MASTER KONG
Cuisine: Pan-Asian "street food"
Address: 2/217 Maunganui Rd, Mount Maunganui
Phone: 07-572 0698
Drinks: Pan-Asian-inspired cocktails, wine, beer etc
Reservations: Probably for weekend yum cha lunch...
Pan-Asian "street food" is the flavour of the day. The trend became fashionable in Auckland and Wellington at least 5 years back so it's about time it reached Tauranga. Macau, still on The Strand, got on board immediately. Now, years later, everyone is following...
Even Frosty & Fox, only opened recently at the Mount, has already dropped most of their signature "hot dawgs" for Asian "street food". I put that in inverted commas because I've spent a lot of time on Asian streets and the way the term is used round here is pretty random. Adding the word "street" to your Asian food style is currently great for marketing - presumably it makes everything sound more "authentic" - though not necessarily for accuracy.
Now the Mount has swapped one Pan-Asian eatery for another. Bamboo has gone, Master Kong is here and looking to be bigger, bolder and better. Given how exciting Bamboo promised to be at the start, we'll wait and see how it works out but first signs are good: the new operators (the Wellington Hospitality Group who also own Latitude 37 at the Mount) have smartly tweaked the courtyard that joins Master Kong to the adjoining restaurant/bar Madam Sunset and have created a very cool under-cover space with huge potential. This could well be the Mount's hospo hot-spot for summer...
 |
| the courtyard as seen from outside Madam Sunset |
 |
| more of the same as that other one... |
Madam Sunset, next door, is Tiki bar-themed and you can order food and drinks from both places anywhere in the courtyard. We had a couple of Madam Sunset cocktails later and had a look at what looked like a relatively short but fascinating Polynesian-and-beyond menu (Spiced Roasted Duck Nachos anyone?). But we stuck to Master Kong food - there is much to try and despite wanting most of it there were only two of us so we settled on three small and one larger plate. And, before that, a couple of cocktails.
Tokyo Thyme - Roku gin, Mandarin Napoleon liqueur, watermelon, melon & thyme syrup $18.5
Crouching Tiger - Crouching Tiger - El Jimador tequila, yellow chartreuse, raspberry and mango puree, Vietnamese mint and lime juice $16.50
 |
| Tokyo Thyme |
- RARE BEEF TATAKI truffle ponzu, rice crisp, furikake (gf) $15
- POPCORN PRAWNS Taiwanese spices, yuzu mayonnaise, cured egg yolk (df) $16
- CHEESEBURGER SPRING ROLL parmesan cheese, burger sauce (df) $15
- FIRECRACKER CHICKEN sizzling lemongrass chicken in firecracker sauce, compressed pineapple with steamed rice (df) $30
This was a really interesting combo of things, very varied in style. There is a three chilli heat rating guide (light touch / punch to the guts / KO) of which the chicken was rated the full three. Others not at all.
The star for me was the Tataki. It was a noticeably more delicate dish as the picture shows but the flavours were sensational, the beef lovely, the truffle ponzu really redolent of truffle and the crackers a great accompaniment. 10/10.
On the other hand, the prawns and spring rolls were simply enjoyable deep fried snacks. Of course we had to try the combination of cheeseburger and spring roll. Some things you just gotta do. And they're exactly what your mind imagines - a meaty burger patty and cheese inside a crisp spring roll wrapper - junk food at its finest! And they did indeed come with "burger sauce" (and a chewy parmesan wafer). The popcorn prawns were crisp, not at all greasy, and slightly plain; a good snack while drinking.
And the chicken? Three chilli heat? They warned us and bloody hell it was hot. To my surprise it was more of a stew/stir-fry with green vegetables and mushrooms. I was expecting something crunchy. Behind the blinding heat there was a definite hint of Sichuan spicing but the chilli heat was different, a dry heat which suggested somewhere else - Indonesia maybe? The iron plate was also deceptive - it looked modest but was quite a large portion. Frankly it was too hot for me and I'm pretty good with this stuff; I'm glad I tried it but once was enough. Maybe if you were drinking a lot of beer? Perhaps it will become a challenge for those young and foolish enough to be so inclined...
After that we thought we should check out the cocktails at Madam Sunset since the bar already comes with good word of mouth.
- Lava Guava - Lusty Lovers Larios gin and St Germain imbibe overproof rum and sacrifice guavas and passionfruit to the volcano gods $16
- Banana Daiquiri - Hold on to your bananas! Havana rum, banana syrup and demerara throw some fresh limes and bananas around at a party. It's a slippery slope. $16
I can't speak for the Lava Guava since I didn't try it but after some initial issues with the crushed ice I believe it was good. The daiquiri was lovely, a beautiful balance of lime sour and banana sweet with a solid underpinning of rum. I liked it a lot.
 |
| click to enlarge... |
OK. There we go. I obviously need to try more of the food. I don't see the menu on-line yet so I've run it off below, plus the cocktails one too. Why not? I suspect these two joints are going to go off in a major way, with lots of good ideas: the shared yum cha approach at weekend lunches is one of the winners, while both restaurants also have dishes that are lit on fire (a burger and a dessert in case you were wondering!). I'm looking forward to my next visit already...
 |
| click to enlarge |
 |
| click to enlarge |
Just a reminder - the A Debt To Pleasure Facebook page is up and running, with lots more (shorter)
food things than here, and even a Song of the Day. Come Like and/or
Follow it - all sorts of groovy stuff is planned!
No comments:
Post a Comment