Cāntīng by Nic Watt – Level One Shop No/1190N Commercial Bay, CBD, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
We went there because…
It was The Wife’s birthday, she has been a long time fan of traditional Yum cha, and we have enjoyed Nic Watt’s take on other cuisines, so this piqued our interest. Fifteen years ago we went to Hong Kong for one of The Wife’s significant birthdays and we ate Michelin Star Yum Cha that was next level (I can still recall the succulent pork melting in my mouth), so the bar was set pretty high. As I type this I’ve started to realise that The Wife gets pretty good birthday presents.
The food…
The sign on the door says “Cāntīng by Nic Watt” so I was interested to see if he was going to be there cooking. Not only was Nic there, he greeted us as we walked in from the kitchen/bar area, where he was preparing some morsal, first box checked.
The ordering process was a little stilted (if that’s the word), there was one piece of paper and a pencil in a glass on the table. This piece of paper had a list of the food and you tick what you want with the pencil, seems easy enough. We were also given a bigger paper menu that has all the larger dishes that you can also order from. The problem is that there was three of us and only one person could read the menu at a time and as they weren’t busy, the wait staff were back in a flash wanting to know what we wanted. In the end we helped ourselves to pieces of paper from other tables, so that we all could read the menu. I get what they are trying to achieve, but I don’t want somebody reading the menu to me.
We ordered some dumplings, Crispy Duck Wonton with Picked Ginger and Black Vinegar, Salt and Pepper Calamari, Sweet and Sour Chicken Wings, 1/4 BBQ Duck, Crab Fried Rice and Kung Pao Chicken
As I said it wasn’t busy, so the food came out relatively rapidly, first up the dumplings which although I didn’t partake, I was reliably informed that they were up to scratch. Let’s face if if you are going to go upmarket yum cha, the difference isn’t going to be in the dumplings, most yum cha restaurants can make a good dumpling mix and wrap it in a dumpling wrapper and steam it to perfection and if they can’t they won’t be open long, the big difference comes in the more complicated fare. Therefore the real test started with the duck wontons which were (according to a sixteen year old) a thing of beauty.
While the ladies were “dumpling”, the salt and pepper calamari arrived, it was a controversial call ordering this dish that is on every second bar menu (actually make that 4 out of five bar menus), a dish that can be satisfying, but if bad can ruin a meal with an aftertaste that can last for days. This was my dish of the day, to say that all manners left my subconscious for five minutes would be an understatement, it was every man for themselves and by the time the dumpling devourers got wind of how good the calamari was, there wasn’t much left for them to try.
The Sweet and Sour Chicken Wings a la Madame Hanoi (which I assume is a nod to them being inspired by the restaurant in Adelaide) were very morish and we ended up having that awkward moment where all three of us are staring each other down to see who blinks first and who gets the last wing. A similar situation occurred when the 1/4 BBQ Duck turned up, I know what you are thinking, Chinese cuisine has been perfecting the duck for more than 2000 years and it has been a staple of that cuisine since the Ming dynasty, how can a kiwi chef attempt to improve that? Well I only have recent memories from our usual yum cha establishment and those lasting memories of Hong Kong 15 years ago, to go by and I have to say that this duck was right up there with the best. in fact we did consider ordering more.
The Kung Pao Chicken was extremely tasty and I got that sichuan pepper numbing that I was longing for, lastly the Crab Fried Rice was what it said on the packet.
The drinks…
The drinks menu was interesting, a selection of beers from Japan, Italy, Australia and New Zealand, an impressive whisky/whiskey selection from around the world (well I think it’s impressive, it’s not really my bag, so take that with a grain of salt (or is that a grain of malt?)), and they are running a whisky/whiskey locker system, where you can buy a bottle and store it in a locker for the next time you visit. The wine list is not extensive, but covers all the bases, the lead-in sauvignon blanc is $88 which seems a little on the high side, and if you like syrah/shiraz with your yum cha, that starts at $118, but most other varietals are well serviced for all budgets.
The service…
We racked our brains on the best adjective to describe the service, but couldn’t put our finger on it, “abrupt” was one of the leading options, also “rushed” (but then that was only at the beginning), “desperate” is an option, whatever the right word is, it started with so much promise with Nic’s smiling face saying “welcome how are you today” to just plain distain. I know it is hard to find good staff in hospitality these days, but I would have preferred ordering at the counter, being given a buzzer and go back to pick up my food, than have to be subjected to service like that.
The atmosphere…
As mentioned above the place pretty quiet, in fact there was probably 20 people in there and there was very little atmosphere.
The price was…
$210 for the food of five yum cha dishes, and two mains. I’m not including the drinks, because it was The Wife’s birthday and she never saw the wine list and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and as there was only one wine on the menu that suited what she likes…
Overall
It started so well and if you take the service and atmosphere issues away, the food was very good, especially the calamari, duck, wontons and wings, there is no question that Nic can cook. But you can’t ignore the service and atmosphere issues therefore… Overall I would give Cāntīng by Nic Watt a hesitant 6/10 but expect that to improve as they iron out their service challenges.
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