On buying wheatgrass at Takapuna Market

We visited Keith of Keith's Wheatgrass at the Takapuna market this morning. First and foremost - he is fabulous! He knows a truckload about the product - how to grow it, how to consume it, benefits for the skin when you use it topically, cleaning the juicer, you name it! He's also incredibly friendly and easy to talk to, so if you have any questions about wheatgrass I'd encourage you to pop along (it's a great market too!) and have a chat with him.

I ended up deciding to just buy a tray of wheatgrass and a juicer from him for $100. Usually it would be $90 for the juicer and $15 for the grown tray of WG, if bought seperately. If I take my empty tray back next time, I'll get my next tray for $12. I may yet decide to grow my own, but thought I'd start this way for now.

I didn't realise that you do get a 2nd growth on the wheatgrass, however it should be noted that this typically has only 50% the nutrients of the first growth. And apparently once it starts getting a bit long and flopping over, you can harvest it all and place it in the fridge, ready for juicing. I think I'd prefer to cut, juice, drink on demand, but again, I'll see how I get on.

Note that Naturally Organic in Albany does sell Keith's trays of wheatgrass as well ($17), as does Wise Cicada in Newmarket.

Photo by Jeff Cushner

Onion Johnny - Takapuna - Restaurant Review

What we ate:
•Garlic Ciabatta with Kalamata olives - nice to have real kalamatas, the ciabatta was deliciously garlicy.
•Fish of the day with fresh salad & prawns - really enjoyed this, especially the fresh coriander in the salad. Wasn't quite sure about the prawns in the salad being cold, but all the same, an enjoyable dish/
•Duck with scallops - scallops perfectly cooked, duck absolutely melt in the mouth, salad lovely and fresh and delicious
•Chocolate torte - quite rich, sorbet was nice, not convinced that it was the right match with the torte, would have preferred an ice cream or light custard perhaps - the creaminess would have softened the richness of the torte. Or even just a bit more of the berries with it would have been great. Still tasty.
•preserved lemon & white chocolate tart - delciously lemony and tart! The way a lemon dessert ought to be!
•long black - fantastic coffee! and we're picky about our coffees!

Other observations:
The staff were friendly, sometimes to the point of being a little disconcerting, but the service was not bad. Occaisionally things took a little longer that ideal, but only just - as in we'd get to starting to comment about where things were, or when orders were going to be taken and before it became a sticking point wait staff arrived. Not a complaint.
The decor was lovely, and the glassware beautiful quality.

The theme of the restaurant seemed a little bit confused - a little bit bistro, a little bit classy. I'd like to see Onion Johnny stand up and be counted as a decidedly bistro-y bistro!