Gourmet Pizza Kitchen (GPK), Ponsonby

Everyone has a personal bugbear of one kind or another. My other half, for example, becomes incandescent with rage when the venetian blinds are closed the wrong way up. For my part, I have many of these little foibles, and most of them about food. As a reader of this blog, you'll become intimately acquainted with them as time goes by. The one I'd like to focus on today is the shocking, widespread misuse in New Zealand of the word 'Gourmet'.

It's almost as if there's another meaning to it here. Collins Essential English dictionary defines 'gourmet' with the following meaning: "an expert on good food and drink". Here, however, it seems to mean "Beware: this restaurant/food brand is more expensive than it deserves to be, and justifies the expense through the expansive addition of ingredients not commonly found in this cuisine." Hence 'Gourmet' Pies being anything other than the basic fillings. 'Gourmet' pizza often featuring jams, fruit, sweet chilli sauce and so on. I've come to hate and distrust the word - rarely have I seen anything labelled as 'gourmet' at all likely to be ordered by anyone even remotely deserving of the description themselves.

Which is why I think that, despite being known more as 'GPK' recently, the Gourmet Pizza Kitchen needs to change its name.

I have to confess, given the existence of that hated word on on the signage outside, I sat down to eat here with all the enthusiasm of a turkey being led to the Christmas dinner table. One sweep of the menu, however, showed my prejudice to be unfounded in this case - a set of tremendous-sounding pizzas, with the sort of toppings that actually worked together! What a relief! No bizarre pairings of lime-marinated chicken with peaches here, oh no. Agonising though the decision was, I went for a Sicilian-sounding beast of a pizza, with salami, anchovies, capers and so on, and I was not disappointed.

The base, and the sauce were I think what made it. The former was crisp, light and supple, soaking up just enough of the richly herbed, long-reduced sauce, but without disintegrating. The toppings were sparingly used, their quality showing through in bold, assertive flavours without the need to be loaded on. I should apologise to my dining companions at this point: I was silent from the moment this arrived in front of me to the last mouthful. Can't talk: eating.

The only thing, in fact, that could distract me from the task in hand was a great glass of Gewurztraminer (from precisely where I forget, save that it was local-ish), crisp and floral to combat the afternoon heat, powerfully flavoured enough to accompany the pizza. What a lunch.

So there you have it - a terrific pizza, beating all others New Zealand has come up with so far hands down. But guys, that word just makes you sound like every other illiterate also-ran in the phone book.


Gourmet Pizza Kitchen (GPK)

262 Ponsonby Road
Ponsonby
Auckland
(09) 360 1113