More LOTR and Meeting Jody
Wednesday (Nov. 29) was another tour day. I think we had had the tour to end all tours the weekend before, so we didn’t enjoy this one as much. It made for a very long day (over 9 hours of driving). We did see the film site for Rivendell, and the rock quarry where Minis Tirith was staged, but all that’s left is a rock quarry, so it wasn’t all that exciting. But the scenery along the way was breathtaking, as usual.
Lunch was more meat pie. Kelly was in his glory. “I even enjoy watching other people choose their pies!” After lunch we drove out to an extremely windy point at Palliser Bay to harass some fur seals and stopped at Te Kairanga winery to sample their wares. The focused mostly on Pinot Noirs, and these ones were more similar to the North American ones, which means they were a little tinny and watery, and I opted for a 2002 Syrah to take home instead of any of the Pinots. So the jury is still out on NZ Pinots. Maybe I just like the cheap ones that don’t taste like Pinot.
After a brief nap, we headed out to meet our Kiwi friend Jody who had come to Wellington to spend some time with us. We were reunited at the Matterhorn, a restaurant and bar on Cuba street that supposedly was voted the best bar in Wellington, so I needed to check it out.
The cocktail list was lengthy, but I didn’t see anything unfamiliar or super intriguing. I decided on a Prince of Wales, a champagne cocktail with cognac, Benedictine and a squeeze of orange. Kelly went for a French 75, served here with gin, sugar, lemon juice and sparkling wine (I’ve had a French 75 before with cognac, though, so I guess it depends on the bar you’re in).
While catching up with Jody, we ordered a series of “bowls,” low priced little dishes to enjoy at the bar: black olives with oranges and fennel, grilled garlic bread, organic feta fried with gorse honey and thyme flowers (the best fritter I think I’ve ever tasted), broad bean fritters with fresh yoghurt cheese (also a good fritter, but very close in flavour to a falafel, which isn’t my favourite), cumin crusted calamari with lemon and crispy spinach, and spiced pork and garlic fingers with wood roast pimiento yoghurt. It was a wonderful blend of locally grown produce and dairy, and probably would have been enough food all on its own.
But oh, no. We had to order more. I hadn’t been keeping up my promise to eat as many oysters as possible on this trip, so I went for half a dozen rock oysters “bathed in seaweed, ginger, bonito flake dressing.” They were excellent, briny with a creamy center that didn’t overwhelm me—or even gross me out! And since neither Jody or Kelly were oyster schluckers, I had them all to myself.
We picked some more locally produced food as our main courses. Some of the options were even animals that were considered pests—I figure it’s better to eat them than to just poison them, as long as you can keep the two separate. Kelly opted for the seared game hare (the pest) fillet with shredded turnip and bacon cake on truffled green beans and a Cumberland glaze. I had the mustard and dill roast pork on spiced kumara (local sweet potato) hash with broad beans (yay, more favas!), belly bacon lardons and tart apple molasses.
The flavours were complex and the presentation creative. Kelly wasn’t sure about the hare, or the Cumberland sauce. I helped him out with his truffled beans when he was full. My pork dish was very nicely put together—I will never complain about having fava beans and bacon, nor hashed sweet potato. And the pork was delicious.
Unfortunately, we were too full for dessert, and there were some that took my breath away. The cheese selections were all served with sweet sides reminiscent of the fig and date loaf we had at Mt. Somers: blue cheese with pear paste; Brie with grape syrup or fig molasses. Gouda with fresh date pâté.
I also salivated at the white chocolate, rosewater and pistachio praline mousse with green apple sorbet and date molasses. That probably would have been delicious. Damn my physical limitations (i.e. full belly)!
Lunch was more meat pie. Kelly was in his glory. “I even enjoy watching other people choose their pies!” After lunch we drove out to an extremely windy point at Palliser Bay to harass some fur seals and stopped at Te Kairanga winery to sample their wares. The focused mostly on Pinot Noirs, and these ones were more similar to the North American ones, which means they were a little tinny and watery, and I opted for a 2002 Syrah to take home instead of any of the Pinots. So the jury is still out on NZ Pinots. Maybe I just like the cheap ones that don’t taste like Pinot.
After a brief nap, we headed out to meet our Kiwi friend Jody who had come to Wellington to spend some time with us. We were reunited at the Matterhorn, a restaurant and bar on Cuba street that supposedly was voted the best bar in Wellington, so I needed to check it out.
The cocktail list was lengthy, but I didn’t see anything unfamiliar or super intriguing. I decided on a Prince of Wales, a champagne cocktail with cognac, Benedictine and a squeeze of orange. Kelly went for a French 75, served here with gin, sugar, lemon juice and sparkling wine (I’ve had a French 75 before with cognac, though, so I guess it depends on the bar you’re in).
While catching up with Jody, we ordered a series of “bowls,” low priced little dishes to enjoy at the bar: black olives with oranges and fennel, grilled garlic bread, organic feta fried with gorse honey and thyme flowers (the best fritter I think I’ve ever tasted), broad bean fritters with fresh yoghurt cheese (also a good fritter, but very close in flavour to a falafel, which isn’t my favourite), cumin crusted calamari with lemon and crispy spinach, and spiced pork and garlic fingers with wood roast pimiento yoghurt. It was a wonderful blend of locally grown produce and dairy, and probably would have been enough food all on its own.
But oh, no. We had to order more. I hadn’t been keeping up my promise to eat as many oysters as possible on this trip, so I went for half a dozen rock oysters “bathed in seaweed, ginger, bonito flake dressing.” They were excellent, briny with a creamy center that didn’t overwhelm me—or even gross me out! And since neither Jody or Kelly were oyster schluckers, I had them all to myself.
We picked some more locally produced food as our main courses. Some of the options were even animals that were considered pests—I figure it’s better to eat them than to just poison them, as long as you can keep the two separate. Kelly opted for the seared game hare (the pest) fillet with shredded turnip and bacon cake on truffled green beans and a Cumberland glaze. I had the mustard and dill roast pork on spiced kumara (local sweet potato) hash with broad beans (yay, more favas!), belly bacon lardons and tart apple molasses.
The flavours were complex and the presentation creative. Kelly wasn’t sure about the hare, or the Cumberland sauce. I helped him out with his truffled beans when he was full. My pork dish was very nicely put together—I will never complain about having fava beans and bacon, nor hashed sweet potato. And the pork was delicious.
Unfortunately, we were too full for dessert, and there were some that took my breath away. The cheese selections were all served with sweet sides reminiscent of the fig and date loaf we had at Mt. Somers: blue cheese with pear paste; Brie with grape syrup or fig molasses. Gouda with fresh date pâté.
I also salivated at the white chocolate, rosewater and pistachio praline mousse with green apple sorbet and date molasses. That probably would have been delicious. Damn my physical limitations (i.e. full belly)!
posted by Noelle | 7:59 PM
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