The Takeout

IN: I’m on a casual sort of quest in life for two things: to find the best bloody mary (so far, brunch category winner is Neo, in Queen’s Arcade) and the best combination roast wonton noodle soup (dine in or out category). They are only related in that I love both these things very much and, with my roast pork, wonton noodle soup I like rice noodles, rather than egg, so the meat does all the talking. It all began at Regal Restaurant in Wellington’s

Courtenay Place in the 90s and, when the bowl of steaming soup arrived, filled with meaty treats, and more salty-chilli condiments than you could throw a chopstick at, I was hooked. The bloody mary origin story is for another time.

OUT: Why would anyone order takeout soup in summer? I was tired of ham. And because summer, unlike my wonton soup, didn’t look like it would be arriving within 10-15 minutes.

THE TAKEOUT: Oh dear, the Uber driver has another address from a previous order, where we are not. So after a quick explanatory ramble, I apologise, ask if he can leg it to where we actually are. He arrives soon afterwards, brushes off my apologies, and presents in a paper bag two steaming hot bowls of soup and two separate bowls of noodles — egg noodles in one, rice in the other. This strikes me as a brilliant idea because it means you can add however many noodles you like, depending on your noodle-to-soup predilection. The dish did not suffer from the delay in the journey. In fact, the extra five minutes on the road may well have even improved the flavour. We added our own soy sauce and chilli from the cupboard as it came with no extras. The crispy roast pork and the juicy wontons were melty and good.