Explore Auckland Restaurant, Ada

I want you to take a moment to think if you had friends visiting from overseas, what restaurant you would take them to that encapsulates Aotearoa’s cuisine and the food that you grew up with.

Head chef of Auckland’s Ada Restaurant, Kia Kanuta, saw this gap and naturally sought out to fill it. 

Cooking and creating has been Kia’s calling from a young age, washing dishes at 15 at the local RSA – but the passion came much earlier at home. 

“I spent countless hours with my mum, nan and Aunty Ju in the kitchen as a kid. I was always kind of obsessed with how food is our fuel, how it comes from light and water and how everything needs to eat to live.”

With a vision of connecting people to kai, all of the dishes at Ada have been created with an element where you share or are encouraged to use your hands.

“I want for my friends and whānau that grew up in a similar way to recognise dishes on a menu with passion, in the same way an Italian might recognise a gnocchi dish from their nona.”

Ika Mata, cured market fish, salted cucumber, coconut, chervil

With this in mind, each dish on the restaurant’s new menu has been inspired by Kia’s childhood, like the Boneless Whole Market Fish with Marmite Isigny. Understandably, this may sound a bit bizarre; but the unlikely flavour match mixed with Kia’s story transformed the dish into something special.

“The memories that stand out most aren’t always the nice ones – I distinctly remember an autumn morning, tip-toeing into a misty kitchen and being punched in the face by a cloud of steamed fish heads and boiled onions. My dad, proudly sitting at the head of the dinner table with a loaf of rēwana and a block of butter. I make my toast and sit down with him, I’m having marmite – my usual fave – and all I can smell as I eat my toast is fish heads.

“It’s funny what you miss after people pass away. This dish is me turning childhood hōhā into aroha. I can’t share the dinner table with my dad again, but I can turn a memory into something special for other people to share with their loved ones.”

Rēwana fried bread; braised bacon hock, watercress

Incorporating traditional Māori cooking methods was a priority for Kia, and he worked hard to introduce them in the kitchen, like a stove top hāngī. 

“This version or method came about in my whānau from living in the city, in places where we weren’t allowed to dig a pit or there just simply wasn’t a back yard to dig. We adapt. We did it in on top of the stove to start, then in the oven.”

Hangi potatoes, chèvre, truffle oil, porcini soil

And Kia’s adaption of methods has most definitely worked – each dish is packed with familiar flavours for you to enjoy in a more elevated setting. So, if you’re looking for your next dinner spot, perhaps consider a restaurant that sparks a connection to home. And make sure to say hello to Kia!

Visit www.adarestaurant.co.nz
Instagram: @ada_akl

The Covent Hotel, 454 Great North Road, Grey Lynn