Is this the best fish burger in Auckland? – صحيفة الصوت

Fish burgers can be hit-and-miss.

Sometimes the fish comes battered with not enough sharp mayo or lemon to cut through the grease; grilled fish can end up a soggy mess in the bun. Sometimes the sauce drowns out the fish, other times the fish is too bland.

And when you go to a top seafood restaurant, a fish burger is not always the first choice when there are so many other fruits of the sea on offer.

But I’m here to change your mind.

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August kicks off Restaurant Month in Auckland – and it’s third time lucky for a full month of deals, given the last two have been thwarted by Covid lockdowns in the big city.

Every day of the month, the city’s best restaurants are serving up menus at three different price points – $25, $40 and $55 per person. Six hotels are also hosting events: SO/Auckland, The Hotel Britomart, QT, Pullman, Park Hyatt and Hilton.

Kingi restaurant at The Hotel Britomart is doing what it does best this month – showcasing its sustainably caught seafood. And when I turned up for a menu preview, I expected plenty of seafood options – but I didn’t expect to fall in love with a fish burger.

For $55, you get a two-course lunch or dinner at kingi, plus a glass of Greywacke sauvignon blanc.

The starter antipasti consisted of wood fired flatbread, hot smoked kahawai with a creamy rich macadamia butter, and wood roasted mushrooms. An excellent start – I love smoked fish.

For the main, there’s a choice of blue cod buttered curry with mussels and baby radish, wood roasted eggplant with apple mole and cauliflower, or the signature kingi burger – with the fish of the day, pickles, lettuce and a potato bun.

I wouldn’t usually order a burger at a nice restaurant, but our server did an incredible job of convincing us of it that I simply had to try it.

And so, along with a side of crispy potato rosti and some greens for good health measure, my fish burger arrived, with the catch of the day – which just so happened to be kingi, the restaurant’s namesake.

This was a burger that hit right marks and reeled in all the best flavours. A giant piece of buttercrunch lettuce, tangy pickles, delicious mayo, a bun that didn’t fall apart halfway through and a heavenly fillet of grilled kingi. The combination was a beautiful marriage of all things right in a burger; the fillet of seared fish was sumptuous.

By the end of the main course, there was little room for anything more, but I decided to indulge in one last extra – a mango granita as the perfect palate cleanser to round out the night.

Conveniently, I was also staying the night at The Hotel Britomart, so once dinner was done, bed was just a few minutes away.

Staying in a Laneway Room, named for the window views out to the Britomart laneways below, the cosy space with soft, ambient lighting was the perfect spot to wind down for a mid-week staycation.

Sustainability is a key aspect of the hotel, which when completed in 2020, became New Zealand’s first 5 Green Star hotel. That means not only was the construction of the building done with sustainability front of mind, but also the way the hotel continues to operate.

Take the bedding, for example. The duvet and pillows are made with ultra fine luxury microfiber made from recycled plastic bottles, and Sleepyhead has a recycling programme for mattresses that need to be replaced. Bedsheets are made from eco-friendly cotton. Toiletries are from sans [ceuticals], a brand which also has its own recycling scheme for the bottles. With timber furnishings and a clean design, the rooms feel like little fancy cabins that wouldn’t be out of place in a Nordic forest.

Local ceramic artists were used for the vases and soap dish in the room, Titirangi-based Rachel Carter and Albany-based Elena Renker.

The hotel is slick, modern with a contemporary rustic vibe and keeps details simple. In fact, the drawers of the writing desk and bathroom are so discreet I initially didn’t know if there was a hairdryer in the bathroom. The sink in the bathroom gently slopes to one side, meaning there’s no need for a giant plug hole in the basin, just a gentle angle to allow the water to flow through. The same goes for the shower.

The room also has a small couch near the window, an ideal reading spot for the selection of New Zealand books provided, which can be purchased and taken home.

It’s a soothing, calming space – a sublime spot to unwind after a delicious meal and glass or two of wine.

The writer was hosted by kingi restaurant and The Hotel Britomart.