cazador: reviewed

Welcome to clipboard, a weekly newsletter about hospo, clothes and Tāmaki Makaurau, by Reilly Hodson. This week: I went to Cazador, and watched a Netflix series start to finish. If you enjoy clipboard, you can chip in a few dollars to fund my silly lifestyle by clicking the button below and paying about a dollar per issue:

perhaps the best date night restaurant in the city

Cazador is one of those restaurants that I’ve always meant to go to, but due to a combination of its high price point and location in the middle of the suburbs on Dominion Road, I never made the trip. This week, I had an excuse to go, and it has shot right to the top of my “got some money to spend on a fancy dinner” list, like a rocket.

Cazador might be one of Auckland’s oldest restaurants, a thirty year old mainstay in a city where almost all of the great restaurants are less than a decade old. It sits in a strange block of shops on Dominion Road, past the strip of Asian restaurants and Tai Ping, solidly in the suburbs. During the day, they run a deli where you can buy their cured meats alongside some grocery goods and sandwiches.

We opted to go for the Feast meal, a tour through their best dishes. At $80 a head with an optional $55 drinks match, it’s a pricey meal, but one which is well worth it. If you don’t have a massive appetite, though, I’d recommend ordering a la carte, we had to box up the cheese board at dessert time, and we apparently weren’t the first.

The service is friendly and just the right amount of engaged: the waiter was always there when we needed something, and they never interrupted our conversation or meal to ask if “everything’s going alright so far,” a practice which is second only to asking if we’ve dined there before in its lack of effectiveness. A good waiter, I was told as a new recruit when I started my hospo career, knows without asking, and only interrupts when absolutely necessary. Our waiters at Cazador nailed that.

The food was all completely delicious: from a rabbit bone broth to coal roasted cauliflower and charred venison, everything was perfectly balanced, never a moment where something was over or under seasoned. In the best way, it was like eating a delicious home cooked meal, but with ingredients and skill you’d never find in a home kitchen.

In Auckland, you can find plenty of amazing meals at less than $50 a head, including drinks, so it takes a lot for me to recommend spending multiple hundreds of dollars for two people, but Cazador is really that good. The next time you have something to celebrate, and a bit of extra cash in your account, make dinner the main event and book yourself a table.

clips

• New Zealand’s best luxury brand, Yu Mei, is opening a new store in Newmarket, around the corner from where Kowtow is, this week. A great addition to a very good local shopping precinct.

• After I spent a whole newsletter talking about how great Stan Ray painter pants are last week, Good As Gold in Wellington brought in even more options to round out your collection, if you’re a “buy the same pants in every colour” person like me. I love these light blue striped ones with little embroidered daisies, a little piece of summer as the weather turns bad.

• Checks Downtown released some hand knitted beanies this week, if you need a chunky, brightly coloured headwarmer, look no further.

• Now that the weather is getting a bit rubbish, I’m on the lookout for a “real” rain jacket (no Rains, please) - hit me up with recommendations for a basic waterproof layer that won’t leave me sweaty or wet and don’t look terrible.

• SOAP is throwing a quiz night on Thursday, with free entry and $500 prize pool. Could be cool, I reckon, and maybe the excuse I need to finally get down there.

• I don’t usually do this kind of thing, but if you’re in a tiny cafe early on a Saturday morning, please be considerate of the size of the space when choosing which volume to speak your juicy gossip at.

• Jade Townsend has a fascinating new show on at RM Gallery called Panic Buy. Jade is also organising a forthcoming cluster of exhibitions about Matariki called Whānau Marama.

derry girls is funny, turns out

Every week, clipboard highlights (at least) One Good Thing, something I’ve enjoyed, bought, eaten or seen this week. This week: Derry Girls, on Netflix.

Perhaps the most 2021 late stage capitalist thing that has happened to me recently is that I decided to watch the Netflix show Derry Girls after watching a TikTok that used a scene from the show to comment on Meghan, Harry and Prince Phillip’s death.

I’m not a television reviewer, and I won’t pretend to be here, all that matters is that Derry girls is a hilarious TV show with some heartfelt moments and heaps of laughs. It’s based in 1990s Northern Ireland, and features a group of girlfriends who go to Catholic school. If any of the things I just said appeal to you, you’ll love this show.

We watched both seasons in one week.

That’s all for clipboard this week. I’ll be back here, in your inbox, next Sunday morning. In the meantime, follow me and clipboard on Instagram, and send me an email or DM if you want to get in touch! I love the attention so I’ll almost always reply, eventually.