Peeling back the lid on the tinned fish movement

30 May

Written By Antony

DOMINION ROAD DIARIES - CAZADOR

Rebecca (Bex) Smidt and Dariush Lolaiy expanded on their second-generation restaurant Cazador a few years ago, opening Cazador delicatessen next door. A bustling daytime crowd is drawn to this section of Dominion Rd for the deli’s excellent coffee, sandwiches, pies, pastries, charcuterie, and its treasure trove of goodies filling every inch of shelf in the bijou space – including a colourful array of handsomely adorned tins of premium fish.

We’ve been a bit tunnel-visioned in Aotearoa when it comes to kaimoana, equating the time between catch and consumption with quality. Yet for so many reasons, access to ultra-fresh seafood is thorny in terms of logistics, with a lot of waste due to spoilage. Pre-European Māori communities were adept at preserving seafood by drying or fermenting, whereas these days smoking fish is perhaps the go-to gourmet method of conserving catch in this country.

Fish preserved by canning has traditionally been viewed as a lower-quality commodity here, but that’s changing. Cazador’s Bex Smidt is a big proponent of this shifting attitude and the delicatessen is the exclusive importer of Portuguese conservas brands Ati Manel and José Gourmet, as well as boasting plenty of other offerings in the category. I sat down for a chat with Bex over a pea milk flat white (yes, you heard that right – and I’m giving this latest milk alternative a thumbs up) and a board topped with sliced baguette, lemon wedges, and a tin of spiced mackerel pâté.

A visit to Portugal around five years ago yielded an epiphany of sorts

There were so many stores there with hundreds of varieties of tins packed with fish and seafood from the Atlantic and Adriatic, with prices ranging from affordable to right up there, and lots of cool little wine bars there serving tins. When we were opening the deli a few years ago, we’d already lined up a distributor and shipper for Ati Manel and José Gourmet products because we knew we wanted them – they’re just such fun and delicious products. We had about 20 varieties to start with, and a lot has sold out; we’ve got another big shipment on its way.

These tins are all about quality

It’s about taking the very best product and capturing its essence. The fish are hand-filetted, hand-packed into tins, and the seasoning is really good quality. It’s a different approach altogether to what we’re used to seeing with the kind of tinned fish traditionally on offer here in New Zealand, where we’re not sure where the fish is from and the product is seen as being poorer quality.

The artwork on these tins is so rad

The designs are so cool, and so clever! We’re talking 50 years before the craft beer movement that these brands started to show personality on tins. Ortiz has become really well known over the past few decades for its premium anchovies; outside that the love for tinned fish is a bit more niche, but the ones who know, know!

The love of tins is spreading from Portugal, with bars in cities like London and Portland that focus on wine and tins

We’re always a wee bit behind but it would be cool to see here. We’re talking per flavourful, lots of options – but not much required on the service side. We’ve been using tins as a core menu item for a year and a half at Cazador and it does really well – we’ve used them both as a dish on its own, and as a component of a dish. So the sardines or stickleback or any of these tins really, just serve it on a board with the lid peeled back, with bread and lemon, like this.

These tins are so often on the table at our home

A tin with some crackers or fresh bread, boiled egg, some olives. Our kids love it, too. They’re an easy addition to platters, to brunches, stirred through pasta (stir in the oil from the tin, too!) – so many things.

The spiced mackerel pâté we’re enjoying today is one of Bex’s favourites

The fillets are easy to love – they’re glossy, beautiful to look at – but the pâté is a bit of a tougher one for Kiwis to get their heads around… but it’s just so yum! And they’re actually one of the cheapest tins we stock – this tin costs $12 and it’s a decent serve.

There are many different flavour profiles which makes tins great to pair with wine

The pickled styles lend themselves to pairing with aromatics and sherry. Fillets that are fattier, oilier and also where the protein is smoked go well with richer red wines, anything with a bit of tannin would be lovely or a crunchy richer white. Some are in tomato sauces – that calls out for a nice bright chilled red.

We’d love to see local seafood elevated in products similar to this

Imagine smoked mussels Kiwi-style in a beautiful looking tin. The canning equipment is so expensive though, it’s a really prohibitive process. But being able to distribute and export fish and seafood as a finished product like this makes so much sense. But that’s a whole different conversation!

At the restaurant

Cazador is a great one for putting on events – special feasts, wine collab dinners, spit roasts – follow them on socials for the latest.

One of our favourite regular goings on is Movie Night, every Thursday night throughout winter. That’s a three-course dinner at Cazador and a movie at The Capitol Cinema just up the road for $60.

Book at Cazador Movie Night
Select 'Movie Night' and let them know what film you're seeing in the notes
Show the Capitol your booking confirmation to redeem the movie ticket
Offer starts June 8th, with menus changing throughout the season, and a schedule of excellent movies at one of the city's best independent theatres.