Category: Restaurants

Down Under: Dining in Wellington

JWF Leave a comment

MEALS IN WELLINGTON  We found Wellington to be a great food city. There are more restaurants here per capita than in New York, a fact cited to us several times.  With our short visit, we only scratched the surface of good eating.

Artisan. The weather was so miserable our first evening that we opted to eat in the hotel dining room called Artisan. We were pleasantly surprised at how good the food was. We started with some mixed olives and two breads with a flight of four olive oils. The olives were lovely, the olive oils good, but the so-called artisanal bread disappointing. Our next courses were superb; both my smoked cheddar soufflé with cherry tomatoes and spinach and the Chief Penguin’s smoked salmon. We like small plates rather than large entrees and often order these smaller, usually lighter, dishes. My soufflé wasn’t light, but it was exquisite!

Ombra. The concierge in our hotel has been most helpful and enthusiastically recommended several restaurants. We’ve been taking him up on them and today’s lunch was at a casual Italian bistro. We ordered the gorganzola picante with walnuts and honey, gnocchi with cheese and lamb ragu, and fritto misto. Everything was delicious, but especially the gnocchi. To top it off we had three chocolate truffles: coconut, lemongrass and hazelnut.  

 

Whitebait. Dinner here was by far the best meal we’ve had in New Zealand. It’s on the waterfront and the dining room is simple with bare wood tables and high back fabric-covered chairs in muted shades of gray, blue, and aqua. Yvette and Josephine gave us friendly service and everything we ordered was not only beautifully presented, but superb. This is sophisticated dining. We started with anchovy toasts and smoked eel mini tacos (for the C.P. who likes eel) followed by snapper filet on slices of preserved Meyer lemon topped with celeriac for me and for him, lemon sole topped with a mix of peas and beans (very green), and a seasonal citrus salad with fennel, pistachios, and bits of green olive. The salad was reminiscent of a similar salad served at Ports of Italy in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, but more elegant, although I’d leave out the olives. The chefs here are fond of salty tastes.  

 

Chow. Our hosts at Te Papa tooks us to this Chinese place for lunch, which was perfect for our group of five. We ordered seven or eight dishes which were all small platters with five or six pieces including fish cakes, sesame crusted seared tuna, two kinds of dumplings, and chicken satay. Everything was tasty, but could have been spicier for this twosome.

 

Noble Rot Wine Bar.  For our last evening, we dined at Noble Rot, a very happening place recommended again by the hotel concierge.  He adopted us and seemed to eagerly wait our reporting back after each meal.  The front bar and high tables were fully occupied when we arrived, but fortunately for us shorties and oldsters, there were tables  of normal height in the side room.  Most were empty at first, but by the time we left all but one was taken.

With our wine (they have an extensive list of wines by the glass), we started with some chorizo and pecorino cheese with black truffle and accompaniments and then moved on to a couple entrees.  The Chief Penguin had the chicken with parsnips and mushrooms which had been done sous vide and was marvelously tender and lovely.  I had the fish of the day which was a local white fish served with capers and some roasted cauliflower and a bit of sauce on the side.  Also lovely.  Being chocoholics (at least I am), we had a dark chocolate truffle each.

 

Note:  All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).  Header photo is gnocchi with lamb ragu and Parmesan.

Down Under: Wellington in the Sun

JWF Leave a comment

TRAMPING AROUND WELLINGTON

Botanic Garden

Thursday was clear and almost cold (50 degrees), but a good morning to walk. Our first destination was the cable car up to the botanic garden. Interestingly, since the incline is very steep, some affluent individuals have their own private cable cars to deliver them to their homes. This public one takes only about five minutes, makes a couple stops along the way, and ends at the Cable Car Museum and the entrance to the Wellington Botanic Garden. We wandered in the museum, took our pictures with period hats and then were on to the garden.    

It was quiet and lovely and full of trees and plants native to this country. It’s also very well signed for specific locales within the garden as well as with plaques identifying most of the flora. We headed for the Lady Norwood Rose Garden which was said to be about a 20-minute walk. It took us longer, partly because I kept stopping to take pictures. The rose garden is probably glorious when in full bloom; today there were just a few rogue blooms, early budders.  

Bolton Street Cemetery

From the garden, you can enter the historic Bolton Street Cemetery which was in use until 1892. Founded in 1842, the original intent was that it be a cemetery for all religions and all people. It ended up being divided in three parts: Anglican, Jewish, and Public; the Catholics already had a cemetery elsewhere in Wellington. As you walk the main path, there are side paths that you can take deeper into the various sections. It’s a fascinating glimpse at the history of the city, its famous politicians and successful merchants, and the children who died of one disease or another, diphtheria and scarlet fever being two examples. Like the botanic garden, it’s a peaceful spot and we saw no one else on our walk.  

 

 

Note the understated summation of her life.

 

 

 

 

Wellington is a clean, compact city and very walkable. We like it a lot and have done almost all our wandering thus far on foot. By the end of this day with all our tramping around, we had reached 20,000 plus steps or eight miles!

Note:  All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

 

 

Down Under: Auckland Pt. 2

JWF Leave a comment

AUCKLAND DAY 2

Last evening we had a very early bite to eat at the Occidental Belgian Beer Café, a rustic dark wood place with a long bar and lots of low and high tables. The menu had many options for mussels (green-lipped ones very popular here) with a variety of sauces, and of course, Belgian frites with mayonnaise plus a selection of small plates and mains. Being quite zonked by this point, we decided on the mixed olives with feta cubes (deliciously spiced), chicken croquettes, and, of course, a cone of fries, accompanied by some NZ wines.

Our boutique hotel is charming with just 25 rooms and a zippy décor with brightly colored furniture and a carpet with wide bright stripes. The staff is exceedingly pleasant and helpful and our room quiet.

But the wi-fi speed is abysmally slow so we’ve become part of the café culture.

This morning we sat in the lovely, spacious, and quite elegant Gloria Jean’s near the University of Auckland; we returned after lunch for more coffee and tea and more good wi-fi. For the record, we went back to the Occidental for lunch–this time smoked salmon for the Chief Penguin and their Caesar salad with chicken for me.

The Auckland Art Gallery is at the top of a hill near Albert Park and combines a beautiful old building with great detailing with a new sleek contemporary addition. In some ways, seeing the building was as impressive and enjoyable as viewing the art. We checked out the gallery of Maori portraits of tribal chieftains all painted by one man, Charles Frederick Goldie, and found them fascinating,    

We also toured another exhibit, “Paris and the Future of Art” with works by artists from around the world including a couple with Kiwi connections. I particularly liked Duncan Grant’s portrait of a pregnant Vanessa Bell and New Zealand painter Gretchen Albrecht’s “Dervish” in strong red and orange.

John Nixon’s simple bold graphics were the focus of an exhibit in the new building and they were exhibited on walls painted in the deep bright bold colors he employed in his paintings.  

Header photo is of the flower clock in Albert Park.  In 1994 the Chief Penguin’s parents spent 7 week’s in New Zealand and Australia.  His father kept a journal and so we know they looked at this clock too then.

All photos by JWFarrington except The Occidental (from their website)

 

West Village: Eating Ethnically

JWF 2 Comments

ETHNIC EATS.  We like to eat and we like variety.  We’ve returned to some of our favorite dining spots, but have also been on a quest to try new places.  Here’s a round-up of some recent meals in the West Village.  Bon appetit!

Nisi  

On Bleecker Street, Nisi’s front window has a view of an attractive round table set with a white and blue patterned teapot. Inside, one wall is lined with shallow bowls facing out and the other is a lattice of clear blue bottles. The cuisine is Greek and we shared a green salad to start along with some very tasty large shrimps in a tomatoey sauce. They were listed as shrimp, but I’d call them langoustine, given their size and the presentation head and all. Following that, we dove into the lamb kebab and the half chicken with lemon. Portions were generous and both came with Greek fries. Plenty to eat in a most pleasant atmosphere.

Surya  

Also on Bleecker Street farther down is this delightful Indian restaurant. Here the Chief Penguin and I enjoyed a mix of old favorites and new dishes. The vegetable samosas were sizable and quite good. Even better was the spicy cauliflower in a rich tomato sauce. Next up, he sampled a special chicken dish while I loved the shrimp in a coconut curry sauce with strips of red and yellow peppers. All served with oodles of steamed rice. He had to have their garlic naan and I found the pappadum irresistible. Definitely worth a return trip!

Mole  

This West Village Mexican place has some of the best guacamole around! It’s chunky and fresh and you can even order it spicy with bits of jalapeno. Served in a wide stone bowl, it’s so good it’s hard to save room for anything else. But we did! The Chief Penguin had his standard, a quesadilla, and I tucked into the chicken enchiladas with red and green sauces. The red was rich and complex; the green piquant with some sourish high notes. They came with rice and refried beans, but the enchiladas themselves were enough for me.

Hudson Hound

Situated on Hudson Street with outdoor seating, the Irish Hound is rustic wood inside—old style wooden booths and a few tables with shelves of metal implements and wavy glass bottles lining the wall. It feels cozy. We sampled the excellent homemade hummus along with the grilled Caesar salad. The salad was perfect for sharing and attractively presented on a large square plate. We each ordered the half chicken with two sides. The roast chicken was some of the best I’ve eaten, adobe spiced with thimbles of three sauces—gravy, a green salsa, and their creamy yum-yum sauce. Lots of choices of sides, but I opted for the grilled asparagus and the sautéed spinach. Plenty of food and not for the faint of appetite.

Highlands  

Continuing our international culinary tour, we next visited Highlands, a Scottish gastropub on Christopher Street. It’s always been crowded when we’ve passed. Using Open Table, we were forced to book an early time and were the only ones in the dining room for a short while until another group of seniors arrived. Our waiter was a wiry young man with a wry sense of humor.

Being a traditionalist, C.P. ordered the sausage roll to start while I was intrigued by the description of the short rib crostini. It was sublime comfort fare—cubes of short rib on top of melted cheese and horseradish on toothy toasted bread.  Added to that was a mini cup of jus flavored with crumbles of blue cheese—heavenly! For mains, we sampled the gnocchi with wild mushroom sauce and the chicken Parmesan salad. The latter was more chicken than greens, the chicken having been breaded and fried just a bit. Another restaurant worth a return visit!

Niu Noodle House  

For a change of pace, we decided to go Chinese, and Niu on Greenwich Ave. was most satisfying. The panfried chicken, shrimp and chive dumplings were served straight from the stove while the pork buns were appropriately soft and tasty. For an entrée, we shared the spicy beef with mixed vegetables (green pepper and onions). We went for medium spicy rather than extra spicy and it was spicy enough for our palates.

Note: All photos from the web except for the Nisi table (JWFarrington).