Kermadec

Behold! The arrival of a grand platter, its curvaceous arrangements a more than satisfying crinkum-crankum of the best the coastal waters of New Zealand might offer, swallowed our attention and concentrated our desires with such intensity and verve that we soon forgot we were sitting overlooking Auckland’s famous viaduct harbour.

Lunch had, in truth, started some time earlier for us but our schedule was such that we were able to allocate three or more hours to our delving of the deep. Kermadec Bar & Bistro is synonymous with fresh, spectacularly presented seafood in a most appealing location. Seat yourself on the upstairs verandah and hurry not for you will enjoy your time so much more if you are relaxed; gently sip your way across the afternoon and go fishing through the menu, as we did.

It all began, naturally, with a dozen Tio Point oysters. You and I both know that these tasty little teasers are the country’s finest and are shipped to restaurants fresh and ready to be shucked to order.  Be careful when downing them as there is a very real risk that others in the restaurant might mistake your moanings of gratitification as a sign of, well,  unspeakable private pleasures! They are simply the best...

This restaurant’s menu is a very proud and large scroll with so much on offer that one’s personal ‘feastometer’ will swing wildly into the red, unconcealable delight will register on your physiognomy and your heart may even begin a series of erratic but not entirely unpleasant  palpitations.

Our hotel was no more than 100 metres away and we were car-less so found ourselves ready, willing and able to  liberally marinate our courses with suitable wine and water choices over lunch. There was Pelorus sparkling for the oysters, a Gibbston Riesling here and there, even a Neudorf 2009 riesling , a carafe or two of Te Mata Zara Viognier 2010 and  not inconsiderable litreages of both San Pellegrino and Waiwera sparkling water.  All this spread over about four hours, of course, and accompanied by significant portions of food, including selections from the “Raw Bar” which included  an exquisite Tuna Carpaccio with compressed apple, wasabi, aioli & Khombu vinaigrette as well as a double dose of assorted sashimi. Add to this an abundance of delectable breads, olive oils, Macadamia Dukkha and Sicilian olives and you will begin to appreciate the superhuman nature of my dining endeavours, not to mention the elasticity & capacity of my stomach and my unfathomably deep pockets .

Now, back to the platter mentioned in the opening paragraph...there are two seafood platters available at Kermadec, the hot one and the cold one. We could not resist the latter platter! Picture if you will Auckland island scampi, prawns, oysters in their beautiful crenulated shells, Green Lipped mussels and clams served with mignonette sauce, mustard mayonnaise, saffron aioli and preserved lemon mayonnaise. Eating foods like prawns, mussels etc is very much a tactile experience and I think this adds to the primal satisfaction we derive from this type of eating. You’re handling the shells, feeling the texture and strength of these beautiful coats before enjoying the succulence of the bounty within.

What a day! Deep sea diving at your table does come cheap but it’s certainly worth every cent.

 

Tagine Treat on Colombo

We could not do without the culinary exotic in Christchurch after two years of inhaling dried liquefaction, eating the humble pie of heritage destruction and demolition, and putting up with the sour-taste-in-your-mouth of dealing with EQC and Insurance companies daily for 24 months.

Admittedly we have restaurants like Turkish, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese and Italian but on a recent excursion along Colombo St in Sydenham I espied Casbah, a “Moroccan” restaurant. It has, apparently, been open for a year and I see it has three reviews on DineOut....
Anyway, it wasn’t quite wine o’clock, being 12noon, so I stepped inside for a treat. Beautifully friendly staff, eager to explain the dishes and offer advice – I couldn’t resist the  thought of lamb cooked in a conical tagine pot, a ‘Traditional lamb tagine’ but wanted to start with a taste of the northern Sahara by slurping a Harira, Morocco’s famous tomato & chickpea soup seasoned  with fresh coriander, parsley, celery & spices. This delicious, spiced up sensation came with grilled pita bread triangles and was a brief and satisfying chickpea focussed  step into North Africa you might say.

The lamb was an interesting dish of manifold flavours, succulent and sure without being overly bold, with an unmistakable Middle Eastern sauce boasting the hot wind of the desert, the smell of the bazaar and the essence of age-old customs. A more than passable lunch on a spring afternoon. All for little more than $21.00

 

 

Elegant Urban Gorilla

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.