Gone by lunchtime: Cream pāua and hāngī for hungry Te Matatini visitors

Thursday, 23 February 2023

Hot Takes: The morning produced some standout performances at Te Matatini on Thursday.

Toby’s Seafood, a Māori whānau-oriented business, set up camp at Te Matatini on Wednesday, selling out of their most popular dish – creamy pāua and fried bread by noon.

They’ve come with raw mussels, raw fish, shrimp cocktails, pāua pies, cream pāua, pāua sausages and fried bread. By 9.30am on Thursday, the stall saw keen customers queuing up.

They’ve also got “good for the soul” 100ml kina and tio (oyster) shots for those needing an instant kaimoana fix.

“The most popular would have to be the cream pāua and the fried bread,” said Anaru Tobin. “They sold out at midday, so we told our preppers to […] pretty much triple up so that we’re well stocked for lunchtime.”

Anaru Tobin is the kaiwhakahaere of the popular seafood stall at Te Matatini.

Tobin says that the cream pāua and fried bread are by far the most popular kai on their menu.

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Mercia Morunga, Esther Armstrong and Lovinia Wynyard sold over 600 packed hāngī yesterday at Te Matatini and are expecting another busy day.

“The majority of our seafood comes from within our waters locally. We go as far north as Whangārei and as far south as the Cook Strait” which is where the kina come from.

Tobin reckons Thursday and Saturday will be the busiest days. Auckland-based Ngā Tumanāko, who are the champion titleholders perform on Thursday, with the finals on Saturday.

Esther Armstrong, Lovinia Wynyard and Mercia Morunga also expected Thursday to be the busiest day. They were planning to prepare 600 servings of hāngī again for the day, but after yesterday’s hard work, they decided to scale it back to 350 servings.

The kura teachers from Kaitaia were keen to catch a breath and find more time to enjoy the performances. They are fundraising for their kura back home and have had all hands on deck, with students helping with prepping vegetables and packing popcorn.

Steaming in their hāngī pot is chicken, pork, cabbage, potatoes, kūmara, carrots and pumpkin. Once Armstrong calls time, she says she’s ready for the hundreds of hungry kapa haka supporters to line up for their kai.

She’s been told by stall managers that Thursday would be a particularly busy day as some performing rōpū will go home before the finals.