The world on a plate

This past week I’ve had the good luck to sit and chat with a couple of the finer Frenchies gracing Wellington’s culinary garden.

We are blessed with a spectrum of internationals who come here and set up shop, specifically to embrace their passion for their own style of food and wine.

New Zealand has long suffered a comprehensive confuddlement on what we think about food and while we have artisanal producers and chefs a la creative popping up from every nook and cranny these days, it’s a fair bet Watties baked beans are still a best seller. Our national cuisine see, along with lamb cutlets and kumara chips.

International influence is a fabulous thing, and the purveyors of that influence are a huge help in broadening the minds as we go about our daily diets.

Cuba St’s Le Metropolitain has been around for three years after Sebastien and Maryline came out from Leon, France.

Their whole idea was to recreate the French bistro experience, which according to Sebastien is the average corner store restaurant in most towns and villages in France. In other words it’s not fancy Francais.

“It’s where people go to share a moment, or to enjoy a meal with their family,” Sebastien explains, painting it as a regular diner.

Nonetheless, put a few accents in the menu and a Frenchie on the bar and in New Zealand it’s a special occasion sort of place.

Or it was, once upon a country.

These days the international diners are thick on the ground and mostly reputably run by genuine international owners.

No longer do we have to suffer through the local café “doing” a few Italian options next to the bacon and egg poi. Not to mention a touch more variety than Chinese Takeaway and Butter Chicken.

I spoke with Francois at Mon Ami in Bond St. We rather I listened carefully, picking up every second word in his thick northern French accent. Running the café with business partner Benoit these guys talk rugby, food and coffee, and the menu is a mix of French influences with the stuff that makes cafes work.

Moving off the continent, the Moroccans on Cambridge bring the local flavour pretty well, in fact looking out through into the kitchen almost takes me back to couple of weeks I spent in North Africa once. The place is Casablanca in more ways than just the name and they go out of their  way to make you feel at home.

So anyway, I could go on – the old guy at Phonecian Falafel, Tetsuya at Midori Sushi – there are countless foreign smiles behind Wellington’s international flavours and it makes it genuine and globally gourmet. This is more about the people making the food than the chow itself, but then … that’s half the experience.

Who’s your favourite? An introduction internationale, if you please.

(forgive the bad French)