The Little Grocer

311 Richmond Road
Grey Lynn, Auckland
Tel. (09) 962 6711

Yummy yum yum yum.

Today from The Little Grocer we had two cinnamon buns, two lattes, one handmade plum iceblock, two delicious homegrown lemons and a rage against the machine badge that Astrid decided she wanted.

We have been very excited about The Little Grocer ever since we discovered on our return to Auckland. The first day we went was a Sunday before Summer and there was a most delightful table setting just brimming with super sweet deliciousness which we swore we’d return to photograph. One day we will.

But today’s treat, apart from the rage against the machine badge for a dollar, was Astrid’s amazing organic coromandel plum iceblock. Oh! It was a new experience, pulverised perfect plums, frozen. We’ll be back tomorrow for more we will.

And the cinnamon buns were delicious, two shared between the four of us. And the cheapest sweet option at $3.50. Lots of lovely things to look at while we waited for our lattes; little paper masks for a dollar each (but Astrid definitely wanted the rage against the machine badge more than a zebra mask, even more than a tiger mask), a big stack of the Ponsonby News, yummy cinnamon bread and butter pudding (oh!), pesto, a selection of old fashioned sweets, and urns for putting in your predictions, sage pieces of advice, or random scribblings.

The word of the week began with an ‘f’ and was about twenty letters long. I forgot to write my prediction, even though I meant to write, “look under the carpet for the missing DVDs”. Sound advice that is.

Sound, like The Little Grocer. A little piece of magic well and truly. We love you The Little Grocer. Oh yes indeed we do.

Filed in Prepared food, organic, Bakery and Cakes, Cheeses, Fresh produce, Greater Auckland

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We Love Pies!

Oh my goodness, do we ever. We love I love pies.

We tried three I love pies pies; Angus Beef Mince and Mozzarella Cheese, Smoked Fish in a Creamy Béchamel Sauce and Free Range Chicken Leek & Mustard.My absolute favourite that was the best ever pie I have ever ever ever eaten was the Chicken and Leek. Oh! It was dusted with semolina and oh so crispy and perfect.We could taste the vegetables, each and every last one.

Kevin’s favourite was of course the Angus Beef Mince. And Astrid was pretty keen on that too. It tasted beautifully handmade, home made, hand crafted. And it really was made with love, not just made up love.

The smoked fish pie froze well and we had that when we came back from Rarotonga. And it tasted very very good. Now that’s saying a lot because we ate fresh mahi mahi every day in Rarotonga and I can’t eat fish now. Except for the Smoked Fish pie. And fresh Rarotongan mahi mahi. So it was excellent fish and it lasted us three meals. And it even had little delicious surprise capers inside. Yum!

Overall we just adored I love Pies. They’re proper quality pies. Proper, real food. Because they are so beautifully made, with all the right ingredients they’re around $18.99. So while we won’t be eating them every day (we probably could if we were still in London), we know they’ll be a very reliable, delicious and welcome treat.

www.ilovepies.com

Filed in Prepared food, Bakery and Cakes, Greater Auckland

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La Cigale french market

69 St Georges Bay Rd, Parnell, Auckland. Tel. 09-366 9361 www.lacigale.co.nz
Saturdays from 8am. Wednesday mini-market 12 - 6:30pm

Our first reaction when we got here was why have we not been coming here forever? The market was bursting with deliciousness. First stop was coffee and then a wander around. Strawberries were $5 for a huge punnet. Too many to eat all in one go so they’re now in the freezer.

The fresh produce down the back was far too exciting to photograph at the time. Bunches of fresh herbs, fresh garlic… fresh everything! Red currants, organic avocados for 70c (!), okra, artichokes, marrows, beautiful lettuce, sweet red peppers - oh I could go on. It felt like being in the market at Aix. Oh how we miss Aix in summertime.

Inside there was more. An absolute fount of cheeses (sorry if that’s not english) - but there were a lot. All at room temperature. All waiting to be tasted. Oh my.

Just before we left we grabbed a packet of Lebanese bread for $2. I think it was the same guys who do Takapuna market. Anyway - this is THE best lebanese bread we’ve had in a very long time. We had it filled with salad for our lunch that afternoon. It was absolutely perfect.

The organic box has been cancelled. La Cigale is our new weekly Saturday morning ritual. And this time we’re getting two packets of the Lebanese bread. Just the thought of what brilliant pizza bases they’ll make is enough to get us very excited indeed.

Filed in Bakery and Cakes, Cheeses, Fresh produce, markets, Greater Auckland

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Fresh oysters, flounder and scallops van

State Highway 1 at Waiwera
Unsure of opening hours, but I’d hazard a guess and say weekends during daylight hours

Noel Sullivan has been running the fresh oysters, flounder and scallops van for over seven years now. The flounder had come out of the Kaipara Harbour earlier that morning. The scallops were fresh too and they looked good.

Noel Sullivan at the fresh flounder and scallops van

We got two flounder for $9 and about a dozen scallops for $12. I have no idea how that compares to anywhere else but it seemed alright to me. I like buying food from a man on the side of the road who knows the guys who caught it.

scallops on rocket with french bread and beetroot hummous

I had scallops for lunch that day, and the next day. Cooked in butter with garlic, Maldon and cracked pepper, I had them on rocket with a bit of french bread and some beetroot hummous from Matakana market. The scallops were very good. And they were even better the next day when I had them with just a piece of baguette to mop up the garlicky lemon juice and butter.

That evening we had the flounder, lightly floured and cooked in a bit of butter, served with Maldon, cracked pepper and lemon juice of course. Again with rocket because that’s what we had.

Flounder on the dinner table

Now, the potatoes were a bit of a luxury. Par-boiled we put them in a pan and unloaded a $5 pot of duck fat onto them. Decadent? Yes. Perfect? Also. Topped off with a dollop of red-pepper-chilli jam and a glass of delightful rosé.

De-lish.

Filed in Fish and seafood, Roadside, Greater Auckland

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The Italian Country Market

439 Papakura-Clevedon Road
Tel. 09- 292 9229

The Italian Country Market is a delightful little secret, hidden on the road going out of Clevedon towards Papakura. Only a few minutes past the Takanini turnoff we stopped here after the Farmers Market and bought our culinary supplies for the week.

This charming shop stocked everything we could have dreamed of wanting to eat, from fresh walnuts and gourmet potatoes to the best tomatoes. Ever. We aren’t lying. This place has the best tomatoes we’ve seen anywhere between here and Aix en Provence.

They’ve also got a mean line-up of balsamics, proper mozarella and fresh, fresh, lovely veges and salad ingredients. Their provolone was something else. We enjoyed it later that afternoon on crackers with a drop of good rosé.

The fridges are stocked with gorgeous pastas from cucina and all the good cheeses one might care to daydream about. Well-stocked shelves are simply bursting with olives, aioli, biscotti and crostini, mustards, pastas and more.