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- mr t's and annabel's: reviewed
mr t's and annabel's: reviewed
two apostrophes, one newsletter, at least two Good Things
Welcome to clipboard, a weekly newsletter about clothes, hospitality and Tāmaki Makaurau. This week: my reviews of two newish neighbourhood institutions. If you enjoy clipboard, you can chip in a few dollars to help me pay for it by clicking the button below.
annabel’s wine bar
This Friday, I had planned to head to Hotel Ponsonby, the fancy new pub at Three Lamps in Ponsonby, for an after work drink and meal. When I got there, it was absolutely packed with Herne Bay yo pros, the kind you might see making inappropriate fun of Aotearoa’s indigenous culture on a yacht with a Belgian DJ. We decided that wouldn’t do, so we headed down to Annabel’s, a few doors down, instead.
I’d been to Annabel’s a few times before, but only for a coffee or cocktail, I’d never eaten a full meal before. I don’t know why I waited so long. Annabel’s is nominally a wine bar, and it is a great place to drink wine. A cosy vibe, with great music, and although some of the clientele might not be people I’d choose to spend my night with, it gets the setting just right.
It’s also a great place to get coffee and toast in the morning, since its post-Covid pivot towards all-day service and off-licence. You can even buy kosher salt there, one of the few places I’ve found it available in NZ.
On top of all that, it’s a brilliant place for dinner. We started with oysters, which were served with a lemon-based sauce rather than the mignonette on the menu. They were delicious, though it’s pretty hard to do oysters badly when you buy good ones. We then had a delicious garlic baguette served with anchovies in a chilli oil, and a top notch butterflied crumbed fish served with yoghurt tartare and a green salad.
I hate to be this person, but honestly the best thing we ate all night were the fried potatoes. Whole potatoes, parboiled and smashed, then fried, served with a caramelised garlic aioli, they were one of the best executions of a crispy potato side I’ve seen in a long time.
The wine, of course, was great, and the service was friendly and unfussy, and by the end we were very glad to have gone there instead of the pub, although I still want to try Hotel Ponsonby’s focaccia.
clips
Good friend of clipboard Mitchell Tan’s vintage Instagram Rubbish Bin just launched a new vertical called RE, a way for retailers to sell old stock instead of sending it to the landfill. I’ve heard where some of the pieces are coming from, and it’s going to be good.
Elie Assaf’s burger joint Five Boroughs is popping up at East St. Hall on Monday and Tuesday. Head in for cheeseburgers, fried chicken sandwiches and even deep fried oreos!
Commoners’ new winter range just dropped, and it is packed full of very good classic pieces. I particular love this cardigan, this blue jumper (the neckline is excellent), and this long sleeve tee made with hemp.
I don’t usually recommend non-local goods, but my guilty pleasure menswear podcast, Throwing Fits, is releasing a pitch perfect pair of natural cotton fatigue pants with 3sixteen this week, and they look very good, if more appropriate for summer weather than the cooler weather we’re heading for.
Leonie Hayden at the Spinoff has a brilliant update to the story of institutional racism at the Auckland Art Gallery.
Also at the Spinoff, Toby Morris has an amazing breakdown of New Zealand’s K shaped economic recovery post-Covid.
mr t’s
When my partner was instructed by the bride to go looking at Dressmart for her bridesmaid dress (unsuccessfully, as it turned out), it was the perfect chance for me to finally try Mr T’s, a Vietnamese bakery and cafe on Onehunga Mall.
My partner and I both had the bacon and egg baguette, which had a delicious barbecue sauce on it. The bread was exactly what I like in a baguette: crispy on the outside but not to the point that it cuts your mouth or is too difficult to bite into, and soft and fluffy on the inside. They were a bit heavy on the butter for my taste, but I also eat hot cross buns straight, so I’m not really one to comment there.
The coffee is good (they use Rocket beans), though I’d be careful if you drink white coffee, they serve a standard flat white in a rather large vessel.
You can’t leave Mr T’s without trying a pastry, and we got an eclair and a hot cross bun, both delicious. We left very satisfied, to the point that we are now seriously considering a move to Onehunga, so that I can go back for the pho.