nice place into a noisy nice place. La Collina achieves a perfectly attractive quiet, where only the happy contented chatter of fellow diners fills the white walled rooms and leafy exterior garden space. 

La Collina knows a thing or two about their wine and their homemade pasta and it is not a huge surprise it has become one of our Favourite Places To Eat over the last 3 years. Only once have we witnessed a menu mix up and on that occasion our fellow Japanese diners were offered the whole plate as a free appetiser, while the intended choice was prepared again exactly from scratch. It is this sort of genuine hospitable service that makes a good restaurant into a memorable one that you go back to.

The menu is always great and never disappoints as sometimes generic modern Italian food can do. On occasion some Italians have acquired the distinct reputation of over selling their wares. Here the reputation is effortlessly engineered by the quality of their ingredients and recipes. La Collina's Homemade Wild Mushroom Ravioli or Gratin Scallops served in their shells are a prime example of a whole kind of fresh and delicious.

The only evident problem with La Collina is it's the sort of place you want to keep a secret and not to blog about. 

It was a tough decision and if we unable to get a table next time we will probably know why.

NGAPUTAHI RIVER CAFE

Lookout Point - Pohangina Valley

Poplar Trees Planted By Grand Jack

Mum's Tiny School in 1946

Crystal Clear Waters - The Pohangina River

Pohangina River Painting By Jean Mintoft, Artist In Wales

Up Stream

Down Stream

Observing Bush Bird Life

Setting Up Base Camp

The Ngaputahi River Bank Fry Up

Tall Totara Trees

Sunshine Egg

Farm Sausage Sunbathing On Bread Lino

Andrea's Kiwiana Snacks

Matilde the Lamb

Garage Ping Pong - Invitation Cup 2012

#39 Those Famous Steps

The River Bank Fry Up

To conclude this mini-series of posts on NZ Coffee Culture lets venture off-piste for another slice of essential kiwiana kit. The NZ River Bank Fry Up.

This fry up travels downstream along the river banks of the beautiful Pohangina valley at a farm station called Ngaputahi, its maori name meaning 'where the two rivers meet'.

This soulful place holds special resonance to me as the much loved childhood home of my mother and my grandparents working farm. It is also poignant as the setting that provides my earliest childhood memory when first visiting this beautiful land at the age of four, having travelled 11,564 miles from our home in Ty Gwyn, Wales.

Right on the doorstep of Ngaputahi is the idyllic Totara Reserve Regional Park a 340ha bush and camp grounds, with magnificently tall native Totara trees along with Matai, Rimu, Kahikatea and Black Beech, claiming their rites of passage as an ancient forest. Following a whirlwind romance, it was here in the Totara Reserve Community Hall, where my parents held their wedding reception mid swing during the 60's.

The Pohangina river flows southwards along the lower central stretch of the North Island and is crystal clear in parts, collecting fresh mountain water from the Ruahine Forest Ranges and flowing all the way down to Ashurst where it joins the Manawatu river.  I recall Mum's fond stories of swimming with her younger brothers and sisters in this river during the long warm summers. It offers the sort of idyllic tranquility and immersion with nature that inspires British artists like Jean Mintoft to circumnavigate the world and start painting.

The Pohangina Valley is also the home to the wonderful Kereru Company who produce the most Natural of Products for body care and essential oils. Our personal favourite is the Calendula and Manuka Honey Skin Cream.

We were lucky to have amongst our ranks an expert tour guide: Mum's youngest brother Nigel who spotted the sign he had hand crafted 50 years ago, still in situ and directing the local sheep traffic. After setting up base camp Nigel set about preparing the Ngaputahi River Bank Fry Up, which is renowned in these remote parts. Not surprisingly this fry up ceremony attracted some intrepid Japanese tourists who pretended they were observing the natural wildlife around the river. There is plenty here with Tui, Native Pigeon, Fantail and Kingfisher all hanging out their tail feathers.

Our tour guide passed on great river-bank-fry-up wisdom. "These are the simple things we all need to find time to do. Enjoying life's good stuff." And while we paused for reflection, Nigel prepared a shearers feast with farm fresh bacon and eggs, sausage, bread with knob of NZ butter and artfully seasoned with a generous splodge of tomato ketchup.

We washed it down with a fine cup of diaspora tea, complete with bag in cup,  hot water from a whistler kettle and a new world teaspoon, a super functional tool.

With a plan to see the amazing Te Apiti Wind Farm on top of Manawatu hills, followed by Nigel's philanthropic ritual to shout visitors a hokey pokey tip-top ice cream from the Ashurst diary, it was time to leave this river bank bliss. All good New Zealanders know the rules of nature are to Leave Without A Trace and only take away the memories.

We rounded off our river-bank jaunt with Andrea's kiwiana snacks, french lamb bonding and garage ping-pong. Only available in NZ.

Tika Hoki Aotearoa !

ROSEHIP CAFE

RoseHip Reflection

The RoseHip Swirl

Favourite Place To Sit

Aprons on Hips

Spiced Tomato Juice w Antler Celery Stick

 Slow Cooked Lamb On Turkish Bread Slab

Whitebait Fritter

Mini Rounds - Carrot Cake / Chocolate & Hazlenut Cake

Banana Cake

Lemon Meringue Crowns

Take-Out Soya Flat White

#38 Christmas Cake

The Hipster On The Block

This sun-drenched hangout is The Rosehip Cafe in Parnell, Auckland, a breakfast, brunch and lunch café, serving Allpress coffee.  

Aptly named due to its adjacency to the rose gardens, the Rosehip Cafe knows how to do coffee & cakes to perfection.

Rosehip like a lot of fine dining cafes in NZ are child friendly, as testament to the fancy dress Lion aged 7, who walked up to the counter complete with mane and tail and was given a glass of milk with a straw.  Warning! clicking here and feeding the Lions could be dangerous.

The RH is such a popular community cafe that at times they probably play a game of musical chairs to find a place to sit. If you do get lucky, the coffee here is amazing, with Soy Lattes, Cappuccinos and Flat Whites considered by the local clientele as 'probably the best in the world...' The barista here knows how to tread the fine line between piping hot and not burning the bean.

The menu was so full of scrumptious soundbites it felt hard to concentrate. All the passing plates looked delicious, particularly the buttermilk pancakes and Vietnamese-style squid and the Borlotti beans with scrambled eggs and chorizo on ciabatta. Some of the local folks seemed to be voting with their feet and a quick head count suggesting you can't find a better Eggs Benedict in town.

Rosehip also conjure up a fine rendition of the NZ Cafe Culture classic:-

Pancakes with Bacon, Fried Banana and Maple Syrup.

The piece de resistance was the discovery of Whitebait Fritters on the seasonal menu. These tiny little Whitebait are a bit of a rarified treat in the 21st century, now selling at  $135 a kilo. Once upon a time they were in such abundance West Coasters sent kerosene tins of whitebait to their city relatives to dig into the garden as compost. And women on spring picnics would jump out of their pantyhose to use them as makeshift nets, to catch a kilo or 10 for an impromptu fritter tea with their whanau.

The whitebait capital of the North Island runs along the stunning Mokau river on the western coast. Their roadside lay-by fritters are bigger than frisbees at $16 a pop. To the South the whitebait epicentre is the Turnbull river in Haast, where the loveable 91 yr old Whitebait Betty has built her national reputation for baiting patties. 

We left Rosehip with a firm grip on our Take Out Soya Flat Whites. These Allpress coffee masters have one of the most recognisable coffee brands in NZ, underpinned by good colour credentials and successful ventures overseas to Shoreditch, London and followed by an imminent cafe opening in Tokyo.

Whitebait Fritter's and Flat White's are a winning combination.  Perhaps it is time to open a WFFW concept cafe.... 

The Famous Betty Eggling's Whitebait Pattie Recepie

Ingredients
400g whitebait (if frozen, add a couple of tablespoons of flour)
2 eggs
Salt,pepper

Method
Have the whitebait as dry as possible.
Separate the eggs. Add the yolks to the bait, season with salt and pepper and stir together. Beat the whites until they peak and then fold together with the seasoned bait and egg yolks. Cook immediately in clarified butter in a moderately hot pan. 

Serve patties with white bread, salt and pepper, a glass of red wine and mint sauce.

Betty x

KOKAKO

We Sure Like You Too...

Curved Corner Facade

Organic Coffee + Spiced Cauliflower Fritters

Open Sesame

A Coffee Safe Haven

The Handsome Open Plan Interior

High Shelf + High Heel Discussions

The Perfect Cafe Stool

View Of Roasters Depot At Rear

ALLGANICS Organic Apple + Fejoa Juice

Organic Potato Hash w Spinach,
Poached Free Range Organic Egg, Chopped Chives
Hollandaise & House Made Smoked Tomato Relish 

Scrambled Free Range Organic Eggs
w Toasted Sourdough And House-Made Salsa Verde

En Route To Upstairs

Like A Bauhaus Painting

Mugs + Peg Letterboard Pricing

Dhalias / Chrysanthemums + Flagon

Paper Bird Take Away Beans

A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush ......

 The Real Thing  x

#37 A Flea In Heaven

This Bird Has Wings

This is Kokako... the first certified organic fair trade roasters in Auckland, busy honing a fast growing reputation as New Zealand's most creative organic coffee brand a la mode. Standing apart from the generic crowd, you could describe this laid back roasters depot as the.......                     L     a     n     d            O     f            T     h     e            L     o     n     g             F     l     a     t            W     h     i     t     e .

Antipodeans are natural born instigators of coffee culture, instinctively knowing how to find downtime to visit their favourite coffee hub, while getting about their busy daily lives. Their philosophy..... to value time to think, to talk, to observe and to smell the flowers, while savouring the flavour of a freshly roasted brew. Without these life essentials they would ask What's the point ?

Even Magnus Magnusson might not have known New Zealand has more roasters per capita than anywhere in the world. So it is no surprise this relatively recent cultural obsession, and addiction to premium coffee, is now part of the social landscape of NZ history, and is already setting the benchmark to the world. 

The Kokako HQ has a prime curved corner spot on the Great North Road in Grey Lynn, a suburb of inner Auckland. Anyone who has navigated the Great Northern Run in the UK could presumably head here to run the Great North Road, the 2nd longest road in Auckland  and might be lucky enough to find a free cup of coffee at the finish line.

The interior space is beautifully conceived and full of good stuff. Good design, good food, good service, good roasting, projecting a sense of quality craftsmanship without any air of pretension. Open plan with a complete 360° view of kitchen, counter bar, cake cabinet, roastery depot, tables + benches and large industrial scale windows letting the natural light flood in. 

The native Kokako bird has distinctive cobalt blue wattles hanging from under its beak and is a hauntingly beautiful songster of the bush and only found in the North Island. Hence this brands distinctive graphics and store environ echoing these bright blue markings. 

The K brunch was perfect. The organic potato hash w spinach stealing the show and leaving a lasting impression.  Oh and the real reason to come, the award winning Rangatira coffee is great too.

This organic coffee brand has an impressive wingspan and is surely ready to embark on its maiden migration overseas. Though a great crooner, the native Kokako bird has short wings and a flight path of no more than 100 metres. However I suspect its namesake coffee brand has engineered the critical momentum to travel 12,000 miles. And then some.

These Ko-Ka-Ko folks also carefully blend their own Hot Chocolate using a Dominican Republic cocoa bean that is known to make the local north island girls swoon. Remember that tip at Christmas boys.

Staying true to my original principles if I genuinely love something  I will blog about it. 

I've started so I'll finish.

ps.  In the interests of New Zealand's Organic outriders I would like to flag up another NZ bird on a similar quest : Hummingbird Coffee