Los Banditos Has Stolen the Spotlight

I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but since turning to gorging ourselves on Mexican food either post town or not at all sober (thanks Zambrero), there has been a whirlwind of new Mexican places flood into Wellington. Obviously, these new places aren’t meant for town folk – although I’m sure one too many margaritas might get you there – but I can guarantee their food tastes just as good as it does when drunk and hungry. Recently, there’s a new kid on the block who is stepping up to the Mexicano challenge, and from my experience here, they’re doing a pretty flipping good job. Let’s talk about Los Banditos.

I knew about this place a little while before it was opened – as my stunning bartender friend Louis works there and absolutely KILLS the cocktail menu – but I could’t picture in my head what kind of establishment it would be like. From the outside, it follows in the footsteps of Lulu and Boom burger, with the bright neon signage, but on the inside is where Los Banditos really sets themselves apart – and I’m not just talking about the food! The interior is warm, cosy, bright, colourful and eye-catching all at once, and perfectly emulates the bold and eclectic South American towns and culture. As soon as we settled down into our comfy booth, we were instantly greeted by a cheerful waitress who was more than happy to let us know what’s poppin’ on the menu.

Knowing that our bartender friend was working, we had to test drive his Margarita skills, so I ordered their chai spiced margarita, and my partner ordered one of their frozen margaritas (which was only $12 – bargain!). Holy mamma has my friend got skill, because these bad boys tasted amazing and definitely did their job of getting me a little tipsy. We also got to try a few little tasters that aren’t yet on the menu, but once they are, I’ll let you guys know EXACTLY which drink they are so you can go and experience the flavours that we did! Enough about the drink, this is a food blog. So, let’s cut to the chase.

We were flipping hungry that night, so each ordered a veggie quesadilla and a big ol bowl of chips and salsa. I always get a little cautious when ordering chips and salsa because I never know how big the portion of chips are gonna be, and how authentic the salsa is gonna taste. Well, rest assured, Los Banditos have all bases covered and served us up a HUGE portion of multi-coloured corn chips and a fresh and tantalizing salsa to match. After only denting the pile of chips a little, our quesadillas were placed in front of us. You know when you actually drool a little at the sight of food? Yeah, I had to wipe my mouth. The aromas coming from both plates smelt so good that I almost forgot to take a photo and dug right in! After getting that Insta snap, I then proceeded to stuff my face. Their truffle and mushroom quesadilla sparked a fiesta of savoury, sweet, umami, and spicy flavours in my mouth, and not long after taking my first bite had I cleared the plate. Their broccolini quesadilla was also delicious and is the perfect plate of food for somebody who can’t get enough of their greens!

Okay, I’m going to stop rambling about the food and my mate Louis and give them my final CCL score. The ambiance was awesome, and really worked with the alty Welly vibe. The drinks were jaw-droppingly tasty, and nearly stole the spotlight from their food. But I have to give commendations to the chefs, who really went in on the flavours and made some westerner Mexican-favourite meals authentic and interesting. The only thing I could pull them up upon is the variety of Mexican meals they have, and maybe delving into some more traditional and unknown dishes could be cool – but it’s their very first menu, and I’m sure they’ve got some tasty trick up their sleeves for the future! A flipping awesome 8.8/10 for Los Banditos, but I know with time they’ll pump out some menu’s that’ll bump up that score.

Seoul Salon: Korean Food with a Whole Lotta’ Seoul!

Before coming to Wellington, I lived on a farm in Nelson – which meant I had absolutely NO experience with cuisines other than the good old French or British dishes my Mam and Dad cooked up. Now? Wellington has worked wonders on my food knowledge and palette. The sheer abundance of Asian restaurants in Wellington is insane, but they seem to be namely South East Asian and Japanese. That was up until the my new favourite South Korean inspired food fix popped up on Willis Street – Seoul Salon.

I remember walking up Willis street, and my eye being caught by a new and very humble looking little restaurant tucked in-between capital market and burger liquor. Me being the nosy parker I am, I had to have a look through their window and glaze over their menu, which is when I decided I simply MUST come here. My first attempt to come here was a failure, since I didn’t read GMB and rocked up to an empty and locked Seoul Salon (take note – they’re not open on Mondays), however my second attempt, on a freaking freezing rainy and windy Wellington night, was more than a success. Upon sprinting out of the rain and into the restaurant, we were warmly welcomed by their staff and shown to a cute little table for 2. We then had the always-horrendous task of choosing out meals, but once my eye read ‘Salmon Poke Bowl’, I knew the decision had been made. But we wanted to taste a little more of what Seoul Salon had to offer, so we ordered a tofu steamed bun to share as an appetite quencher and little taste tester to see what flavours we were in for.

When the steamed bun hit our table, my boyfriend and I exchanged a look of confusion. I mean, a bao bun is still a steamed bun (technically), but in our minds we were expecting a little round bun filled with tofu, rather than a tofu bao. That being said, the Bao still looked incredible: it was stuffed with battered tofu, fresh cabbage, slices of pickled ginger, and a thick teriyaki sauce. Now I’ve been bouncing around bao’s recently, and I can hand on heart say this is the best one yet. The thick slab of tofu art Mr Go’s was undeniably delicious, but the flavours that paired with the battered tofu at Seoul Salon? Faultless. The bun was also MASSIVE, and gladly fed the appetites of two people before the main meal.

Shortly after devouring the bao in probably a very unattractive way, our main meals were set in front of us. My partner ordered their Han-Sang, a dish of fried tofu and rice with 4 little side dishes, which were: kimchi, glass noodles, tempura battered kumura and a green salad. Though being simple, the flavours were excellent, and each side dish matched the rice and tofu immaculately. Their kimchi is also one of the best kimchi’s I’ve ever tried, and I could’ve eaten a whole bowlful of it! As I mentioned before, I went for their salmon poke bowl with sour and spicy sauce, which was a beautifully presented masterpiece – the pops of colour from all the different ingredients made it look almost too good to eat! Just in case you’d never tried a poke bowl before, they even gave you some instructions on how to mix everything together so that every bite was a mashup of all the fresh, spicy, sour and umami flavours. I absolutely demolished this bowl after taking my first bite – I just couldn’t stop myself. The mix of salmon, edamame beans, slaw, omelette, sesame seeds, seaweed, and cucumber, created a harmonious combination of textures and flavours that nobody could flaw.

Whenever I try out someplace new, that only has a handful of tagged insta images, I get kind nervous about what to expect and what I’m going to be tucking into. By going with my gut and not letting the lack of reviews sway my opinion, I may have just found one of Wellington’s new Korean best-kept secrets. The food was sensational and opened up my palette to old and new flavours that I’m definitely going to try and recreate. The price of the food was super reasonable, and that allowed us to order more food and try a whole abundance of Korean style dishes. The service was incredible, and you could just tell that the chefs and waitresses were happy to be hosting you, and they looked after us so well. By having a relaxed and effortless vibe, it’s created a dining atmosphere that anybody of any aged and any class can enjoy. A solid 9/10 for this Korean cafeteria, as it shows that you don’t have to have a chef’s hat or Michelin star to be a wonderful place to come and enjoy authentic and delicious food. Love your work Seoul Salon, and I’ll definitely be back for more!

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Jano Bistro – No Words

Damn guys – I don’t know if it’s just me, or has Wellington really stepped up their food game this year or what?? For years and years, I’ve been walking up and down Willis Street on the hike to Pipitea Campus or work, and every time I mustered up the energy to sit through a 2-hour lecture or a shift serving breakfast to groups of Contiki kids, I made sure I walked past the cute little villa next to The Bresolin. Back then, I never knew what Jano Bistro was, what it offered, and even if it served up food! But after last Saturday night, I now know it’s the home of inspiration culinary invention in the city of Wellington.

After finding out what Jano was actually all about, reading their insanely positive reviews, and peeking into their windows to see immaculate plates of food being served to flavour-seekers, I knew I had to come here. And you bet when my sister suggested we save up and finally take on Jano by force, I said yes before she could even finish asking the question. So last weekend, that’s what we did. And just like a new mum with baby pics, I’m showing photos of Jano’s meals to everybody who probably don’t care.

Okay, enough rambling about distant memories and pointless backstories – let’s talk about food. I’ll break it down for you course by course, just so you can get the real, in-depth lowdown of the dishes and their flavour profile. So, sit back with a cuppa and a snack, because I’m about to take you on a degustation journey.

Course 1: Amuse Bouche. Upon arriving and firmly letting the waiter know that we will DEFINITELY be ordering the wine matches with our 4-course degustation, we were surprised with a little pre-meal snack; a chickpea tostada with a courgette and tomato topping, and a kumura crisp topped with a parsnip cream and butternut squash ceviche. Although the size of a small biteful, these tasters packed a punch when it came to flavours. The tostada reminded me of a bite of ratatouille and brought a light and fresh flavour to my palette, whereas the Kumura crisp was heartier, richer, and induced memories of roasted winter vegetables. I would have never of thought that something so small could transport me to distant memories, but there you have it. Our degustation was off to a cracking start!

Course 2: ‘Hangi-style’ potato, oyster mushrooms, onions, sour dough bread. Whatever you picture when you read that dish summary, you’re wrong. When the plate was placed in front of us, I think every one of our expressions mirrored sheer surprise as we looked down onto this blob of potato cream topped with onion powder & sourdough croutons, that masked a collection of sautéed onions and mushrooms sitting in a pool of thick and velvety soup. I’ve never tried a Hangi potato in my life, but I’m gonna be bold and say no matter what type or how this potato was made, it’s the best flipping tattie I’ve ever had in my life. Ever. This potato paired with the sweet and umami onions and mushrooms, with a little crunch from the perfectly toasted croutons? Genius. It was French Onion Soup on steroids – no wait scratch that, it was French onion soup on ecstasy. Every bite was heaven, and I had to stop myself from licking the plate (I would’ve done if the waiter wasn’t watching, believe you me!).

Course 3: Sprouted buckwheat tart, butternut, celery, pumpkin seeds, truffle. After reading this courses summary, we all came to an agreement that we might be expecting a sort-of quiche-like affair, but with a little added Jano-pzazz. Instead we got served this incredible crunchy tuile ring, filled with layers of al dente sprouted buckwheat, a creamy butternut, celery, and salmon filling, with pops of truffle and nutty pumpkin seeds. I can only sum this meal up as the best fish pie I have ever damn tasted – and this girl LOVES a fish pie. The beautifully presented tart (that we were advised to smash with our spoon to eat – love the drama!) deceived us into thinking it was going to be mellow and light on the flavour, but in reality, is was punchy, rich, creamy, and above all, damn delectable.

Course 4: Celeriac, foraged herbs, ‘fishless’ soup. I had now clicked onto what Jano is best known for – deception. Basically, forget everything you know about what food looks or tastes like, because what they’re going to serve you will be the complete opposite of what you had imagined. Since the boyfriend and I are pescatarian, we opted for the fish course, whereas my sis is pretty much a carnivore, so of course she went for the beef cheek. I honestly never knew that celeriac could taste so incredible in so many different ways. We have ceviche, we had rotini, we had puree, we had soup, we had freeze dried, we had crisps. Every single variation of celeriac gave a different depth of flavour, and when paired with the meaty fish and pop of fresh pineapple –each mouthful was a culinary blessing.

Course 5: Chocolate, cinnamon, mandarin, meringue. You’d have thought we would be full by now, but no, there is ALWAYS room for dessert. At least in my tummy there is. Yet again, the meal description was super vague, and the suspense had us on the edge of our seat. But just like every other meal, we were hit with a wave of shock, curiosity, awe and excitement once we saw what were about to tuck into. Our plate was graced with a long rectangle of layered dark chocolate ganache and sablet biscuit, coated in a ruby chocolate glaze, with segments of mandarin, candied peel, chocolate twigs and scorched meringue shards, paired with a cinnamon crumb and cinnamon ice cream. Now it sounds like a lot, and I know people always bang on about how ‘Less is more” – but with this dish? More is more, trust me. Every single element of the dish complimented each other perfectly, and each brought either a sweet, salty, spicy, sour, and rich flavour to the dish which when tried together on one forkful, made for a flavour experience that was quite unreal.

Course 6: There’s a course 6?? We thought it was sadly over when our dessert plates were taken away, but little did we know that it wasn’t quite over yet. Suddenly, our wonderful sommelier sauntered up from the kitchen holding a plate of what I can only describe as the most beautiful and perfect macarons I’ve ever seen. Two little jade-green puffs of airy feijoa flavored macaron sandwiched together with a beautiful white chocolate ganache – nobody could resist a taste of these! The muted flavours were the perfect post-dessert petit fours, not too sickly sweet or tangy, and the perfect accompaniment to the last droplets of our dessert wine.

And that’s that! A pretty wild, magical and exciting culinary experience, huh? We came away with our tummies full, our words a little slurry, and our minds enlightened to what incredible food inventions our palettes were exposed to over 6 courses. The 4 Courses, plus wine matches, and some sneaky Amuse Bouches and Petit Fours, came to $125 pp. Now, that’s probably the most I’ve spent on a meal individually, but I hope after reading over each course, you can agree with me when I say it was worth it. I’ve already mentioned that the food was impeccable, but the service and location was just second to none. Our sommelier was also incredible, and he went over and beyond to cater to our non-alcoholic friend – offering some of their never-before-tried house-made lemonade (which was BEAUTIFUL), so that they could feel a little classy too. Our waitress did an excellent job of making sure we were all catered for, and even showed us how to properly eat the tart so we could add a little childlike excitement to our meal. Dining in Jano felt just like a dinner with friends and family, which is something most fine-dining restaurants can find hard to emulate. Don’t get me wrong, I love a super smart black-tie restaurant, but there’s something about Jano’s humble abode that lifts my heart. I don’t think you’ll be surprised when I give this place a 10/10 on the CCL scale. It honestly blew all of my expectations, and I can’t wait for anybody reading this review, to go and try it themselves.

Chapter 1: Lucas Putnam

If you hail from Wellington, you may have heard of our long-loved La Boca Loca or newly-built Boquita. Now, we go behind the doors to meet Lucas Putnam, the man behind the Mexican restaurant mavericks that have taken New Zealand’s capital by storm.

Lucas Putnam – Boquita/La Boca Loca

Let’s start off with a little about you – I see that you originally hail from New York and then to California – what was it like growing up in America?

• It was a combination of traditional and non-traditional – we moved around a lot. We moved to France when I was 3, but I was young so I didn’t get the full benefit. We then moved back to San Fran with my father, and then eventually settled in Napa Valley. I moved around schools a lot as a kid – but even with that, I had a great time. There was a very strong Mexican culture in Napa, as a lot of Mexicans came to work in the wineries – especially 2nd and 3rd generation families. Because of these families coming and bringing their culture to Napa, I was exposed to the Mexican cuisine.

As we know, America is riddled with Mexican chains & restaurants – when did you first encounter Mexican food?

• The place that really got me first – I think I talk about it in my cookbook – was this place called Taqueria Rosita, a little family style restaurant – which funnily enough was actually owned by one of my classmates in high school! It served really delicious traditional Mexican food that I was inspired by and that we’ve tried to recreate here at Boquita and La Boca Loca. Before that place – it was basically Taco Bell, which I regret to say. But because we could buy fresh corn tortilla’s in Napa that were basically made that day, my father made a lot of easy Mexican meals for us, so I guess that helped feed my love for Mexican. 

The Mexican food in Napa Valley sounds delish! But before all that, what was the go-to food for you and your family?

• Anything I could get my hands on! We weren’t very wealthy, and because my dad was raising us on our own (for the most part), it was quite hard. When I grew up there was a massive health movement, especially in San Fran (nowadays it’s L.A), which maybe had to do with the 70’s movement and the consciousness of the earth. Because of this we went from eating McDonald’s and ice cream to eating macrobiotic diets – which made me VERY hungry! After a while my dad realised he needed to actually feed a growing male teen, so then we treated ourself to fast food. I only really got conscious around health at university, after the first couple of years (after the fresher 15) – and then swiftly moved to preparing more Mexican dishes. 

Obviously you’ve now set up shop in windy Wellington, when did you move to New Zealand and why? 

• I came here to work in Film at Weta Digital for about 17+ years, though when you take into consideration all the hours it feels like about 20. Basically I saw a job, I applied for it, worked there for a bit and then realised there was no Mexican food. Me being selfish, I wanted Mexican food – so chose the obvious solution and set up a restaurant. It took a while to find this place, had a few false starts along the way but here we are! I now name it the most expensive taco I’ve ever had. 

I see that you’re a conscious consumer – that’s awesome! What does sustainable cooking mean to you? How do you perceive cooking sustainably? 

• Yes we are one of the early adopters of that connotation. The main components for that are trying to get ingredients that are organic, which can sometimes be a really touchy concept. We try our best to make sure we’re using really sustainably produced food and that kinda’ means no harming the environment. However, meat and dairy pretty much inherently do damage to the environment – so it’s a balance of give and take. So then it comes down to being sustainable in other ways – we recycle as much as possible, compost as much as possible, and minimise waste where we can. 

I saw on your website that they call you  Master of Tequila – how does one gain that kinda title?

• Totally self-appointed – just love tequila! I learned as much about it as possible when travelling, knowing the producers, and even going to Tequila the town. Tequila is similar to champagne, where it has two (or SHOULD) come from the regions its derived from. 

Getting onto the restaurant side of things – why did you open up Boquita? Why not another La Boca Loca? 

• I wanted to try something different, my partners at the time were really excited about opening a vegan place. I had tried one before back in California and it was pretty good, so I thought well, let’s try it! The space Boquita is in is conducive too that decision – we don’t need to prepare meat or dairy, therefore don’t need a back kitchen. We can store, prep, and cook everything in one small space. It’s a really communal space too between chef and customer which is what I love – you sit so close to the pass that you’re pretty much helping prepare the food!

For those whose mother-tongue isn’t Mexican – what does Boquita translate to in English?

• Boquita means ‘Little Mouth” – La Boca Loca means ‘crazy mouth’ – but the location is snug and its smaller scale so we went for ‘Little Mouth’. Anything with ‘ita’ on the end, means little in Spanish. 

Setting up a restaurant sounds pretty full-on! How would you describe your journey towards opening up Boquita compared to first establishing La Boca Loca?

• Relatively easy – we didn’t have to earthquake proof, retrofit, any of that. La Boca Loca was a very different story. We opened right around the 2 Christchurch earthquakes, so it was really touch and go. We basically had to strip everything back and rebuilt it so it would withstand the elements. Boquita had a kitchen at the back, the front we put a countertop and that was it, ready for service! 

What is the main inspiration for Boquita? How does that differ from La Boca Loca? 

• So, it’s interesting. My first chef and I worked together a lot on the menus for La Boca Loca – but the first recipe I worked on myself was Tempeh. I really really loved Tempeh, I thought it was an excellent source of protein and fantastic meat alternative – it’s very similar to tofu but a bit more flavour and texture when cooked right! I also love chilli’s, so developed a recipe around tempeh and chipotle and figured out that if you cook the tempeh firs (bake or fry) and add some veggies and chipotle – it takes on another dimension and becomes really really tasty. This was one of the first recipes at Boquita, and the menu just grew from that vegetarian starting point. For the first few nights we were mixing up the menu and trying different alternatives, but then things started to stick. For example, we started out putting the Potato Rosti on special, but as soon as we took it off special, everybody was asking where it was, so we added that permanently. Our 3 core ingredients; tofu, tempeh and mushroom, became the key all-year ingredients, and then we play around with other flavours and ingredients based on seasonality and what’s available. 

Boquita is definitely more central than La Boca Loca – what drove you to go into the city, and why is La Boca Loca so far out?

• I opened La Boca Loca because I was working at Weta at the time and I established this place purely just for easy come-and-go access to and from work, pretty selfish of me, right? This space here (Boquita) became available, which funnily enough is right next to where our wholesale kitchen was, so when this front area became available we realised that our idea of starting up a vegetarian Mexican restaurant could actually happen – so we did it! So far so good! 

My absolute favourite taco at Boquita was the OG tempeh (drools) – but what’s your favourite dish on the menu at Boquita? 

• It really varies – sometimes I’m feeling the falafel, other times I’m feeling the mushrooms, or sometimes I’ll just want a mash-up where I’ll put everything in a bowl and just have that! Although actually when the cauliflower is super fresh for the cauliflower ceviche, its beautiful, I just love it. It’s so good, really light and fresh and delicious. It’s a really clean meal. 

So we’ve talked a little about your childhood and past, but I want to know what really pushed you to taking Mexican cooking on full-time?

• After my first taste of Mexican, it took me years to come back to the idea. I’ve worked in restaurants now, but when I was young I started off as a builder and then diverged into film for almost 20 years, but I still dabbled with Mexican cuisine along the way. Every Sunday night after a long week we could always come back to creating Mexican meals. It was hard to get a hold of the ingredients here, so we had two make do with what was available or import the chillies, masa and tequila, but it worked.

Do you find you stick to Mexican cuisine, or do you dabble with other cuisines (North or South American)? 

• Typically Mexican, yeah. Boquita has a lot more influences because we’re stepping outside of the typical Mexican parameters. The basis is the same, with the fresh corn tortillas that we make all day long, but through using the vegetarian alternatives in place of meat, there definitely is a lot of influence from other countries and places where these plant-based proteins originated. 

If you had to choose one Mexican dish to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be? (I’m just genuinely curious)

• The questions are so hard! Well right now its brunch time, so let’s base its off that as Mexican brunches are pretty fabulous. I love breakfast burritos or breakfast tacos; beans eggs, salsa, cheese and sauce – it’s perfect. So yeah, that could be it. Either scrambled eggs or scrambled tofu, which ever I feel like or have on hand! 

You cook with Mexican flavours, so I assume you love a kick of spice! What’s your favourite hot sauce?

• It’s all hard stuff! Domestically, I really love Kaitaia Fire – really good spice that one. From the US and Mexico, I love Cholula which is really yummy, Also Yucateco is really nice. There’s this one sauce which isn’t in production anymore from the Dominican Republic, called the West Indies, freaking fantastic – but you can’t get it anymore and its such a shame. You can find ones similar in Louisiana, but the one from the Dominican was just a level above. 

Your cookbook is jam packed full of delicious Mexicana dishes – did any dishes not make the final cut, or were they all too delectable to ditch?

• Oh, heaps heaps heaps. The cookbook is a lot of the original menu that my original chefs and I came up with together, but over the years we’ve created a lot. I wouldn’t say there are any unique recipes, I mean Boquita has some unique ones what with the veganization, but for the most part we are just recreating traditional Mexican recipes that we love with what’s available. 

Is there a second cookbook in the works? 

• Oh yeah, there’s always one in my head. The creation process can be pretty long. If I had more time than maybe it would be a little faster, but with 2 restaurants and I’m the only manager, it’s definitely something to put on the back-burner for now!

And finally – Whats going on in your life? Is there anything coming up for the two restaurants?

• Hopefully! I don’t know if you’ve read anything about the restaurant/hospitality scene in wellington, but its extremely difficult to open a cafe or restaurant and keep them running. There are so many places going under, so my focus is making sure that we survive by putting our unique food, that people love, and at a reasonable price. Boquita and La Boca Loca are unique and they’re set apart, but they’re also very specialised. Some people only feel like Mexican once a week, whereas we feel like it every day (like me), so that’s what we serve! You also see a lot of restaurants offering Mexican themed meals now, so if threes a group of people all wanting different foods they can go to a more generalist place and get the cuisine they want rather than coming here or Boquita where its solely Mexican. But word of mouth really helps, and we definitely hear people loving our food. 

If you’re reading this and love a little Mexican in your life (I’m talking about the food here), then head on down to Boquita or La Boca Loca, where you’ll find Lucas and his team of chefs cooking up some of the most authentic and amazing Mexican dishes you’ll ever experience – you heard it here first!