Mike Rooke
The carpetbag steak is turned inside-out, the venerable peanut slab is re-imagined as a dessert, and the classic smoked fish cake is thoughtfully modernised. The menu at fledgling Auckland restaurant Culprit takes familiar Kiwi flavours and deliciously transforms them through a combination of skill, quality seasonal ingredients and a good dose of wit.
Chefs Kyle Street and Jordan Macdonald opened Culprit late last year after a long tour of duty at restaurateur Al Brown’s award-winning Depot and Federal Delicatessen. Culprit’s open kitchen is the heart of their first-floor restaurant on Wyndham Street in the central city. It was a key part of the renovations they made to the space, along with a new bar, a decent splash of paint and some drapes to break up the area and create a sense of intimacy.
High-quality cooking and a unique delivery style have seen them flat out since opening last October. Some of Culprit’s menu arrives via a trolley service and Kyle says that while it’s probably easier to think of it as a European version of yum cha, he likes to think of it as free-form degustation.
Kyle says they don’t shy away from recreating classics on their menu but the key is to put your own spin and sensibilities into the dishes. Their chocolate mousse with peanut and buckwheat chocolate brittle is based around Kyle’s childhood love of the peanut slab.
“It’s multiple small plates that you can pick as you go – so you can taste everything from the season in one dining experience.” The trolley service is a concept Kyle and Jordan first saw in San Francisco restaurant State Bird Provisions, and Culprit are the first to roll it out here in New Zealand.
The mousse is made with Whittaker’s chocolate, and the concept is modernised with a peanut and buckwheat popcorn brittle. Things take a further nostalgia trip with the topping of soft-serve ice cream made from the temperamental machine Kyle and Jordan bought off Trade Me.
The Kiwi and Australian favourite of carpetbag steak becomes carpetbag oysters where freshly shucked Mahurangi oysters are fried in tempura batter and topped with horseradish cream and a locally cured beef bresaola from Otello’s.
Smoked fish cakes are another Kiwi favourite and Culprit’s take involves house-smoked kahawai cooked into a buttermilk pancake and served with sriracha mayonnaise, grated egg, capers and coriander. “It’s familiar but surprising and executed at a high level – it makes me happy and I hope it brings a smile to people’s faces,” says Kyle.
Words by : Nick Russell. Photography by : Mike Rooke.
Culprit
12 Wyndham St, Auckland Central
