Issue No38 — Truffle Pigs

Hey there,

In his retirement essay 20 years ago, Australian restaurant critic Matthew Evans wrote that “The amount of truffle oil a chef uses is inversely proportional to his talent. I don't hate it but I think truffle oil is overused, overrated and misunderstood.” It’s the kind of deliciously bitchy, but fundamentally accurate thing that only someone who doesn’t have to maintain relationships any longer might commit to print. 

Truffle oil is one thing. Truffles are another. I will one-up Matt by adding that I also roll my eyes at table-side gratings of fresh truffle. Flamboyant, to be sure; it seems primarily calibrated to attract maximum dining-room attention and Insta mileage. Just Say No to slices laid out on top of a carefully manicured dish. In this format, I find truffles have the texture of nobbly cardboard, with surprisingly little flavour. A supplement to Add Truffles to Any Dish? No, thank you. It doesn’t go with most things.  

I’m not a hater, per se. But the perfume of truffles, which I find moreish and intoxicating, only really sings when properly married with heat and, ideally, a fatty vehicle. By which I mean cheese. (Although, one year I bought a jar of honey with a small black truffle submerged at the bottom, which is perhaps the best bang for your buck, bougie cheeseboard item I’ve ever encountered.)  

On a recent Monday evening, I was seated at the bar at Apéro next to two extra-long, golden loaves of cooling bread, in a tantalising state of readiness for the arrival of the first truffles. Apéro’s Comté and truffle toastie is a legend of the genre.  

We’re just getting into the swing of New Zealand truffle season. Every chef has a dealer. Shortly there will be little black orbs nestled in paper towels or burrowed in jars of rice in walk-in fridges across the city.  The season is exuberant, but fleeting. I’m looking forward to seeing what the talented chefs of Auckland come up with this year.  

On your marks.
Sunita

SUNITA PATEL is a chef, food writer, lawyer and entrepreneur.  She is a contributor to the Appetite for Words Substack and was a judge for this year’s Outstanding Food Producer Awards. 

By Jean

Before we forget, you can also go and check out Sunita’s top ten favourite restaurants in Auckland in our CRINGE INDEX. Apero is one of them, but there are nine more.

NEW OPENINGS

Pho Yen, the Vietnamese spot on Dominion Rd with perpetual lines out the door, has a NEW RESTAURANT opening in Newmarket. Hopefully it will mean shorter queues at the Mt Eden branch.

The old Vultures Lane pub on Vulcan Lane has been very quickly turned around and is open again as THE FORGE.

Cassia is popping up at OZONE in Grey Lynn from 17 June, while their new new restaurant in town is being set up. Their SkyCity restaurant’s last service is tomorrow and the new hours will be Wednesday to Sunday, 5pm till late.

NEWS

HERE ARE THE LEWISHAM WINNERS. Looks like Gilt was the big winner with three awards.

If you saw the Pikuniku liquidation story in the Herald, they would like you to know that they are still open and trading through it.

Deadshot is CLOSING, with no changes to Caretaker or Rocketman, who have the same ownership. The last day in its current state is next Saturday. It sounds like it’s going to be taken over by Kamal Haggerty and could be called MATCHBOX?

Filipino brunch spot MORENO is now doing dinner service on Friday and Saturdays, where you can get dishes like fish with steamed soy tomatoes, charcoal prawns with coconut sarsa and grilled lengua salpicao (beef tongue) with chili almond adobo. 

Cringe’s house sommelier and guest intro writer Simon Benoit is finishing a long and celebrated run at Cazador this weekend. Bonne chance for your next chapter Simon!

EVENTS

PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY is on Saturday at the Auckland Showgrounds, which is, apparently, the biggest annual Filipino event in New Zealand. Alongside the food (which is a given), there is also something called the “9th Filipino-Kiwi Hero Awards” which sounds very sweet and could potentially restore some hope in humanity.

Pici is having A PARTY on Saturday 6 June, a joint effort between them, OOH-FA, Chef Kia and Aard Wine. Not much more information other than: tasty snacks, tasty wines, and tasty tunes. P.S. Pici has changed its happy-hour half-price deal ($11.99) from the pici cacio e pepe to linguine pomodoro. 

Silver Wing Wines are launching their FRANKENFURTER 2025 at The Frog on Saturday.

The Northern Line has a GREYHOUND SOCIAL on Saturday afternoon. With the dog race ban kicking in on August 1, nearly 3,000 greyhounds are going to be out of work and on the streets so if you are interested in re-homing one you can go to this and get a look up close, make sure you’re not allergic etc.

Choice items from the liquidation sales of Auckland’s two-speed recovery.
By Simon

ANTIMICROBIAL REMOTE CONTROL
Current bid $10, Closes Monday
Sadly becoming aware of the existence of this anti-germ universal remote has forced me to recognise that all the other remotes are not anti-germ and the whole world is darker because of it.

THOUSANDS OF NEW LPS AND CDS
Current bids from $10, Closes Monday
From our forensic analysis of the photos, it seems a JB HIFI has had some smoke damage and they are doing a huge insurance claim which has thousands of albums going cheap. Looks like they are broadly sorted alphabetically and in some cases by genre. An absolute bonanza — best of luck to all of you who partake. 

MULTI-MATERIAL 3D PRINTER
Current bid $10,300, Closes Thursday
This very serious, massive 3D printer would be a fun thing to try and work into your home decor. Build volume is 525x400x400mm. 

PERSONAL WEATHER STATION
Current bid $40, Closes today
If you are one of the people who distrusts the Met Service after one too many hysterical warnings on your phone, let's see if you can do any better!

2 CAR ROOF STROBES
Current bid $40, Closes today
These are the car equivalent of wearing overalls and carrying a clipboard. If you have one of these stuck on your roof I don’t believe anyone will ask you why you are doing what you are doing.

4 MONSTERRAS
Current bid $40, Closes today
It says they are ‘used’ which is worrying, but fingers crossed it’s just a quirk in the auction house CMS. If you buy these you can just trim off all those air roots – they don’t need them and they are messy.

By Simon

FRIDAY 5TH

CATE LE BON
Powerstation, $75
Welsh psychedelic avant-pop with support from Mainard Larking. QUICK FACT: Cate Le Bon is of no familial relation to Simon Le Bon, but did take her stage name in tribute to him. Her actual parents are council workers.

PARADOX PRINCESS, PARAKOSM, DISTRACTED
Audio Foundation, $15
Electro-punk trans queercore show.

SATURDAY 6TH

MISS NEW ZEALAND & MISS TEENAGER UNIVERSE NEW ZEALAND
Bruce Mason, From $80
If you’re gambling on this it looks like it’s going to be neck and neck between Miss Auckland, Gemma Kirk and Miss Napier, Kalani Henry with only 49 points separating them after the preliminary rounds. This final event will see who will take the tiara from last year’s winner, Britney Pringle. Zipporah Sofinowksi is way out in front in the teenage comp.

MICHAEL HILL VIOLIN COMPETITION GRAND FINAL
Town Hall, $50
I can never get over how unusual this is for us — a competition where the competitors are 16 foreign nationals sourced by a selection panel that is mostly NZ based. I wish we had more Michael Hills to fund versions of it across different fields and we could be like the Norwegians with the Nobel prize.

DOUBLE PARKED
Double Whammy, $10
Post-surf rockers playing music from their new EP Rosary amongst other stuff. Support from Frank on Tap and the Medicate Project.

THE BLACK ANGELS
Powerstation, $100
Texan psychedelic rockers on a 20th anniversary tour for their most popular album, Passover. Support from Arthur Ahbez and band.

JENEVIEVE
Tuning Fork, $70
An American, soft sounding, old school, disco-curious R&B artist touring her sophomore album Crysalis. Honestly it’s not really what I’m looking for in R&B but I’m just one man and the Bangkok Post called her ‘one of the most compelling new voices in contemporary R&B’. So what do I know?

BYRON THE AQUARIUS
Mothership, $25
Jazzy DEEEEEEP house DJ from Atlanta. Support from Frank Booker.

OKTY & PAZ, ANDWAHN, BEN-G, CC:ME
Whammy, $15
Jungle/footwork/breakbeat show, mainly listed here so we can celebrate the DJ names of Andwahn and CC:ME. Great job by you both.

SUNDAY 7TH

PURPLE RAIN
The Hollywood, $15
It’s Prince’s birthday on Sunday so this is on. Maurice Day is amazing in this – steals every scene he’s in.

PROSAPALOOZA
Double Whammy, $30
For the one-year anniversary of their first ever gig, Prosa, in a delightful yet wildly self-aggrandizing move, are putting on this massive show to celebrate. With Back to the Hillside, Blunt Dog, The Bright Ideas, Dead Empire, The First Child, Hoihoi, Lesbian Death Slutz From Hell, Model, Slitopia, The Sour and Slow Rage. Starts at 2pm.

TUESDAY 9TH

SAUL WILLIAMS & CARLOS NIÑO
Tuning Fork, $60
Spoken word artist Saul Williams with percussionist Carlos Niño touring their Grammy nominated album Saul Williams meets Carlos Niño & Friends at Treepeople. BUZZY.

LEON THOMAS
Town Hall, From $90
Potentially the best of the post-D’Angelo R&B artists. QUICK FACTS: He played Andre Harris in Victorious on Nickelodeon and co-wrote Snooze by SZA!

WEDNESDAY 10TH

DESIGN LIVES HERE
Objectspace, $40
Four design-loving Aucklanders talking about one object that they love each. With Heath Lowe, Jessie Wong, Dajiang Tai and Rebecca Smidt. Tickets include drinks and Cazadogs.

THURSDAY 11TH

DISCLOSURE DAY
In Cinemas
A new aliens movie from Steven Spielberg. According to the early reviews (which are largely untrustworthy these days) it’s his best film in 20 years!