Down the garden path
Hop to it and explore this den of unusual concoctions
One of the reasons Golden Dawn was so popular was that it never really tried.
Brilliant staff, interesting customers and just enough space — figuratively and literally — to make it your own.
The new Golden Dawn (and the real test for Hoppers will be how long it takes people to actually call it Hoppers) is trying much harder.
For starters, the bathrooms have been painted. But there is also a far more deliberate design aesthetic at play. Some people will love it - and some people will wonder if they’ve wandered into a Wellington craft beer bar, circa 2012.
If your tribe likes rabbits in military dress and cats with martini glasses, get thee to Hoppers. The decor comes from the school of old books and travel trunks, faux Grecian busts and forest green accents. The flowers are in silver teapots and the website includes a quote about curiosity from Walt Disney. Deer antler light shades? De rigueur.
Craft beers are a huge part of the Hoppers offering. The waitperson looked personally disappointed when we bypassed the 18 taps and went for flutes of Veuve du Vernay ($12).
One section of the menu is labelled “Encyclopedia Gintonica” but that felt like a lot of work and in about an hour we had to go back to the office and do, well, a lot of work. Perhaps just one more wine, then?
We were a birthday lunch of three. The woman of the hour was in sequins. Her guests were in, variously, stretch denim and a state of ketosis. I’ll never understand fad diets that promote the consumption of meat over Molenberg et al, but I’m pretty much always happy to eat pork ribs ($16) and so we did.
They were okay, but the $14 fried chicken —brined chunks of fowl in a light karaage-style batter — was way better. What did Auckland eat before fried chicken? For that matter, what did Auckland eat before soft-shell crab?
It’s there (of course) in a bao. But they’ve also got a tempura eggplant version and the taco filling choices include jackfruit. We skipped all of these (and the dumplings) because, you know, carbs are Satan, and headed for a slab of salmon. It was slathered in a soft red curry and coconut cream. Rich, melty, yum. I idly perused the beer menu and thought “mermaid’s mirth” sounded like a great colour for a summer nail polish. Lemon curd sour ale was tempting, but ultimately, two out of three of us would be taking our beer in a batter. Beer-battered fries ($9 with kewpie sesame mayo) were hot and crisp and as good an argument against dieting as any other fried potato I’ve eaten. So far, so garden bar. But then things got quite interesting. I’m very tired of places that slap a handful of lettuce and half an allegedly “heirloom” tomato on a plate and call it “salad”. Hoppers’ garden bowl ($25) was, by contrast, magnificent. It was a great big edible rainbow of joy. Raw cauli, shredded carrot and daikon, red cabbage, strawberries, half an avocado studded with black and white sesame seeds and more. I wonder how hard it might be to maintain standards after dark with a heaving bar, but my complex carbohydrate-loving self was hugely impressed. We were vitamined, but not altogether virtuous. Two out of three of us would go on to share dessert. The roti doughnut (as previously popularised at Madam Woo) is a ridiculously delicious way to eat hot pastry and icecream ($13). At Hoppers it melted into a sweet, caramelly mille feuille-ish mess. Delightfully peculiar.