"its not like the government drove the ship on to the reef/lost the game/etc etc"

They don't sleep much either.
P. rd, so apt.

Well, Prince Albert of Monaco, with his lovely princess Charlene. Muttering something about getting a piercing...

Yep, that reinforces what I wrote in an earlier post.

hell yes.....

Sitting in the awfulness of Macau airport craving it now.

Ta Danielle.

Trapped on tenor reef. Free willy?
A blog about foreigners, and no Foreigner. Soon to be remedied, under urgency.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stRWtrmXkHo&feature=related

[Redacted] Response pending.

Here ya go.

Oooo! Must put Poor Boy on playlist!

True, but their opening hours are a bit challenging for people like me and Dolly Parton.

Points to Campbell for raising the issue of flags of convenience. And the shippers trying to wash their hands of it all? Tui Billboard pending.

Yep, it is. I live near there and most times when I walk past it seems pretty full. As is St Tropez next door.

I like a kebab. Had some good ones in Melbourne, but man, I still dream…

I was underwhelmed. Mexican Specialities in Ellerslie or bust!

To mock is indeed a sin, or to con nan even more so, but among friends, it is Forever Dolphin Love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7CaTJ2SvG8

becoming the usual suspects

I imagine the govt will desperately try to avoid mentioning it until after the election – then enthusiastically grab its ankles on our behalf to make…

Chilliblains, fnah

I'd presumed you were using a more scientific name for it than mere mortals can look up on Wikipedia.

And I thought you were about to mock me for misspelling capsaicin ... multiple times.

Whatever...I learned 3 new & amazing facts – thank you Bart!

Just to jump between all cultures here, I can recommend the Little Mexico Cantina which is next door to The Middle East Café.

I think I first went there in 1983. Went back recently — new owners, food the same yummy as ever.

Do you believe in magic...
But are there any restaurants that
put Salvia (divinorum) in your food?

It's a whole angle on saliva getting into food I'd never considered. On a spoon.

Proper chefs use a new spoon for every tasting, they will cook with half a dozen small spoons tucked into their whites.…

Ah, that's it. I would love to visit Khua Kling Pak Sod. Sounds and looks perfect.

+1

And a Hunannese place. Anyone?

That was my wife Brigid's blog. She doesn't post as often as she wants to but the reaction is always the same: It makes people very hungry.

I get to fly back to that food…

Yup and as Lucy said it’s because the receptor for the capsasin (the hot compound) gets down-regulated. What that means is the more the receptor gets triggered the less receptor is made so the next time you come in contact you are less…

Chefs do NOT put saliva in your food. Proper chefs use a new spoon for every tasting, they will cook with half a dozen small spoons tucked into their whites.

Can't get on that site, but have a read of this.

Sometimes, machismo outweighs a pleasant dining experience.

At least we now know where the foreigners are...
...they are all in the catering trade in Auckland!

http://www.bricklanecurryhouse.com/

Some seem to have coped with the experience better than others.

Jungle Flavour, just past KFC in Balmoral, isn't bad either. The Krapao and Kratiam Duck have quite a kick at medium and above, and the whole fried Snapper dishes have been pretty reliable in our experience. Bit pricey I guess,…

There's a new branch in the Chev. As you say, not bad — and unbelievably quick.

I'm having fun just thinking about their job advertisements.

I've always liked Zap for quick and easy foodcourt-level Thai. And speaking of spicy and building up a tolerance, a friend once commented 'I am become death, destroyer of worlds'* on a nam tok that I thought was…

I understand that repeated consumption of chili-hot foods does increase your tolerance, basically by maxing out the appropriate…

I think that's exactly what's happened. It's not all bad, it does mean I can take my kids…

I like a kebab. Had some good ones in Melbourne, but man, I still dream of those ChCh kebabs. Amazingly elastic bread, thick…

What if I want it extra hot? But not pepper spray? Fine line there. Just gimme the powder...

Nah. If you want a Vindaloo,…

the romance of cuisine :)

I hope it's improved under new ownership. We never ate in…

Just changed owners I'm told – heard very good things which has caused me to look hungrily that way as I've driven past more than one – but it may well have to wait until I'm back…

Of course. A chef can be trained to weigh things with their hands, too, but they can just use a scales, particularly if they are using a new recipe. Unfortunately, for spices, there's no such device.

Great chefs are all very well, fine if you're…

Stop it!

For the NZ France game we did Lamb studded with garlic slivers and marinated overnight in Kim's spice mix (roasted cumin seeds then ground) then cooked for 12…

Always — well, almost always — roast…

For one of the RWC games, I had some folks around and served curried lamb shanks, slow-cooked for six hours. Was sensational.

That was definitely a favourite a while back. Satya (Sandringham) has, IMhO, lost it due to over exposure. I've walked out after waiting thirty minutes to be served this year, and stopped eating their chicken dishes for reasons...

When we lived nearby we used to frequent Sages in…

Um taste the food as you cook?????????

Oh you mean objective measurement – most great chefs train and use their own palate as the best objective tool they have.

Interesting with the Rugby on to be reminded how…

Have you tried the Shanghai…

Does that mean I am _actually_ performing one of the aforementioned alien weddings?

Occidental…

Because the locals insist on it. See also: butter chicken.

It's easily misunderstood, because there are no convenient measurement systems. There are metrics for it, the Scoville scale for chili. But high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) isn't…

As you say Mekong Neua does understand chili which is a big plus. I do suspect you are right that some things on their menu they don't do as well as others.

Which raises the question, if you know that you don't cook a…

Yes, that was my memory. But I was kinda hoping I was wrong.

Mostly just "Chinese", from memory.

I have – dozens of times. I know I'm not alone in rating it highly but each to their own :)

Mostly I find mid level and higher Indian food (and other Asian cuisines) to be watered down in New Zealand to suit our less…

Some nights yes I agree. But other nights I've had bland cardboard pretending to be food. To me that says they have one very good chef and when he/she has a night off the customers suffer.

As for Little India I can't agree. You must…

Yes, true....

while 'Oriental' means the same as what 'Asian' means to many kiwis – namely, East Asian of Chinese descent.

...but I don't…

I found it an interesting anomaly that in the UK (well, amongst Londoners I met at least) 'Asian' tends to mean South Asian (Indian, Pakistani etc), while 'Oriental' means the same as what 'Asian' means to many kiwis – namely, East…

My…

I even have an "alien number", to go along with all my other UIDs. It has nine digits – I guess they are…

Or even more narrowly: East Asian of Chinese descent.

And mostly I agree with you, however I'm happy to say that even when it is so mis-used thus, the majority of people I spend time…

I dislike the term Asian (not least because it's misused to mean only East Asian) and prefer to find out where people are from and call them Chinese, Korean, Thai or whatever.

Next time, Sacha, I'll bring through a couple of bottles of the wonderful dark variety. Promise.

and they import Beer Lao too

Sucks not being able to use my ray-gun anymore.

Why? On its own it's not a term of derision. A farang is simply a westerner- it's not making any qualitative statement.

We talk of Asians and Europeans in New Zealand and the word is roughly similar…

I rate Little India. Not a fine dining experience at all and atmosphere nil but wonderful complex flavours that are almost unmatched in Auckland in my experience.

I also rate Mekong Neua…

I took a visiting friend at SkyCity across to the Midnight Express cafe across the road. The food was absolutely wonderful, Turkish done very well, service…

A note of caution. We may also measure the quality of our experience on the box of drawing pencils and colouring in pages each of our three children received with their reasonably priced set menu.

They do seem to have a good after…

I thought it was fine.
but good company distracts

Perhaps coping with the lack of daisy [sic] at the allotted time? True, their lunch staff seem to handle numbers better. That going from…

:P

Given that my English haz fail

+1

I had a pretty average meal…

It inspired terror in you? ;) (English is, er, terrible for relatively recent word-meaning changes like that. It's like people are trying to make it difficult, or at least wilfully mis-interpretable.)

*jumps in, uninvited* I like the tapas there,…

Been there twice and not managed to find what they are really good at on the menu. I've from several people they love it but I've only had average food. Service is fine. So what do you recommend Jackie?

Bah I hate that word I always get it wrong :). Awful, bad, terrible even, condescending, oblivious, ignorant of their own menu. The best staff make you feel like you are in their own home and most welcome to be there.

Why does it need to be folded in at all? You should be able to just unwind the kebab, nibbling your way down, without every circuit involving the need to stick your fingers into the kebab to dig the foil…

I've had more than a few…

It was the various politicians trying to talk up the RWC's supposed financial bonanza who made…

I have heard it used that way. "Almighty and aweful creator, we beseech you..". I don't think they were trying to say God did a shit job.

What would hotels expect? To be fully booked for months before and after games? They were…

I'd be interested too, from what we see in the regions the camper van rental companies must be having the time of their lives! Driving down Thames coast two weekends ago we passed a convoy of camper vans (heading up to Coromandel)…

We had lunch there once and the fish was overcooked, we had had only…

I'm sorry to hear that. How do you think the RWC impacted to actually drive business down? Is it because the games are smack bang on your peak times, and most…

That's very rare – my daughter has that. For a couple of years the doctors told us it was probably salicylates, and we weren't giving her most fruit and vegetables. Right pain.

In Dunedin I think the experience has been that the fans come in on…

Quite – and as I’ve said elsewhere, Soul on the Viaduct might be a tad chi-chi for my taste, but the times I’ve been there it is obvious Judith Tabron puts…

Quite right Russell. Canton Cafe has great chinese food. But you'd have to describe the service as an experience. I love the food but I find I have to be in the right mood to enjoy eating there.

As well as the meanings of a class of restaurant, or a cork, a bouchon is also translated as a traffic jam. That's kinda appropriate, given the location.

Greed
Wishful thinking
Discretionary time
Discretionary spending

There’s significant aversion to the gold rush mentality that’s latent in the psyche of a big segment of NZ society: the “I have more staff so I have to put…

Could you explain to me why the frak anyone should ever set foot in a cafe that charged eight bucks for a mediocre latte or…

__And numerous companies and departments have travel bans in place – which is of…

C'mon, you think they'd allow that to happen? Any economic analysis will get buried sometime in December,.

Key's shameless attempts to paint the RWC as National's Party could yet blow up in his face if the sentiment that the tournament is to blame for a big…

Loitering within tent?

Yeah, good point. The Sterling/Kiwi dollar exchange rate fluctuated around 1:3 for years (including the Lions tour), but…

OTOH, I'm not entirely convinced that…

Certainly has…

Fully booked != Profit bonanza. A hotel that isn't going bust needs to have 70-80% occupancy anyway. So a few nights booked out might mean a 30% or so revenue uplift for those nights – before…

The thing is, that bonanza did happen in 2006, big time. It wasn't at all unreasonable to assume at least a similar…

Thing with campervans is yeah sure, they aren't staying in a motel or hotel but they are still spending a decent whack of money while they are here. They are paying the campervan company, filling…

One theory I heard, from a Ponsonby retailer friend, rings true.

Most game attendees are locals, and when they are spending many hundreds – if not thousands – of $ on tickets (something…

There have been upsets, thrills, tension and some really marvellous rugby played.

Mainly by the other rugby playing countries. god I'm sick & tired of Tew, Henry, richie rich, groiners and the terminally rugby serious.

Also the idiots down at tournament parking removing their evening rates, which used to be $8-14 per evening to a higher than usual casual rate without annoucing it clearly.

I got stung for $65 for…

And despite a few upbeat retailers, most i know have actually found the RWC has hurt business, sales normally pick up this time of year but it’s not happened.

And loads of campervans yes, but…

Has anyone seen any word on how many instant fines have been issued under the Freedom Camping laws that were pushed through under urgency before all this, or any other measures to suggest how necessary it…

Edit: That was Saturday. A lot were English so that may have changed since then :-). I noticed a lot of French flags there too.

I gather Nelson's been quite lively too.

No shit.

Still, at least NZ didn't get booted out by Argentina. That would have required an invasion of the Falklands. How much is a secondhand aircraft carrier again?