Frankie's Wurstbude, Auckland Central

Have you ever picked up a plate of food, momentarily felt your arm drop slightly with the unexpected weight, and thought for a second "I'm going to be about this much heavier in about 10 minutes". Amazing, slightly worrying at the same time.

I love big food. There's a part of me that really warms to honest, hearty, unapologetic dishes, and the sausage features in many such plates. With mash, in a bun, in batter, in a stew... all good rib-sticking, stout fare. Attacking a serious sausage dish for a working lunch is not for the fainthearted.

And so it was with some trepidation that the salesman and I headed to Frankie's around 1pm. We had no idea what we were in for, and so I foolishly ordered a chilli dog with a Bavarian bratwurst. He, something equally sausagy with mash etc. When the server passed it to me over the counter, all attempts at masculine nonchalance failed me and I think the words 'Good... God...' may have passed my trembling lips. I was about to gain a good few kilos.

This thing was a clear foot long, with a definite... girth. Loaded with a portion of chilli that wouldn't look out of place served on its own. Topped with a generous handful of cheese, if those hands belonged to the BFG. Served atop a hotdog bun which had been literally flattened by the burden. I took a deep breath, rearranged a few internal organs to make space, and got involved.

'Good' doesn't somehow do this brat justice. Anything more expressive would seem somehow... wrong - you know what I mean. I'll settle for 'damn good', and that it was - juicy, densely meaty and remarkably subtly flavoured, covered in a great, rich chilli with a generous capsaicin whack, and cheese. Just cheese. Lots of it. I loved every single mouthful and yes, I managed the lot.

Get hungry, go there, order big and eat it all. If you love food, you'll love Frankie's.

Frankie's Wurstbude

Elliott Stables

Shop 4, 41 Elliott St

Auckland Central

+64 (0) 9 365 2700

Dida's Wine & Tapas Lounge, Ponsonby

Weekend lunches are one of the best things ever. I have been known to make them last all day, starting shortly after a summary piece of toast and coffee, and finishing with a G&T to mark the passing of lunch into dinner. I like long weekend lunches so much, I almost dislike weekday work lunches because they always fall so far short by comparison.

Dida's is a good place for lunch on the weekend. It's on my way to work, and spitefully reminds me as I pass it twice a day that lunch today will be a disappointment. So tempted, I vowed to turn as much of Sunday as possible over to Dida's. Not without a hint of trepidation, though, as I've long been a fan of Spanish cooking, and have visited Dida's excellent delicatessen a few times in the past, so expectations were high.

And they were met. Laid-back, friendly service delivered an array of superb dishes, and the afternoon slipped by with quiet chatter and bold, complex flavours. Stuffed artichokes were tender, rich mouthfuls; pork meatballs were moist and paprika-scented; accompanying Manchego and charcuterie were both excellent... I could go on, but you get the picture. The only mildly disappointing piece was the Chorizo al Vino, which in itself was a well-executed dish, but based on a good spicy pork sausage, sadly not chorizo. I'm coming to expect this, though, and regular readers will know this is a bit of a hobby horse of mine.

Tapas for me is about relaxation, grazing, and complex, comforting flavours. It's easy to get wrong by being over-fussy or generally crap at cooking, and I've been subjected to both many times both in the UK and abroad. Dida's gets it right, by focusing on great basic ingredients, taking time and care with their preparation, and serving them without ceremony in a pleasant, convivial place on Jervois Road. The only shame is that I'm not still there now, working my way through the back half of the menu.


54, Jervois Road,
Ponsonby
Auckland 1011

+64 (0) 9376 2813

Orbit, Auckland Central

Say what you like about Auckland's Sky Tower, but I'm a bit of a fan of it. It's hard to imagine what Auckland would be like without it - the standard of architecture here is generally pretty poor so something to give the city a bit of identity is much needed. Not that it's particularly attractive, but you have to admit it's an impressive structure, even more so considering Auckland's tendency to earthquakes and the like. The view from 186 metres up (the height of the observation deck), as you'd expect, is terrific.

I do start to get a bit twitchy though, when I'm approaching a restaurant at which the food is not the star attraction. It's a fairly obvious deduction to make that if you own a restaurant perched atop something like the Sky Tower, there's little incentive to focus on the quality of the food, when you know full well that a) no one's paying that much attention to it, and b) people will come for the view regardless of the quality of the food.

Selfless chap that I am, and fortified with little more than a brace of vodkas and a fairly enthusiastic G&T, I accompanied the future in-laws up the tower for a birthday meal (not mine). Perhaps it was my lowered expectations, but I was really quite impressed.

The food, then. A prix fixe including a slightly over-fussy but perfectly good smoked duck and mushroom tart, followed by roast lamb loin with a 'tomato, rosemary and kalamata olive compote' and a 'grilled spring onion', completed by a chocolate parfait, for $65 with a couple of glasses of wine thrown in. Whilst it was far from phenomenal (a well-executed but cacophonous starter, lacklustre (but perfectly cooked) lamb and frankly bizarre pairing of otherwise excellent flavours in the dessert), from a value perspective you couldn't beat it.

Service was that of a slightly more expensive restaurant - all the staff seemed properly trained, helpful and knowledgeable, and didn't seem to mind helping people find their seats again after a bathroom visit - the whole restaurant revolves about one and hour, which can get disorientating after a couple of revolutions. The wine list wasn't exceptional, but did the job very well indeed, and without the usual wallet-rape that's become all-too-frequent in this town.

So on the whole, pleasantly surprised. I was expecting awful, and instead got above-average, and crucially served at a below-average price. On the whole, if you're entertaining people from out of town who understand that sometimes the food can play second fiddle to stunning views of Auckland, Orbit could be a good bet.



Orbit
SkyCity Auckland
Corner Victoria and Federal Streets
Auckland
+64 (0) 9 363 6000