‘Healthier’ h¯angi food done traditional way
In the not-too-distant future, a ha¯ ngi pit will be steaming seven days a week, twice daily, on Auckland’s main wharf.
Television chef Rewi Spraggon plans to build an above ground pit for his just opened cafe, The Ma¯ ori Kitchen.
The cafe is the first ha¯ ngi store in central Auckland, having opened yesterday.
Spraggon says he has plans to build many more. Each year, he says, he plans to open two stores.
His first sits on Queen’s Wharf, where cruise ships berth and commuters pass through each day to board ferrys across Auckland Harbour.
On its first day, the cafe proved popular with construction workers, as well as cruise ship tourists and office workers.
Like McDonald’s, the ha¯ ngi store serves relatively cheap meals to take away. But the man behind the shop says his meals are far, far healthier.
‘‘It’s all steamed, we use good cuts of meat and good produce,’’ he says. This way of cooking also went back generations.
‘‘My father taught me. It’s been handed down. I still have some of my grandfather’s rocks, which have been in the family for over 100 years and they’re still cooking today. Here, we’re still cooking with dirt and heating the rocks with manuka.
‘‘It’s still fire, it’s still dirt, it still tastes the same,’’ he says.