Mere - Monica Galetti’s London restaurant

I have been a Monica Galetti fan since watching her on the TV programme Amazing Hotels. I enjoyed her honest and human approach to things and then one day I saw that she was wearing a pounamu necklace (NZ greenstone). A quick google revealed that she is one of ours,  Monica is Samoan and grew up in NZ. She has also been a judge on the BBC Masterchef show.

So it is no surprise that we made a booking at her London based restaurant months ago.

Mere is Monica’s mother’s name and also the French word mother so it was a perfect choice for her and her husband’s South Pacific French style cuisine.

On arrival we were invited into the lounge for a drinks and an opportunity to peruse the menu. The wine list was not offered at that time so I chose a blueberry fusion with gin, blueberry syrup and champagne foam. It was delicious but at £17 one would have to suffice. Lance had a beer which he seemed to enjoy. These were served with a small bowl of marmite popcorn.

We chose the A la carte menu as it had scallops and lobster, both of which are favourites of Lance.

Bread and marmite butter were served and the marmite butter was really delicious, sweet and salty at the same time.

A couple of aperitifs arrived by surprise. The first were some ham and cheese balls with truffle oil. I could smell the truffle oil immediately and passed mine to Lance, as I don’t like truffle oil, who said they were nice.

Then a couple of little spinach cones with a filling of some sort of chopped nut in the tip and a delicious foam that tasted of lemon and basil. 

These went down a treat, although a small seed of doubt formed in my head that they were serving us the tasting menu by mistake. But not to worry, our starters arrived, along with my New Zealand Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir.

I chose the veal cheek pasta in a peanut and elderflower foam and pear purée. Surprisingly the pasta was like a sausage shaped ravioli with the foam in the centre. It was outstanding.

Lance of course chose the hand dived scallops with shimeji mushroom, clementines and a mushroom veloute. I was a bit surprised because Lance detests mushrooms. 

The scallops arrived and the waiter was just about to pour the mushroom veloute when Lance finally clicked that is was mushroom. Fortunately he managed to stop him before he poured what was probably the most delicious mushroom veloute all over his scallops.

The scallops were served without their roe which appears to be the norm everywhere except New Zealand.  And the teeny tiny mushrooms sat among the citrus like they were scattered in a garden.  Lance said it was all lovely and the tiny mushrooms did not taste like mushrooms. He had got over excited when he saw scallops on the menu and failed to register the inclusion of his nemesis, the dreaded mushroom.

When choosing my main I decided to be adventurous and have something that I had never tried before, Anjou pigeon. 

The pigeon was served three ways. the breast was very much like duck and Cooked nicely on the rare side. I was surprised to see how red the meat was rather than white like chicken. The skin had been rendered until it was perfectly crispy and a surprisingly hearty pigeon broth was poured around the pigeon breast and beetroot. 

On a seperate dish came the tempura leg that resembled an apple with a stalk and leaf. The stalk was actually the leg bone and a little ball of meaty thigh was in cased in a crispy bread coating. The cabbage was a ‘hispi’ cabbage which is a pointed cabbage and funnily we had some the night before. Layered between the cabbage was shredded pigeon and it more of a gamey taste.

All in all I have found that I do like pigeon as all of this was delicious.

Lance’s lobster was a Scottish lobster served with black garlic, mango and puntarelle. We had to ask the waiter about the puntarelle as it was new to us, and he explained that it is a pointy leaf vegetable that is similar to chickory.

Lance orders lobster or crayfish every chance he gets and he said that this lobster was delicately undercooked which is just how he likes it. If we hadn’t been out at a posh place I think that he may have licked the plate.

The mango that was served with the lobster was served separately in a tart shell and the pastry was incredibly light and adorned with garlic flowers to add a burst of savoury.

I just could not fit desert in, but did manage a glass of New Zealand Pegasus Bay late harvest riesling which slid down nicely.

Lance had the Hokey Pokey which was described as ‘a take on a kiwi treat’. 

Manjeri cremeaux, salted toffee and honeycombed ice cream. The little drops of honeycombe were unexpectedly chewy and not the crisp Hokey Pokey that we have at home. But it was delicious. 

And lastly a couple of little monogrammed chocolates, but by this time we were bulging!

It was a really lovely meal, the service was exceptional and little Pasifika and Kiwi pieces adorned the restaurant.

We did need to slow it down though and asked for more time between courses. This needed to be an evening event and not a quick bite.

We came away with full belly’s and empty pockets.

 . 

Deanes Eipic Michelin Star

 The search for somewhere nice to dine in Belfast began 14,000 kilometres away in our home town of Auckland New Zealand. 

Booking online to ensure a table was available and the restaurant was located only metres from our hotel. 

We entered through their restaurant Deanes Meat Locker we were shown through to Eipic their fine dining restaurant and began with champagne and a beer. 

Whilst sipping we were shown the menu selections and we went for the surprise menu with ‘The Book’. More about the book later. 

Now we have eaten out at beautiful restaurants many times in our lives however, this was the first and likely the only time that I have been given a wee table for my hand bag to rest

The first surprise arrived as a threesome. Crispy chicken skin which had been rolled flat and crisped up. When I have had chicken skin prepared in this way previously it has always had a bit of a pungent fatty taste, but not this chicken skin. It was light and crunchy. 

The small quenelle shaped fish and potato pieces were rolled in polenta and lightly fried. They were piping hot and delicious dipped into the green dipping sauce. I can’t remember what the sauce was except that it cut through the flavour of the dumpling perfectly. 

And then the goats cheese. Lance doesn’t really like goats cheese, but what a shame that he loved these little morsels and I didn’t get to eat both of them myself. Sorry, I don’t know what it was coated in. I tried to take a bite so that I could investigate the insides, but it started to collapse in my fingers so down the hatch it went.

A beautifully presented sliver of seared tuna was shrouded in seaweed, greens and seeds and was sitting top a ponzu dressing. 

Along came the bread, and I generally don’t eat bread, but these two looked so good that I had to try them.

The bun had a light an crispy outside with an equally light inside, but without feeling cakey, this was Lance’s favourite bread, mine was the Irish sofa bread made with a local brew and topped with seeds. It had a sort of a treacle flavour, and the two butters complemented the bread with the sweet or salty option. We just gobbled both.

What followed was my favourite of the evening. Three baby balls of cheese were floating in a light grassy sort of oil. Sorry, but I found it hard to understand our lovely Irish waiter. A warm broth was poured over the delicate balls. I was expecting them to be more like a mozzarella however they had the smooth texture of mozzarella but had a really cheddar taste.

And now for the main course. A tender piece of rare lamb rump was, we think, cooked in a sous vide. It was served with a small potato ball (not in the photo) and a tiny copper pan with fresh peas and some sort of bean in a minty juice with tiny garlic flowers. A beautiful jus was ladled from a small copper pot . This was Lance’s favourite dish.

I paired a German pinot noir with this dish. 

We opted in for a cheese board and a desert wine. Lance went for a more alcohol based accompaniment. It was described as a wine that is not a wine. I can’t remember what it was called or where it was from, but it was a little bit brandy based and Lance loved it.

Myself, I chose a more botrytis type, it was a sauternes that was light and a perfect accompaniment for the following course.

And now for The Incredible Book. Alex Greene, the chef, won the 2020 desert that was created to celebrate 150 years of British children’s literature. He was inspired by the Oliver Jeffries book ‘ The Incredible Book Eating Boy.

The book arrived in a wooden bookish case which was opened to reveal a small 8cm x 10 cm cake that replicated a book to perfection.

We were encouraged to flip through the pages before eating it.

The book had a variety of flavours that grabbed your tastebuds as you consumed each chapter. At 25 pounds it was an expensive risk, but the flavours and the experience to truely worth every pence.

But wait, there’s more!

And now for desert. These little apple tarts had round of cooked apple that were still form but not crunchy and they had a little spice that accentuated the apple flavour.

And last but not in any way least we completed out feast with some petit fours.

We highly recommend Deane’s Eipic restaurant and can see why they deserve Michelin star status. The service and food were impeccable.

Terra - Paihia New Zealand

 After checking online for a nice place to eat and spend our 34th wedding anniversary on our weekend away in Paihia,Terra came out tops. 

Located smack bang in the centre of the village Terra offers views to die for across the bay and most importantly an interesting menu.

Unfortunately when we booked we hadn’t considered asking for a balcony table and the balcony was full when we arrived and they popped us just inside the door and we were happy with that.  The decor is modern with aqua tones that give feeling of being close to the water without being ‘kitschy’. 

The menu appeared to be a bit cryptic in its simplicity. 

Sorry about my shadow!

Corn, corn, corn?

A trio of snacks arrived and on description all was made clear. Strips of corn still attached to the cob had been grilled to represent a type of rib to be nibbled on after being rubbed through the tasty butter that had been smeared on the plate. 

Tiny corn bun type fritters were stacked with a raw scallop and a smear of some sort of buttery mayo to hold the layers together. Served on a slice of wood (not to be eaten ) amongst scatter corn kernels.

And the last of the three corns was a chicken popcorn that was truly to die for. You know, one of those things that you think about well after the event and yearn for more. 

The chicken had a tasty crispy coating and was served with a dollop of blue cheesy mayo, caviar and caramel popcorn. 

Trevelly, plum and rice was so much more than that.  The trevelly was fresh and raw with three slices layered between slices of plum with a berry jelly and a berry compote. The vanilla gelato sat on what appeared to be some sort of dried rice, however on further inspection, with my mouth, I found it to be crunchy and it popped like rice bubbles but with a nutty flavour. The flavours and textures complemented each other perfectly.

The pork, oh the pork! I think this was my favourite of the evening. The Pork belly in sweet chilli just melted in my mouth. It was served on a crispy tortilla, with finely sliced fennel bulb, rock melon, pomegranate, and goats cheese. Every mouthful was an explosion of flavours. 

The palate cleanser!

Caipirinha is served with some gelato nestled on a bed of jellied muscovado sugar. It seemed innocent enough until we agreed to the option of a Brazilian liqueur Cachaca to be added. We toyed with comparisons for a while, grappas, or perhaps rocket fuel. It certainly provided a kick that cleansed our palates. When asked by the waiter how we liked it Lance replied, “I’m a bit scared that if I fart I will end up in New York”.

The great thing about a degustation menu is that the small potions allow you to partake in so many different dishes, but I have to admit that I was starting to feel a little full.

The two lamb cutlets arrived with a quinelle of puréed parsnip, a little crunchy something (by now I was well into the bottle of Amisfield Sauvignon Blanc so excuse my memory) and parmesan greens. The lamb was great, tender, and perfectly cooked.

And finally desert, well the first of the two deserts. Grilled pineapple, a black sesame wafer and I think the ice cream was black sesame as well and a little doughnutty ball. I thought the ball tasted a lot like galub jamun an Indian desert. It had the same density which was likely to be coconut. I loved it, but Lance was not that keen. The sesame wafer was really great and when I picked it up  and it exploded down my front I made sure I picked up every crumb.  

The last dish of the evening was a pear and white chocolate slice that resembled a blonde brownie. The pear jellies were light and almost fragrant in flavour and the addition of spindles fresh thyme provide a burst of contrast. 

All in all a successful evening and a place to visit when in Paihia. 

Food: 5

Comfort:5

Service:5

Price:3 (this included a bottle of wine, some beers a two desert wines. 

Grading

Food 

1 - 2 Won’t be back

3 - 4  Might be back

  5     Can’t wait to get back

Comfort

1 - 2  Just stay for a quick bite

3 - 4  Okay for a medium price

  5     Could stay longer

Service

1 - 2  Lucky I don’t complain

3 - 4  Ho hum

   5    Expect a great tip

Price

1  change from $100 for two people

2 $100 - $200 for two people

3 $200 - $300 for two people

4 $300 - $400 for two people

5 $$$ dust off the visa you’re going to need it.

Pasta & Cuore - Mt Eden Village, Auckland

 Two things brought us to this restaurant this evening, the first being that we had recently purchased some handmade raviolii and pesto from an Italian gentleman at the French Market in Parnell. It was so good that we lusted after more pasta. Secondly I had received a voucher as part of a prize at the School quiz night. Not as you may have assumed for intelligent quiz question knowledge, but for the best dressed woman! Again an assuption may have taken you in the wrong direction, this was not a glammed up event, I was dressed as a slutty middle aged 'Westie' woman. Funny that I won because I am a middle aged 'Westie' woman, it must have been the addition of 'slutty' that got me the prize. 

Anyway back to food.

Every morning on my way to school I sit at the traffic lights and ponder whether this restaurant is as it looks, 'authentic'.  Actually it is more than just authentic food, the host shares her delightful story in the menu and you can almost see her as a small child in the kitchen covered with flour helping her Nona.

Auckland generally welcomes warms evenings at this time of year however the temperature had dropped this week and seated outside we were a little chilly, nothing that a light jumper would have taken care of had I had thought to have brought one. With the side blinds lowered, the heaters popped on and a glass of wine down I warmed up nicely. Although I did suffer from jersey envy when other customers popped them on.

The menu is cunningly presented as if a small child may have constructed it. The cover is a piece of corrigated cardboard that could have come from a box and is folded to create a booklet. All of the menus are explained right down to the style of pasta and it's origin. I found it very intriguing and I feel that Lance was a bit frustrated at how long it was taking me to choose.

We decided that we would skip the antipasto and go straight to the pasta and chose three main dishes to share. Our lovely young waiter informed us that the Gnocchi alla Romana would take 25 minutes to prepare. This gnocchi is a semolina gnocchi and was baked in large rounds. I loved it! It was light and creamy with a crispy cheesy top. Lance was expecting a more traditional gnocchi and this was not his favourite, which was great because it meant that I had more!

Whilst we were waiting for our food an antipasto of cold meats and cheeses came out to the neighbouring table. Each piece was explained and the delightful Italian accent made it sounds even better than it probably already was. It looked fantastic with the cured meats sitting up of the board in delicate folds. I hazard a guess that in the future we will not be passing up on the antipasto!

Our other two pasta dishes were a tortelinna con panna and ravioli with tomato sauce.

The tortelini was good with firm pasta and a thick creamy sauce that clung to its sides. I would have liked a bit of pepper to grind on it though. 

And the pièce de résistance was raviolli in tomato sauce. Sounds so simple doesn't it. The half rounds of raviolli sat in a tomato sauce that did not drown them, it was just there, just enough for a bit if a coating and enough to scoop some with a spoon. And as you scooped you snagged a couple of the cherry tomatoes that were perfectly cooked, not too firm and not too soft, just cracking open to reveal their seeds and goodness. The ravioli was stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese, they were light and perfectly cooked. This was Lance's favourite dish, but I did manage to snaffle a fair amount.

Deserts were simple, Lance ordered a panna cotta with chocolate sauce and myself a rich choclate mousse with crumbled amaretto biscuits on top.

I did find it difficult to choose my wine as the menu offered what looked to be only Italian wines. The pinot grigio was not what I expected but good enough for me to have a second glass. Lance was happy with the zero Heiniken. 

We left content and not over full, but replete. This is another place that we will visit once more.

 

Pinocchio Restaurant Greytown New Zealand - 9 January 2021

 Lucky we booked! Situated on the main strip of Greytown along with every other retail outlet is a lovely restaurant called Pinocchio. We were happy to sit inside and were snuggled around the corner of the bar away from other diners. 

Not too long after being seated our order was taken for food and drinks. We had the option of a five or seven course tasting menu or al a carte and we chose the latter. Unfortunately oysters were not available, this was disappointing but just one of those things that can’t always be helped. Lance ordered beef carpaccio with black truffle, cherry, parmigiana reggiano, tomato and nut praline and he raved about it. I chose the prawn and crayfish ceviche with coconut, green chilli, lime, red onion and coriander. This was as good as any I have had and the best bit was that they gave me a spoon.  There is nothing worse than eating all of the meaty bits with your fork and having to leave the delicious juice in the bottom of the bowl.

I neglected to mention that the entrees arrived very quickly and we hadn’t yet received our drink order.  In fact it appears they had been forgotten and we had to ask. But this error was quickly rectified and the rest of the service was great.

After the swift arrival of entrees I was worried that this may be one of those evenings when here you have finished before an hour has passed, however we had a wee wait until our mains arrived which was perfect.

Lance enjoyed his confit duck leg, parsnip purée, potato rossi in a cherry and orange jus. In fact the duck just fell off the bone and was moist and succulent. My medium rare beef fillet, beef cheek croquettes, cauliflower purée, mustard mayo and nuts was ‘to die for’. The beef was sitting on tasty big flat black mushrooms and was cooked to perfection and well rested as not on droplet of blood came from the beautifully pink flesh and yet it was tender and juicy. We added only one side to our meal as we had over indulged the previous evening. So a bowl of chunky and crispy potatoes sat between us. 

I had been eyeing the deserts as they floated past all evening and we shared a coconut panna cotta, summer berries, lemon curd, merengue and the most amazing mango sorbet. This all slid down very nicely.

This restaurant is run by a husband and wife team and well worth a visit. For a bistro style restaurant they are serving food that is well thought out and cooked to perfection.

Grading

Food 

1 - 2 Won’t be back

3 - 4  Might be back

  5     Can’t wait to get back

Comfort

1 - 2  Just stay for a quick bite

3 - 4  Okay for a medium price

  5     Could stay longer

Service

1 - 2  Lucky I don’t complain

3 - 4  Ho hum

   5    Expect a great tip=]\\    

Price

1  change from $100 for two people

2 $100 - $200 for two people

3 $200 - $300 for two people

4 $300 - $400 for two people

5 $$$ dust off the visa you’re going to need it.

Food 5

Comfort 5

Service 4

Price 3

Culprit Restaurant January 2021

 Culprit Restaurant - Auckland

On New Years Eve we were planning to go into Auckland City to see the New Year in and had been looking for a dining option. Fortunately, unfortunately - our son Declan had made a booking for Culprit for the 10 course New Year Epic Menu. Unfortunately his partner Samara was sick, fortunately we were free, unfortunately the booking was for 5pm. Anyway we took up the offer and found ourselves entering the staircase to Culprit at 4:50pm. Not our usual dining time, and making it a long time to last until midnight but we were there boots and all. In fact we were the first diners to enter.

The menu consisted of eight bite size selections before a main then desert.

Hunker down and grab a snack because here we go...

I chose a glass of the Laurent Perrier Champagne to start and it was a perfect accompaniment to the Fresh oysters served in the shell with rock melon and tequila. Tequila seemed like a heavy option for oysters but they slid down nicely with the zing of tequila complimented with the freshness of tiny cubes of rock melon. A great start!

Arriving with the oysters was something hiding under some sort of puffy crisp. I always think that oysters are a taste of the sea, however the Kina (sea urchin) cream served with the waianae and tapioca cracker had a different taste that took me straight to the ocean. The Kina cream had a richness that caught you right at the back of your palate. Both dishes were cleaned up quickly.

The next course arrived swiftly which led us to the conclusion that there must be another sitting after ours and they would be moving us along as soon as possible. So we tried to slow down. However this proved to be extremely difficult as we gobbled down the next two arrivals. 

The Yellowtail kingfish sushimi with lacto fermented sweetcorn (what ever that means) and habanero dressing proved to be another show stopper. My only complaint was that it was a dish for two people and there were three slices of kingfish. There could easily have been a fight for the extra bit, but we conducted ourself with dignity and shared it without a fight.

The Matangi beef tataki was rare slices of beef served with a sliver of yellow plum and ponzu mayo and was superb. The beef was tender and had a marbling of fat which the tangy plum cut through nicely. We had to remind each other once again to slow down because we were four courses in and it was still only 5;30pm!

The restaurant doesn’t present itself as a fine dining place however the food says something different.  Culprit’s point of difference is that it brings its food around on trolleys. I am not too sure how this works as on this night and the one time we had visited previously the menu had been set. Obviously we need to come back for a ‘trolley’ experience.

Back to the food which was still arriving swiftly. The thought of chicken liver parfait served with fresh doughnuts was intriguing and I thought the doughnuts must have some sort of savoury slant. But it was not to be, the doughnuts were light and fluffy and would have been just as good served with jam as they were with the chicken liver parfait.  Just to give it that jammy flavour though the platter was drizzled with a boysenberry and pinot noir syrup.

I know that you must be finding it hard to believe that we could shove this much food into our mouths when the hour hadn’t even reached 6pm, but we persevered and were delighted with the Mills Bay mussel and kumera fritter tacos with saffron roullie and iceberg. I really didn’t know whether to pick this up and eat it like a taco or use my knife and fork. So I started with fingers and finished with cutlery. This was a truely delicious blend of flavours and had a street food feel with an extra finesse of flavour.

As I am writing this I am thinking that we must be up to the mains, but my photo trail tells me diffferent and next on the list of treats was Wasabi peas. These fresh sugar snap peas had been delicately coated in a cumin tempura batter and were served with a delicate NZ wasabi aioli. The crisp fresh flavour of the peas matched perfectly with the wasabi peas were devoured smartly. So simple yet devine.

The last of our bite size servings was bone marrow served with house made Vogel’s bread and sliced caper berries. Lance and I really could have easily had a tussle over the marrow, they called it ‘marrowmite’ as it was served with Vogel’s.  For those of you who have never resided in New Zealand our Vogels bread is epic and is best served with, in my opinion, vegemite. Others may beg to differ and choose martmite, but the bone marrow with caper berries and a squeeze of lemon was really great. And again a unique combination.

In the short time that we had to breathe until our main course came they slipped in a small palate cleanser. The tiny jelly jet planes made from Mount Edward vermouth and a tiny elderflower were placed delicately next to a sprinkling of blackberry sherbet. You know when food is great but also extraordinary when you each take a bite and then look at each other with surprise and delight.  And that is just what this evening was all about.

 For the main course we had a choice of beef short rib or cornflake eggplant. No prizes for guessing that the short rib won the lottery. It was served with a pickled lime salsa and freeze dried kimchi. Of course it just fell off the bone as any good short rib should. The accompanying dishes were chook salt stuffin, chicken skin, sage, nectarine panzella and curious tomatoes stracciatella.  My only complaint was that the beef short rib was served in a small bowl and I would liked to have the ‘chook salt stuffin’ swishing around in the juice of the short rib to sop up the juices and the tomatoes close by to cut through the richness of the dish. However the whole lot disappeared quickly and it was now only 6:30pm.

And then there was desert...

We tried to slow them down but were told that we needed to be out by 7pm. I know that this is the custom to ensure that the restaurant can get two sittings or more in, but it was a shame to have to rush such a wonderful eating experience.

So here we go for the last on the list; A ginger kiss ice cream sando with rhubarb  and ginger jam and strawberry condensed milk ice cream with a flourish of candy floss on top.

We finished the evening with a nice little desert wine. And we had managed to polish off a few bears, four glasses of delectable Amisfield pinot gris as well as my champagne.  Please note that Lance was drinking wine as well as beer and I was not the main consumer! This did take the price of the evening up to a higher level of dining so I have not graded the restaurant for price. However I believe the menu was $120 per person which is not unreasonable for something of this standard. On checking the website I found that they do offer some alternative options. And we were also eligible for a discount on a drink in their bar across the road ‘Little Culprit’.

A memorable night although a little rushed.