Just before Christmas found some lobster at the supermarket. Wasnt quite sure what to do, so looked it up on youtube and came across this:
Its a pretty easy recipe – although I skipped the broth at the end. The end result was delicious đ
Lobster risotto with saffron and peas
The Boatshed in Nelson is a long time favourite since Selena and I first went there about 8 years ago.
We have been twice in the last three months (May and July 2014) and we did the ‘trust the chef’ option with a special request for crayfish (additional cost).
The setting is as you would know from the name, a Boatshed. Wooden floors, loads of windows and if you sit on the verandah, lots of sun.
The service is good and efficient. The food is the real highlight here. The ingredients speak for themselves. The calamari and chorizo, salmon carpaccio, crayfish salad, crispy fish, you name it – loved it all.
When you are in Nelson next – it’s well worth the visit.
Came across a really simple duck recipe when visiting parents in a Mexican cook book. Gave it a go for Saturday dinner and it was delicious.
1) 1 duck, skin pricked with fork
Season with salt and stuff in an orange (halved).
2) Bake on rack at 220 degrees C oven for 30 minutes
3) Baste with chilli mixture (2 Tbsp mild chilli, 2 Tbsp sweet paprika, 3 cloves garlic paste, 4 Tbsp tequila)
4) Bake at 180 degrees C for another 45 minutes, turning once.
5) Cook until skin is crispy and any juices are white when skewered in thigh.
6) Serve chopped and garnished with mint.
Monkey Spices is a suburban restaurant owned by one of my sister’s long time friend and her husband. The restaurant is in Rolleston, a newly growing suburb in the outskirts of Christchurch.
Went there with wife and parents. We had a delicious dinner there on the first day of winter. The food was delicious. We started off with a crispy chicken salad, prawns and calamari and lamb dumplings. The dumplings were filled with slow cooked lamb shanks – falling off the bone goodness.
We had two surprise dishes from the chef – softshell crabs in an amazing chilli sauce and chicken tenderloins with Japanese curry sauce. Both were delicious and disappeared very quickly!
This left us a little full and we took home a lot of the main courses: quatro formaggio pizza, chicken teriyaki pizza and haojao chicken pasta. The teriyaki chicken pizza is very tasty – the shredded nori and caramalised onions great complements.
For dessert we had affogato and the homemade gelato, coconut and blood orange flavours. The blood orange was was especially nice – the bitterness of the blood orange a nice balance against strawberries.
We get very well looked after because the owners are family friends. But the place was comfortably full on a Sunday evening – with a hum of good conversation and conviviality. A great place to go if you live in Rolleston or close by.
Our favourite Japanese dining spot in Wellington. The sashimi platter is fantastic, as is the daikon salad. The yakatori and the chazuke soup are both amazing. The home made tofu is silky soft.
Seemingly simple cooking that celebrates ingredients. But from trying to cook Japanese food, it looks simple, but very hard to do well.
The service is friendly and efficient. A favourite after work dinner đ
Went to Sidart in Ponsonby, Auckland last week (mid April 2014). Our friends Christina & Angela have been raving about it for ages. Boy am I glad we went! It has to be one of new fine dining favourites in Auckland.
Seared Tuna at Sidart
We had a leisurely 9 course degustation. It was well spaced out: started at 7.30 and finished at 11.30. With two amuse bouche in the beginning – we certainly needed the time!
The service was excellent from start to finish. The staff were warm, knowledgeable and attentive without being disruptive.
The food was excellent. There were so many dishes that to describe one wouldn’t do it justice. Rather, it is a journey through many flavours, textures and aromas. Crafted and meticulous are two words that come to mind.
The food was well portioned and after nine courses I was satisfied, rather than near bursting point as in some other degustation experiences.
The wine matches with each course were interesting, well matched and the staff were knowledgeable about the wine. The pouring sizes were also good – enough to keep pace with the food but not so much that I was under the table after 9 glasses. It was nice to see a few of my favourites as well as a bunch of new wines that I will surely be following up on.
By the time we left, all the other guests had left. Perhaps we enjoyed it more than others. I really loved it and will be going back.
It is a popular place. You have to book.
Rating? 10/10 for everything.
This great chicken recipe from Rownak. Check out her great blog here:Â http://www.banglarecipes.com.au, one I follow.
It recreates the cooking at a ‘ghat’ or port for river cruisers and launches. They are typically quick and unfussy affairs. But they always seem to taste great. I always get extra hungry when travelling!
Made it for dinner today and it was so good! Would highly recommend for an authentic Bangladeshi cooking flavour. Follow the link for the recipe.
http://www.banglarecipes.com.au/goalondo-chicken-curry-steamer-curry/
Mamak is my favourite Malaysian in Auckland. Will return. If you haven’t been already, you are missing out!
I have been meaning to go to Mamak, in The Chancery in Auckland, for some time. Friends Ray & JP said its the best Malaysian in Auckland. And they are totally on the money!
Selena & I finally managed a quick trip last Sunday. We took the Outer Loop bus from Epsom to Wellesley St. As an aside, the Outer Loop bus service is really great. Frequent, clean buses and on time!
The food was excellent. But what really did it for me was  the Teh Tarik. Strong, sweet tea and ‘pulled’ for just the right amount of froth on top. It really reminded me of sipping tea with family friends in Klang, Malaysia on the return leg of our honeymoon.
The food was also excellent. The nasi goreng is tasty and the portion sizes are generous. Being a fan, couldn’t go past the calamari. Crispy, tasty and with a nice dipping sauce. The soft-shell crab was also excellent.
The service is friendly and efficient. The place is clean and bright. Parking is available on street and in parking buildings close by. But of course, you dont have to worry about it if you take public transport like a responsible Kiwi.
Merlot really shines with its wine selection and simple but well executed food
Was in Auckland to listen to Ed Glaeser talk about urbanisation and the implications for Auckland. If you havent read his latest book, Triump of the city, you should. An unusually lucid and articulate economist, who writes without too much jargon and a lot of ‘so whats’. And he speaks at a 100 miles an hour!
After the lecture at at the Auckland Business School, which is a beautiful building by the way, headed out for dinner with some of the boys (Clinton, Andrew & Glen). Wanted to go to the Malaysian place in the Chancery, but it was closed đŚ
So we walked on to Merlot on O’Connell street. A place where Selena & I had many romantic dates when we first started going out.
It wasn’t a romantic date this time, but we had a great time. Conversation really flowed, especially after a magnificent Schubert  Syrah (Waipara grapes I think) was opened. Slightly dusty on the nose, lots of fruit (but in an Aussie way) and tannins just softened enough for it to have a lovely finish. We had a Johanneshof Gewurtztraminer dessert wine. Nice and light, good balance to our desserts (the rest had rhubarb and apple crumble).
The food was good. I had the coq a vin and a chocolate fondant for dessert. A salad requested at the last minute appeared without fuss. This used to be a regular lunch spot. They tend to do a good fish.
Ambience improved with wine and when the music and light was turned down.
Ambience: 7/10
Food: 7/10
Wine: 9/10
Gina’s is an institution. When did it change so much?
Had a great dinner at Gina’s. It was a little unexpected. Was planning a nice dinner with a couple of mates in Auckland, before a late night flight to Wellington. Comedy of errors: flight to Wellington cancelled, but before that, we turn up at French Connection, which happens to be closed.Â
Not to lose hope. We went in search of somewhere else to eat. Walking up Symonds Street we got to Gina’s. GIna’s is to my mind an Auckland institution, serving honest Italian fare for many a year. But its definitely in a different place to where I remember it (closer to the intersection) and much bigger (wasn’t it a bit of a hole in the wall?).Â
Three guys. Beers, bottle of wine and pasta, ravioli and stew. We also had bruschetta (warm and drowned in loads of olive oil – in a good way), calamari (standard, not as good as Prego) and a bruschetta variation with a crispy eggplant slice in the middle (very good). My brisket stew, which was full of flavour and the perfect antidote to an autumn night.
Waitress is helpful and tells us which dishes she likes best and helps us choose wine and dessert (chocolate tart with a gooey middle and tiramisu).Â
All well cooked and a good dinner.Friendly, warm and a pleasant surprise. Will be back. At $100 a head with the best bottle in the house, it was a pretty good deal.Â
The conversation really flowed all the way from the flaws of awful correlation analysis to how to help Campus Link, a project to get energetic uni students to tutor kids in South Auckland, to economic history. Always good fun to catch up with Andrew and Geoff for a good natter.
To end the tale, the flight really was cancelled. I didn’t go to airport to test it – had a limoncello instead. Geoff and his wife kindly dropped me off to accommodation for the night and the lovely girl on the Air NZ helpline booked me on a return flight to Wellington the next day.Â
Food, wine and travel 