The grocer perfecting fried chicken
A Four Square loved by their local community, finding wisdom in a 1976 cookbook and artist Maungarongo Te Kawa's favourite spots for kai.
Nau mai, haere mai. Welcome to The Boil Up, The Spinoff’s weekly food newsletter produced in partnership with Boring Oat Milk. Written by me, Charlotte Muru-Lanning. It’s lovely to have you here!
Supermarkets have found themselves in positions of deserved disfavour among the general public more recently, so a tiny Four Square in Lower Hutt that’s beloved by locals is, in more ways than one, an anomaly. A visit to Four Square Kelson’s relatively eccentric Facebook page – with its daily memes, snaps of regular customers, public service announcements, inspirational quotes and product reviews – is a view into the grocer’s special place in the community. I spoke with owner and operator Falgoon Patel about growing up at the store, their Wellington on a Plate burger entry, the future of groceries and his political aspirations.
What’s the story behind Kelson Four Square?
My dad and mum bought the Four Square in 1984. Dad was an ex-biochemist and mum worked at a New World. When they took it over, my brother was six days old, I was five – I just started school. We've been in the store forever. It's your local grocer that knows everyone by name, Mum and Dad have seen three generations now. So it's really quite interesting.
Just like the physical store, your Facebook has a cult following – how did that happen?
So for six years before this, I ran this company called Speed Magnets. We were in the car world and basically, we would just fly up and down the country covering car events, writing car articles, and getting paid to do photo shoots and videos. It was the dream job. So to come back was a big shock. I thought how can I incorporate everything I've learnt? There’s all these stores and none of them have any personality, and I felt like we had tonnes of personality in the store. That's how it all started. We just keep it pretty down to earth, pretty comedic with a little bit of an emotional side as well.
Your shop is also famous for fried chicken, whose idea was that?
We used to do fish and chips and Indian food. We started doing chicken in March 2019 – my brother introduced it because turnover was not good.
You’ve managed to put your own experimental spin on it too, where does that inspiration come from?
It comes out of my brain, but Mum is the master. My mum is a spectacular cook, to the point where we used to have the Indian national cricket team come to our house every tour. Sachin Tendulkar the legend of Indian cricket used to drop into our shop for Mum’s chicken nibbles. So we thought let's add some of the stuff that we make for ourselves on to the menu. We started with the firestarter fillet, it was ridiculously hot, a sneaky level of heat where you eat it and nothing happens and then 30 seconds later you're absolutely on fire. That put us on the map. People were just turning up from everywhere to get that. Later, we started doing this thing called the tandoori fillet – these things are our Rolls Royce offerings.
You’ve got a burger entry in this year’s Wellington on a Plate’s Burger Wellington, and you’re probably the first grocery store to enter, what was the impetus for that?
Every now and again I feel like taking our chicken fillets home. I put them on a bed of chips with a little bit of lettuce and this mint yoghurt dressing. I just eat it on super thick white toast. For the entry though, Fix Federation Cafe do a white loaf. It's made similar to the sourdough style but it's not sourdoughy and doesn't have the harder texture, it's still real soft. I tried it and I was like oh my god, this is it, we've done it.
How does it feel to be a supermarket owner at a time when supermarket owners aren’t super popular? And where do you see the future of groceries?
I thought about this the other day. During Covid, I dropped all the prices. I thought there was some serious profiteering going on with a couple of the other stores. We dropped all our pricing because we've got the same 400 people that come into our store, we know most by name. I think we need to get to a point where if you're part of the Foodstuffs banner, whether you're in a Four Square, a New World, or a Pak’nSave, it should be live priced. The difference should be in the selection. There's going to be another pivot coming up soon too because I can't see my children going into a grocery store. They'll just be clicking on their iPads and just being like hey Siri, and I need some lettuce.
Any other news?
I'm gonna put my name down for mayor of Lower Hutt. It's $200 to put your name down, even if it goes nowhere, it's gonna be the best $200 I've spent in my whole life. I can make a great burger and make your city great. (Remember: you heard it in The Boil Up first).
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Weekly bites
I adore Rarotongan food, but there’s a special nook in my heart for mainese, also called minus, which is a Rarotongan potato salad tinged pink by beetroot. For Cook Island language week (which was last week), The Spinoff’s designer Tina Tiller shared her mother’s recipe for mainese with Sela Jane Hopgood. It makes for an excellent potluck dish or lunch that you can make ahead of time. Importantly, it’s as delightful to look at as it is to eat.
Last week, Blueskin Nurseries & Cafe in Waitati, about a 20-minute drive north of Dunedin, added a cheese roll burger to its menu as part of the Dine Dunedin Emerson's burger competition. Stuff invited crime writer and cheese roll lover Liam McIlvanney to investigate. Billed as “The ultimate cheese roll and beef burger hybrid, that takes this southern classic somewhere deliciously new!’’ their creation consisted of burger requisites, a beef patty, lettuce, tomato relish and aioli, sandwiched between two cheese rolls. McIlvanney’s verdict? There’s room for improvement.
While sifting through cookbooks at an op shop I uncovered a 2008 reprint of British cook Delia Smith’s 1976 cookbook Frugal Food. It’s filled with quintessentially English-sounding recipes like herrings fried in oatmeal, cream of celery soup and liver and onion Yorkshire pud. Born out of the rising cost of living, and the increase in energy and oil prices of the 1970s, the book’s premise and purpose is incredibly congruent today. “Who, then, is this book for?” Smith asks in the introduction, “Quite simply for people like myself, those who have lived during the affluent years and now find themselves caught up in the spiral of inflation, rising prices and impending world food shortages.” Spookily apt.
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Five places with artist Maungarongo (Ron) Te Kawa
For decades, fabric artist Maungarongo Te Kawa has been working in fashion, art, community development and education across Aotearoa. Through his vibrant quilts, which often take hundreds of hours to produce, he finds new ways to tell old stories. Te Kawa is currently exhibiting with local kuia at Mahara Gallery in Waikanae. Auckland gallery Objectspace’s twisting, turning, winding exhibition which runs till August 21 includes Te Kawa’s memorial whakapapa quilt. Te Kawa shares his five favourite places for kai with The Boil Up.
The Anderson Street Kitchen, Eketāhuna: Food so fresh it feels like you are eating straight from a garden, without doing any of the weeding. After spending weeks on the road eating fast food, their fresh and healthy kai (and cakes) really hits the spot. You’ll find them at the Eketāhuna Super Market on the second Sunday of each month. Kate’s scrummy slices are also available at the coffee cart on the main street of Pahiatua during the week. The ginger slice… omg, it’s killer.
Karma Free Cafe, New Brighton, Christchurch: I worked the last four winters in Christchurch and this place was my go-to – mostly buffet style and killer vegetarian pies too. I became a committed vegetarian because the kai here is so varied, tasty, comfy and good. I've never looked back.
BooBoo Sushi, Whāngarei: I love kai that is a little bit different. This is a favourite because it’s innovative, colourful, quirky and a two-minute walk to the Wairau Art Gallery in Whangārei. Always a highlight, always something out the gate. And always heaps of parking .
Zeki’s Mediterranean Cafe and Bakehouse, Karangahape Road, Auckland: Delightful and traditional Mediterranean kai made fresh everyday. The highlight is the spinach lasagne, oh, and the apple turkish delights. I'll bring a stash back home after a visit to Auckland – it’s one of the main reasons I stay central when I'm in town.
The Ponderosa Fish and Chip Shop, Wairoa: Five generations of hard working, hungry locals have eaten the kai here in the old part of Wairoa township, “over the bridge”. Ponderosa is the taste of my childhood holiday road trips. Look for the farm vehicles parked up outside because tangata whenua know a good thing when they've got it. The generations have changed, but the kaikai stays the same.
Talk next week!
Hei kōnā mai, Charlotte
