I walk into Tempero and chef/owner Fabio Bernardini greets me enthusiastically.
He jumps over to his record player and gently lays a needle on the disc. Mexican laid back beats fill the room. “I bought this today,” Fabio says beaming.
Fabio then fires up the kitchen and I sit with Tiffany Low, his partner. Tiffany tells me how she met Fabio in 2020 following a travelling stint of her own working in fashion in Australia, Milan and New York.
The conversation flows and we open a 2022 De Martino Estate Carmenere. This is De Martino’s best Estate Carmerere to date. The family is one of the greatest Chilean biodynamic producers, their ethos and wines win a litany of accreditation and glowing peer reviews. The carmenere is not too dissimilar to a merlot/cabernet, possibly a bit juicier and a bit smokier, with some lovely chocolate and light spice notes.
I swill down the wine – it's too good. Fabio brings out his first dish, a yellow corn tamal with shitake mushrooms, salsa roja and fried egg. On the side are yellow, cheesy cornflour dough balls – pão de queijo. The dish is just yummy, balanced, pleasing and authentic. Fabio tells me that this tamal is a Mexican-inspired dish. In fact, Fabio draws his inspirations for Tempero from all across the Latin world, including Central and South America and even Spain, Italy and Portugal. He uses cassava, a staple ingredient from Brazil, potatoes just as in Peru and corn as in Mexico, for example.
At Tempero you feel that authenticity with some adaptation from Chef’s skilled hands (trained at the famed Pujol of Mexico and D.O.M of Brazil). And it feels like a family affair, warm, close and welcoming. This aspect of the restaurant was very much inspired by a similar feeling when Fabio and Tiffany visited the famous Shirley’s in Coco Cabana, a restaurant passed through the generations, sitting on the beautiful beach and exposing strong family ethos and values.
And with that, Fabio rushes back to the kitchen and brings out the national dish of Mexico, Mole Negro. It takes three days to make and has 40-50 ingredients: nuts, herbs, spices, seasonal vegetables. It's both spicy and sweet and sensational.
Another swig of the carmenere and we are all now well on our way! The talk is free flowing, smiles and laughter. It feels so good to be light hearted and carefree after constant talk of recessions and global turmoil; talking about cassavas lifts the mood. Fabio tells me that the word restaurant stems from the French word meaning ‘to restore’. The restaurant is a place where you come to restore, a place of vitality and life. You may walk into a restaurant a little tired and weary, you must walk out feeling that life is most definitely worth it. For sure, Tempero makes you feel like this. Thank you, Tempero. (PUNEET DHALL)
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