We’ve had a few pretty good months in advertising sales here at the official BusinessDesk pseudo-military industrial complex headquarters in Auckland, so commercial boss Neil Jackson and I sneaked out for lunch and ended up at Huami.
This was unexpected for us because we’re generally more likely to be over the road having a burger and an ale at the Empire Tavern than at the more exotic and cultured environs of SkyCity’s Federal Street food quarter.
But there’s been a lot of change and a few wins, and it is possible that sometimes a burger just isn’t right. Plus, it is wrong to go to the same place again and again when we’re so close to so many good options.
The first big surprise with Huami was the queue that stretched out the door on a Wednesday at midday.
The wait was just a few minutes, and then we were shown to a nice table in the centre of the dining room by a maître d’ who impressively switched between Cantonese for most of the customers and English for Neil and me.
A great thing about Auckland is that you are always able to travel the world through the city's food and wait staff.
I have recently turned old, so I have dishearteningly accepted that I need hearing aids for busy social situations. I’m testing out a pair that cost a bit more than a house in Gore, so I was also keen to be slap-bang in the middle of the restaurant. (Regarding hearing loss, I blame going to too many raves in London in my 20s, but it is more likely just due to my being old, and renovating houses.)
The second surprise is that I thought Huami would be pricey given its reputation – it was Metro’s Restaurant of the Year in 2021. 
The expense would have been fine as I have an NZME-issued credit card, but the lunch menu is more than reasonable, with mains like Hong Kong-style noodles at just $22.
To compensate for the paucity in their pricing, we ordered a lot of food and beer. Then some wine.
Our entrees included crunchy prawn dumplings, crispy duck wonton and xo chilli siew mai shrimp dumplings.
Realistically, two items were too much fried food for lunch, but I was on my cheat day.
The standout was the duck, which was flavourful and well spiced in a hard wonton shell. Huami has NZ’s only commercial wood-fired duck oven, and fruit woods like feijoa are used toward the end of cooking to impart flavour.
The siew mai is a revelation. I avoid it at lesser restaurants as a salty amalgam of weird meats, but here, it is light and delicately flavoured – enough to make me understand what siew mai should really be like. In future, I will try these delicious steamed dumplings everywhere I can.
For mains, we ordered Hong Kong-style wok-fried egg noodles, which were pleasingly subtle in their flavouring. I’d been expecting a flavour bomb like Singapore noodles, which are loaded up with curry sauce, veges and meats, including shrimp.
Way back in 2005, when I was a mid-grade subeditor at the Herald, this was my regular dinner from the nearby food alley. This superb food hall was rudely shut down and then knocked down by Singaporean developers.
There’s a synchronicity there, but I don’t care. I still miss the Singapore noodles and the pad Thai.
Back to lunch. We also had mānuka honey-glazed char siew pork, which came with a tangy mustard sauce. I’m used to char siew being dry, red and often a little tough to eat. I love it. But this one, well, it shows how little I know about good Chinese food. This was on a different level. Rich, thickly cut slices of pork hot from the barbecue, drizzled with a rich, sweet sauce.
It lasted about four minutes.
We accompanied this with Tsing Tao beer, which came in a 600mm bottle. It's a rookie mistake, because the wine list is looked after by master sommelier Cameron Douglas.
There’s a 2009 Penfold Grange in a 1.5-litre bottle for $3,900. Imagine trying to explain that one to your company's chief financial officer.
Then things got a little silly. We were still peckish, so Neil ordered deep-fried soft-shell crab, followed by green tea brûlée with mandarin jam.
By then, I was struggling like I’d spent five hours at a Chinese banquet, but both were delicious. The brûlée maybe felt like the most Chinese thing we had – a prominent green-tea flavour complemented by a rich yellow coulis.
Huami also has a range of private dining rooms for business events, and I suspect we’ll be using one of those soon.
As a choice of a business dinner/lunch venue, I reckon it is excellent. Just don’t ask for the 2009 Grange unless your company credit card is poorly monitored.
* All images were supplied by Huami.
