Gorilla continues to lustfully beat its chest and bat its eyelashes to lure
us all into its warm and cosy Ferrymead domain. Whether you’re cachucha-ing in
the tightly packed carpark or simply looking to satisfy a gastrocolic tickle,
this establishment is certainly terrific tipple and tapas territory. A perfect
place to indulge a plethora of edible fantasies whilst whetting your whistle
with wine, water, beer or whatever.
Jonny Schwass’ new menu offers just as
much, if not more, excitement and creativity than before; it’s so easy to enjoy
a mini banquet, a veritable cavalcade of diverse bite-sized dishes designed to
satisfy your needs, prime your pump and prepare you for what may lay
ahead.
In so many respects the modus operandi and the method of delivery, you
might say, represents intelligent eating, a welcome departure from the oft seen
mounds of food piled up on overly large plates. Here, you can enjoy variety,
challenge your tastebuds, one flavour-infused morsel at a time, stretch the
imagination and enjoy a South Island wine in the process. As small as the
restaurant space is, it is not always conducive to intimacy as the noise from
other diners does resonate through the room.... especially if there are
liquored-up tables of 6 nearby! But let it here be stated that if you seek the
company of the regions bon vivants, lashings of good cheer, cheffed-up fare and
a touché d’elegance then I will see you at Gorilla!
We were a small party
but, my God, did we eat! The temptation to splash out and indulge in Jonny’s
sometimes quirky but always quintessentially quality-based quadrumanous-friendly
quenelles or succumb to a surprisingly, scintillating & sprauncy scroggin
for beer drinkers was an irresistible force.
With great care not to appear
like Neanderthals we kept our hands in pockets, heads lowered and voices muted
as we ordered a fantastic spread.
Enter the ‘Charcoal Bread with Hummus” –
just perfect to begin our gourmandising. In quick-fire succession came the
aforementioned scroggin thingee then Lamb croquettes with mint sauce(more,
more!), mushroom risotto, rolled, crumbed and fried, marinated vegetables with
goat’s cheese whip......so good, so good, so good.
In between sips of
selected South Island wines....Black Estate Pinot Noir, Pegasus bay Merlot/Cab
Sauv....various members of the party, with evidence of their fine schooling and
proper upbringing on display, politely consumed ‘Fush and Chup, mushy peas,
tartare & lemon’, ‘roast beetroot & goat’s cheese’, ‘brocolli, butter
& almonds’, ‘mash with roast garlic & chives’.....more Lamb croquettes
and goodness only knows how much more. I’m afraid I lost track, it was such an
eventful experience.
Gorilla radiates a warm welcome, provides its guests
with very good service in a fashionable environment that offers not only
something quite different to the everyday but an effusion of taste and flavour
that every hominoid (and you are definitely one of those)needs every now and
again.
Even if you are one of Gerry Brownlee’s “carping and moaning Cantabs
who buggerises around on Facebook all day” it would behove you to give in to
those primeval urges to eat, and eat well, by visiting Gorilla for a feed. Oooh,
ooh, aah, aah.
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