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feature image of Mercury Plaza outside

KaiJuly 7, 2019

A last meal at Mercury Plaza

feature image of Mercury Plaza outside

It’s finally true: Mercury Plaza is closing its doors. Josie Adams and Tina Tiller went for a last meal at the iconic Karangahape Road food court.

Mercury Plaza is known for beloved restaurants like Chinese Cuisine, Maruten Ramen, and E-Sarn WOK. Delicious though they all are, it has offered far more to the masses in its 25-year history. It’s home to the only arcade in Auckland that sits in direct sunlight, a bottomless supermarket, and a mysterious hairdresser. A large, rusty spire with art-deco inspired semi-circles juts out of its roof, a la Pizza Planet from Toy Story.

Streetfighter and sunlight. Photo: Tina Tiller

The plaza is closing down later this year to make way for the long-promised Karangahape Road train station. This is hugely exciting, because it means the City Rail Link project is finally moving off Albert Street and eventually into the real world. The news is bittersweet: everyone wants to catch the train from here, but no-one wants to see Mercury Plaza go.

Chinese Cuisine was the first business in the plaza, setting up shop in 1994 and continuing to serve the best wonton soup in town today. Since word of its closing got out, business has only picked up. The public has been flocking from as far abroad as Mission Bay to experience the taste of Mercury before its doors shut.

Even before this, Chinese Cuisine had fans. The All Blacks ate there before every world cup match in Auckland. There aren’t any well-known sports patriots here today, but I can see two tables groaning under the weight of chicken, pork, rice, and the elbows of high school rugby players. 

The Spinoff designer Tina Tiller and I are ready for the gains, too. Going for lunch was a good call, because Chinese Cuisine is often sold out by 4pm each day. Although the foodcourt is open until 9pm, this particular restaurant normally packs up early due to having exhausted supplies. Give them a call if you’re planning on going after lunchtime to get a heads-up on what’s available.

Katie Chan is the beaming face of Chinese Cuisine. Photo: Tina Tiller

Barbecue pork is one of the go-to dishes here, so we put in an order. A favourite of our boys in black and a favourite of mine, this is perfectly cooked pork resting on some perfectly cooked rice. Steamed greens lie next to the dense pile, making for a well-rounded meal. If I had one criticism, it would be not enough BBQ; I want that sauce.

Next door is Sushi Bar Salmon, so Tina and I order some salmon sushi. Neither of us particularly like fish, but Tina has wise words: “when in a foodcourt, do like the names of the restaurants tell you.”

I’m no connoisseur, but that salmon was fresh out the river. The rolls came in generous portions, too. Eight pieces of lush sushi, all in the perfect size: small enough to cram the whole thing into your mouth, but big enough that you think twice about it. We knocked them down our plebeian gullets with the gusto of people who actually like salmon.

We were on a seafood roll; our next order was calamari from E-Sarn Wok. Apparently, it’s one of their best-sellers. It’s hard for anything to sell poorly at this place, because the service is so good. We placed our order and wandered upstairs for a two-minute restaurant recon, planning to be back down in a few to pick up our meal. No need. Less than five minutes after ordering a hidden door popped open from the upstairs wall and burst forth with crispy squid.

We sat down to enjoy the fat chunks, which were generously battered. They had the perfect crunch-substance ratio, and made me regret my 95% vegan diet more than any bacon ever had. Tina was clutching her stomach, which was almost at capacity. “I can do it,” she groaned. “I can do one more meal.” “For journalism,” I reminded her, “for Mercury Plaza.”

The best calamari near Karangahape Road. Photo: Tina Tiller

We settled on a final digestif: a hearty tonkotsu ramen from Maruten Ramen. This is one of the most popular dishes at the foodcourt. It came with a cheeky miso soup, which I gulped down straight away. I am so sorry, Tina. My thirst for miso is too strong. The tonkotso soup itself was laden with thin, round slices of seared beef and thick noodles, both of which were soaking up the buttery, marrow-derived broth.

I pull up Louie Knuxx’s 2016 song ‘Mercury Plaza’ on my phone. It was an in memoriam piece, which shows how long rumours of the plaza’s demise have circled. Now, they come into the light. We listen to sad rap over the last of the tonkotsu, our salty tears adding to the umami flavours. 

Our Mercury Plaza banquet. Photos: Tina Tiller

For 50c, we grab a takeaway box from Katie Chan. In goes everything left – the BBQ pork-tinged rice, a single slice of fluffy sushi, and a few calamari. Everything else is demolished. 

Soon, this place will be demolished, too. Being able to catch a train from Karangahape Road will transform the city, but God, at what cost? The end of Chinese Cuisine’s BBQ wonton soup? “I hope this place never closes,” said a blissfully ignorant customer over her heaving tray. 

Katie Chan, the exuberant face of Chinese Cuisine, isn’t fazed. She shook her head when we asked if she was worried about the future, and shrugged: “We’ll always be busy.”

One milk to rule them all.
One milk to rule them all.

KaiJuly 5, 2019

Ranking dairy-free chocolate milks from dirtiest to creamiest

One milk to rule them all.
One milk to rule them all.

After a few months of tasting and testing, Alice Webb-Liddall ranks dairy free chocolate milks, because we all deserve a good drop of cool cocoa without the animal element.

My mother always insisted on buying me a chocolate milk after every game of high school netball. “It’s scientifically proven to refuel your muscles better than Powerade or water or anything else,” she told me every Saturday morning for years.

It might be the reason why I’m still a sucker for a choccie milk, especially on Saturday mornings (though usually now as a hangover cure rather than a sports day treat). But when you grow old like me, at the frail age of 21, you begin to realise that your stomach might not like the cow juice as much as you thought, and your Saturday morning hit of cocoa becomes more and more painful.

So the journey of exploring New Zealand’s growing collection of dairy-free chocolate milk available in dairys, supermarkets, petrol stations and speciality stores began. After a few years of searching, I feel educated enough to now share my thoughts with the people, so here is my ranking of dairy-free chocolate milks*, from worst to best.

Not all are pictured here because I couldn’t find them all when I was taking this photo, okay?

7. Covet Macadamia Milk Chocolate Milk

Price: $6 for 1 litre

‘Oooh, macadamia milk!’ I hear you say. Be careful where you aim your excitement though because while this looks like a nice dark chocolate brew, it tastes like sweet dirt. It’s no peasant’s nut, the macadamia, and it was a first for me trying its milk. But after this one, I don’t think I will again. A disgrace really.

6. Vamino Chocolate Soy Milk

Price: $1.29 for 300ml

It’s concerning how much this one separates in the bottle, and more concerning that it doesn’t mix no matter how hard you shake it. Luckily the weird brown blobs don’t affect the mouthfeel, which is pretty creamy. More of a malt-chocolate taste, like a soy milo drink, than a chocolate milk, and probably fine warmed up. But I didn’t try that so if it’s not good warmed up, fight me. It’s also the only chocolate milk I’ve ever had that you need a bottle opener for, which is quite annoying and meant I had to make an additional trip to the kitchen.

5. So Good Dark Chocolate Almond Milk

Price: $4 for 375ml

So Good’s Vanilla Bliss is my ultimate holiday treat, and I was looking forward to their quite recently released chocolate flavours. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan. It’s sweet enough and has a fine consistency (a little on the watery side) but that’s to be expected from almond milk. My main qualm is that they’re not chocolatey enough at all. Gimme a good hit of cacao or I don’t wanna hear about it.

In case you are a method snob, I used fresh cups for each sample.

4. Vitasoy Soy Milky Chocolate Milk

Price: $3.79 for 1 litre

Look, it’s a bloody bargain so I feel like I can’t complain too much about this one. It’s a lil bit creamy, a lil bit chocolatey, and a lil bit up my alley. Not offensive, not expensive, not amazing. But ultimately, I’ll buy this again because my chocolate milk budget is small.

3. Little Island Coconut Chocolate Milk

Price: $8 for 1 litre

This was the only response I got when I asked on Instagram what the best no-dairy choccie milk was, and frankly, I’m sick of it. I tried it for the first time and despite trying to hate it, I thought it was really yum. It’s pricey AF but if you can afford it, I think it’s earnt the praise it’s been getting.

The issue with coconut milk is that it likes to announce itself, and I found with Little Island the first taste was coconut with the chocolate as more of a follow-up act. It also leaves a slight oily film in the mouth. So if you’re not into coconut, this ain’t the one for you. But it truly is a creamy morsel and deserving of a podium finish.

2. Vitasoy Almond Chocolate Milk

Price: $3.30 for 330ml

I didn’t think an almond milk would rate this highly until I tried this one. Somehow the usual watery consistency of almond juice has been replaced with a creaminess I didn’t think could happen. It’s not as creamy as Little Island, and technically pricier per litre, but it was perfectly chocolate and perfectly sweet and I want another bottle.

1. Vitasoy Soya Milk Drink – Chocolate

Price: $9.00 for a six-pack

A workmate brought these in the other day from their trip to Mercury Plaza in Auckland, and it was everything I have ever needed from a chocolate milk. It’s a post-netball Primo level sip: creamy, rich, no weird soy aftertaste. They’re the most expensive on the list because I think you can only buy these babies in a six-pack in New Zealand, but it’s the best dairy-free chocolate milk I’ve tasted. They’re also not easy to find, so Google some local Chinese supermarkets if you want to wrap your mouths around one.

* There are definitely more dairy-free chocolate milks out there, but this was what I could find.