A tour through SE Asian eats, in NZ
I took a culinary tour through Southeast Asia, in New Zealand! I was able to have the cuisine of every SE Asian country I've been to (except for Singapore, but I'm sure that's here too, somewhere). In Auckland, I had Vietnamese and Malaysian. I also had food at a Laos stall on Ponsonby in the city, though it was this sweetish coconut-based curry, the likes of which I never came across in Laos.
In Queenstown I had Thai, once at a restaurant run by Koreans (it was okay), and another time at a place run by Thai people complete with Thai pop music in the background (it was okay too).
In Christchurch I had some pretty interesting experiences. There are a ton of Cambodian restaurants (it seems) in this small town. I tried "Khmer Satay Noodle House" on Colombo St south of Cathedral Square, and ordered the Combo #1. This included noodle soup with chicken, and grilled chicken (or beef) in satay sauce, in a hamburger bun! I can attest to the authenticity of the soup, because it was really sweet. Which meant I didn't like it that much. The satay burger was pretty tasty though!
The stand out meal though was at The Bodhi Tree also on Colombo St, but north of Cathedral Square. This might be the best meal I had in New Zealand! Keep in mind, you do have to have a reservation. I made a reservation three days in advance, and then showed up a bit early since I got into town earlier than I thought. I was thinking, it's a Wednesday night, how busy can it be? Totally booked all night, so I had to come back at my original time!
Maybe my enjoyment of this meal was heightened by actually having fresh vegetables and fruit after days of eating burgers. I ordered mohinga (a sour fish soup which I'd had for breakfast a lot in Myanmar). It was pretty good, nothing spectacular in itself but I had really craved this especially after a doomed effort making it myself. I also had Nga Hin, fish in tamarind and coriander curry - very clear flavors, well balanced. Beidi Thoke, green beans - a bit muted, but the fried shallot on top enlivened it. I ended with tamarind sorbet with fresh fruit. I had always had an aversion to tamarind because I always thought it was overly sweet, but after having the Nga Hin and the tamarind sorbet, I'm reconsidering my relationship with the fruit!
I'd read some reviews online which said The Bodhi Tree is the best restaurant in Christchurch. I was skeptical before, but now I can believe it. The food might even be better than a lot of what I had in Myanmar, since the dishes are freshly prepared and use very little oil. In Myanmar, a lot of dishes can be quite oily, and are made in advance and wait inside large steel pans all day waiting for customers.
