Slow so succulent
Five generations of one family from the Iberian peninsula (Italy) have brought the ham to this point. I am impressed.
It is tucked into a chiller at Petrini, but ask for it and out it comes to go under the knife, providing a rare %26ndash; and, it has to be said, expensive %26ndash; treat.
Petrini is the latest shopping destination for Christchurch foodies. Its location among the concrete huddle of Humphreys Drive does not mean a view of the Estuary. The building is behind Penny Cycles, which puts it nicely out of reach of the prevailing easterly breezes.
You could look up and admire the hills, but views are not the point. Petrini, named after Italy%26#39;s Carlo Petrini, founder of the international Slow Food Movement, is about food and wine.
It might be the new place on the block, but the faces are familiar. Part-owners Scholz and Yommi Pawelka are also hosts at Saggio di Vino in Victoria Street.
We last met manager Raould Ericson at Mediterranean Food Co and Cafe.
Martin Aspinwall, of Canterbury Cheesemongers, is the cheese consultant.
Head chef Reon Hopson once worked at Saggio, but has since travelled and worked in several grand kitchens, including Level 41 in Sydney.
There are many parts to Petrini. There is the delicatessen which, as expected, stocks a variety of canned and bottled foodstuffs, but it%26#39;s the ready-to-eat food that is setting palates fizzing.
From iberico and parma ham to cheese pastries and take-home dishes, it is a line- up of restaurant-standard convenience food. The selection changes daily, but it is likely to include mushroom tortellini, chargrilled vegetable salads, citrus-cured salmon and rustic terrines.
The bakery and cheese room are behind walls of glass, and customers are welcome to open and enter.
%26quot;Good cheese and fresh bread are key items in European delicatessens,%26quot; says Scholz. %26quot;That%26#39;s what we want too.%26quot;
Planning Petrini took 18 months, with six months of that devoted to sourcing the best produce. Everything was tasted, discussed, accepted or rejected by a committee of five. This may have been time consuming and occasionally fractious, but the result is astonishing.
Scholz has qualifications in hotel management and as a chef, and there is no doubt she is a successful restaurateur, but with this new venture, she is realising a childhood dream. Her parents had a delicatessen in Bonn, and when her father died suddenly, her mother carried on the business with the help of the young Lisa.
%26quot;I loved it. I helped with everything, but my favourite job was after school, delivering the orders. The bike had a big basket, and the name `Scholz%26#39; was in big letters. My mother used to say: `Our customers know who you are, so do
a good job%26#39;. It is the same today.%26quot;
Petrini%26#39;s wine list is Pawelka%26#39;s territory, and as at Saggio di Vino, an enomatic wine-dispensing system ensures that a wide selection of wines is always open for tasting or ordering by the glass.
But it is the kitchen that is the powerhouse. Under Hopson and his staff of five, food flows to the restaurant and delicatessen from 10am. While the restaurant specialises in lunch dishes designed to be shared, come evening, the menu complements the wine bar%26#39;s tasting plates.
%26quot;The best way is for a table to order four to six dishes to share,%26quot; Ericson says. %26quot;There%26#39;s also the Trust the Chef selection.%26quot;
Many of the dishes on the menu are from a classic repertoire %26ndash; beef bresaolo, confit rabbit, tortellini, salmon gravadlax %26ndash; reworked into clever miniatures but losing nothing in the translation. And someone in the sourcing department has thrown a wide net. Selections include soft- shell crab and salt cod and leek brandade, availability permitting of course.
Petrini is a family production, with everyone on the staff knowledgeable about its food, wine, breads and cheeses. If Mr Slow Food himself, Signor Carlo Petrini, dropped by, he couldn%26#39;t help but be impressed. %26ndash;Kate Fraser
* Petrini, 9 Humphreys Drive, Ferrymead. Open: delicatessen, 9.30am to 6.30pm; restaurant, 10am to late, and from 9am for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.
