The weather in Auckland has been terrible the last few days, but at least we got some nice sunsets out of it.
Sunset in Auckland
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Lunch Time : Xi’an Food Bar
Tuesday morning brought me a dentist appointment and general work-related ennui. But even Tuesday mornings eventually turn to noon and noon comes with a friend – lunchtime!
Today we visited a modest little Chinese place with a modest little name – Xi’an Food Bar on the corner of Anzac Ave and Customs St East. It doesn’t look like much but Xi’an Food Bar has two standout features.
The first is that you sit at your table and order via a strange retro-futuristic device that looks a bit like a calculator. The waiter gives you a menu but rather than place your order with the waiter when he returns, you type in the number that corresponds to your chosen meal into the device. Once everyone has chosen their meals the device transmits your table’s orders to the kitchen. A kitchen which is all of 3 metres away and clearly within sight.
This manner of ordering is completely silly and quite wonderful. It feels like you have walked into a cheap 80s scifi movie. I plan to go back on a rainy evening and pretend I am hunting replicants.
The other great thing about Xi’an Food Bar is that they make their own fresh noodles. The service is very quick, and in a couple of minutes you will have a fresh bowl of lumpy noodles covered in tasty sauce. The flavours are strong but well balanced, and the texture of the noodles is very appealing.
The first time I went I made the adventurous mistake of ordering the sliced pigs ears. It wasn’t the worse thing I have eaten, but even the best sauce in the world couldn’t make a silk purse out of that. I think it is probably meant to be a side dish.
So long as you keep the pigs ears to a minimum, Xi’an Food Bar is worth the walk. Get there early though, it gets busy.
Avondale Hollywood Cinema’s Wurlitzer Organ
Jan Grefstad’s Hollywood Cinema (its full title, I don’t know who Jan Grefstad is) is a charmingly untouched cinema on Avondale’s main street. Most of Auckland suburban cinemas have long since been demolished, re-purposed, or remodeled into high-class boutique cinemas, but the Hollywood has remained more or less untouched. I think the seats are modern, but the layout in exactly how I remember in the old cinemas – a “circle” balcony above a larger area for the stalls.
The Hollywood’s main claim to fame is its huge Wurlitzer theatre organ, a fantastic beast of a thing. The pipes are hidden in rooms behind the screen, and it is capable of all sorts of fantastic sounds – from bells to drum rolls. It can also remotely play the piano on the other side of the stage. The best part is that the whole console is on an elevator, raising up out of the stage with the organist when needed.
Today I went along to see the Wurlitzer being played by a professional organist accompanying Charlie Chaplin’s silent film, The Gold Rush. The organ was put to good use, providing wall to wall music in every scene of this entertaining film. It is not something I would do all the time (I am not quite in the target demographic just yet) but it was the perfect way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.
An Imagined Scene
SCENE: A corner office overlooking the harbour. Brand Manager sits on a large chair behind a huge desk populated with executive desktop toys. Three Flunkies sit nervously on shorter chairs.
BRAND MANAGER: RIGHT, we need a FRESH new angle for our new juice product. Any IDEAS?
FLUNKY 1: What about a big orange cartoon mascot, he could be dancing aroun…
BRAND MANAGER: I said FRESH, not TRITE! Get me a COFFEE. NEXT!
FLUNKY 2: A group of attractive people
BRAND MANAGER: go on…
FLUNKY 2: ummm, enjoying the product
BRAND MANAGER: MORE!
FLUNKY 2: … on a beach?
BRAND MANAGER: WRONG! It doesn’t SPEAK to ME, and from now on NEITHER DO YOU!
FLUNKY 3: Get this: we get an attractive model and paste in our product in an awkward pose unlike any human would hold things in. Maybe put some half-ass stock-photo clouds in the background.
BRAND MANAGER: Same as all our OTHER campaigns. I need SOMETHING SPECIAL!
FLUNKY 3: OK, we photoshop her face so it looks like she has just taken a swig of the product and is now struggling to hold back projectile vomit!
BRAND MANAGER: I LIKE IT! You two, LEARN from this GUY. Lets get this out there on EVERY second BUS STOP in the city.
This summer just doesn’t seem to want to end, not that I complaining. Here is the view from Maraetai on the Eastern edge of Auckland, looking out towards Waiheki island.