Simple, fresh, delicious – and coming at ya fast. That’s the deal at Depot, Al Brown’s new restaurant in Federal Street, Auckland, which opened its doors last month as part of SkyCity’s new dining precinct.
Eighteen months ago, Brown was invited to join fellow hospitality luminary Luke Dallow and Sydney’s award-winning celebrity chef Sean Connolly in the same development (Red Hummingbird and The Grill respectively), but opening a restaurant in Auckland wasn’t part of his plan then.
He’s been pretty busy in Wellington, working on his latest television series Get Fresh with Al Brown and completing his latest cookbook, Stoked. But following a chat with Peter Gordon – long-time consultant chef at SkyCity’s Dine and Bellota – Brown signed on with the Federal St project six months ago.
Depot’s head chef is Kyle Street, who started out at Logan Brown in 1997 and the manager is Joe Williams from Boulcott Street Bistro. Depot features a raw bar – that’s live shellfish on ice and a dedicated shucker at the ready. The place celebrates secondary cuts too – skirt steak, lamb sweetbreads and brisket of beef and most of the produce is cooked over hardwood or charcoal.
Depot’s quick-paced food style is where Brown’s at for now.
“I’ve ticked fine dining,” he says.
Along with Steve Logan, he started Wellington’s celebrated fine-dining restaurant Logan Brown in 1996 and has been a silent partner since 2008.
“I’m a bit more casual now and when you enter Depot, we want you to leave your pretensions behind. We’re showing a window on how I entertain at home – and that’s with fine wine in tumblers.”
When Brown has Depot running the way he wants it, his role will be more the hunter-gatherer, sourcing produce from around the country and getting it to the customers. And that dovetails nicely with Get Fresh, which celebrates regional cuisine and is scheduled to screen on TVNZ in September.
Ten episodes were filmed in 10 regions, where Brown seeks out quality-driven local food producers and growers. On each programme, he cooks locally inspired dishes from a makeshift camp oven on the back of a Toyota Hilux – his mobile kitchen for the duration of the show.
Brown has spent pretty much the last four months in Auckland and he’s enjoying the vibe – especially discovering the ethnic side of the city and its pockets of authentic, culturally diverse cuisine. He has a couple of favourite places too – a little dumpling house in Dominion Road, Berilla Dumpling House and Ken Yakitori in Karangahape Rd.
While feasting on live shellfish at Depot’s raw bar is pretty authentic, Brown’s passionate about enjoying seafood is straight from the sea, preferably at the water’s edge. But for people who can’t get to the coast, relishing the taste of the briny in this lively inner city joint is pretty close to the real deal.