Fort Greene (and why I'm banned from France)
So Auckland has a few nice sourdough places, most notably Wild Wheat which is a favourite (and they get used in all the fancy wanky restaurants as starters). I'm going to shine a light on an alternative today which is Fort Greene
I love the workers behind the counter. Half the time they were making mario noises at each other while baking and cooking. They were also calling each other 'mid' a lot, which I think they're trying to do ironically, but it's seeping into their diction because you can only wear the mask so long before it becomes your face.
Anyway the server at the counter was LOVELY and was schooling the baker on slang.
On the cafe itself:
They use People's Coffee from Wellington and I've always been a big fan. Like kokako, they pride themselves on being fair trade and organic, but at least they're not selling themselves just on that fact. Their standard Don Wilfredo blend is a lot more full-bodied than kokako's and doesn't have any bad notes. I do think the Wellington store pulls their shots a lot better though. The grilled cheese was good with all four cheeses working well together; one in particular has a very sharp and tart flavour that complemented the sourdough. It was well-prepared, properly buttered, and the pickles were good palate cleansers, but it's really expensive. This isn't surprising, since Fort Greene is on K-road, but...yeah.
Now for their croissants! It's VERY crispy. In fact, it's so crispy that it loses a lot of its flavour on the outside. Everything has this slight, blistered look on the crust, and even the flavours reminds you a bit of brown butter. Their pastries are (I think) baked at a higher temp (I noted that they didn't swap any of their trays to the top to 'grill' the surface), but it's still very soft and pillowy on the inside. There's good STRENGTH. It's a little like pizza dough on the inside; stretchy, soft, and incredibly unique.
This is now my partner's favourite croissant! (in NZ, Melbourne still wins in this category) For me, the outside is a little bit too burnt because while I understand the intentional constrast in texture, the high heat does take away a lot of the exterior flavour, and the outside is what you taste first.
This is their New York Rye Sourdough:
Oh boy, that rye flavour shines the moment you bite into it. It comes out and stays at the forefront and the carraway spice added to it gives you little hints of anise and clove. And it really is that carraway that punches above its weight; not too strong, but it's there, and it's good if you like it.
Would recommend, but personally my heart goes to their Pain de Campagne:
This one is just so, so nice. It's got a tougher crust than the New York Rye, but this might just be one of my favourite sourdoughs ever. I didn't even consider adding butter or anything else to it. Like the New York Rye, it's very springy and bouncy (and it reminds me a lot of super high hydration pizza dough). Honestly, everything at Fort Greene makes me think of bouncy pizza dough lol.
So anyway, I shared this with my very FRENCH friend and told her, "I got the Pain de Campagne because I've been feeling pain for my campagne--" (get it?)
And she looked at me like this:
"You're banned."
"What!"
"From going to my country. And don't speak my language again."
Pity, because I always wanted to see the Louvre.