ON MY PLATE – Oct 24

What goes on tour typically stays on tour, says Denise Irvine, unless it’s food recommendations: in this case, some good pickings on a weekend in Whangamatā.

First stop, though, was Friday lunch at The Refinery, 5 Willoughby St, Paeroa, always reliable with homemade cabinet food, a thoughtful menu and vintage furniture fit-out. On this visit, we sat at a mid-century formica dining table that took me back to my Aunt Molly’s kitchen in Tauranga where she served creamy fish pie and apple crumble for family lunches.

No fish pie last Friday and The Refinery was over-flowing with customers, every table occupied and more groups waiting patiently. The staff kept calm and carried on. Our table all went for the blackboard special soup, an excellent potato and leek rendition with thyme and lemon zest for extra brightness. The lemon zest lifted and balanced the bowl beautifully, there was chunky sourdough on the side, and it set us up for the next step over the hills to the coast.

Friday dinner was at Camina Restaurant & Bar, 708 Port Road, Whangamatā, located in foyer of the town’s old cinema. This Spanish-style eatery opened just before Christmas last year, co-owned by Rowan Crowe (at front of house) and chef Barend Beukes, ex Scotts Epicurean in Hamilton and co-founder of the (warmly recommended) Port Road Project cafe in Whangamatā. They buy from as many regional suppliers as possible, timber for the fire is found locally and complements the sustainably sourced mangrove charcoal.

Camina is small, rustic and warm-hearted, most of the menu is cooked over a vast wood-and-charcoal fired grill. It is food from their hearth to your table. It’s really, really good, the dishes cooked with care and creativity, and there is excellent service to match. The service started at the front door, opened with a flourish by Rowan Crowe who was running the floor and advising on dishes, and we were well looked after from go to whoa.

Five of us shared several tapas-style plates: grilled whole cabbage with a lip-smacking tomato jam, labneh and spiced almonds; grilled snapper with ajo blanco, broccoli and burnt butter; lamb souvlaki with roast feta and olive salsa; a terrific fresh snapper carpaccio; a roast vegetable side and a bowl of patas bravas. Each dish strong on quality ingredients, and lovely textures and flavours.   

I think it’s fair to say that nothing from our plates went back to the kitchen. Although the grilled cabbage – a Camina signature dish – was a bit controversial, some of us still scarred by childhood experiences of being made to eat cabbage that had been boiled to grey sludge. Camina’s cabbage was cooked with perfect caramelisation and chunky crispness, and enhanced by the tomato jam.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and a few days later I set out to replicate our Camina vegetable side dish of roasted carrot and radishes plated with pesto and feta. My version was pretty good but missing the next-level experience of being cooked on Camina’s fire, and the singular buzz of this little Whangamatā gem.

Saturday night was an early start at the nicely appointed Rassasy Restaurant, 501 Port Rd, for a cocktail and a few tapas plates, ahead of some grazing platters we’d assembled at home.

So we only scratched the surface at Rassasy and it’s due a return visit to enjoy more fully.  We had more good food and service: we loved the beautifully presented yellowfin tuna sashimi with citrusy St Clements dressing, wasabi mayo and coriander; ditto the deeply flavoursome and earthy smoked eggplant hummus; and a stand-out plate of steamed vegan shiitake and water-chestnut dumplings with a Chinese-inspired sauce, spring onion, chilli threads and sesame.

Oh, and a perfect Pornstar Martini, an elegant glass of vodka, vanilla, passionfruit, lime and prosecco.

Cheers to Whangamatā!