:: The Frustrated Food Critic ::

Oh My Goodness.....Oh My Goodness!!!!!

2011-02-17T12:55:00.004+13:00

Well that's my quote from "Annie", which I usually say if I have found something gorgeous, and this just has to be it!

This is a picture of today's lunch on my office desk. Well, actually its the bit I had after my filled roll, but never mind that. This is a Lemon Lamington from Viva Cafe in Katikati, and it is soooooo gorgeous. I just had to put it down after taking that bite, and take a photo of it.

It tastes as light and fluffy as it looks. The lemon flavour is very light and is found in a lovely gooey layer in the middle of the lamington. I love the yellowy goodness of it, its just so pretty! Way more exciting than your usual brown or pink one. And if you eat one at the cafe you get to smother it with cream as well.

mmmmmmmmyummo

Corner Stone Bethlehem

2010-08-03T22:46:00.010+12:00

Lamb rump, mushroom and bacon mash, beans, garlic cream sauce $30
Rhubarb crumble, ice cream, cream $12

Okay, so I dont know if you've figured it out by now but my husband works overseas and when he comes home we go out for meals.

I havent blogged for........ it seems like soooooolong, but its because I'm on my own and I havent had anyone to go out with.

Well, this particular night. hubby was home and we had made a date with some wonderful old friends. to meet up at the Corner Stone Pub at the Bethlehem Shopping Complex.

Now I HAD heard some good stuff about this place so was quite looking forward to it.

And I must say that we had an awesome night catching up with old friends and remeniscing and raving and all those things you do when you have a few wines and a loose tongue. Hey but lets talk about the food. I think everyone enjoyed their food but me........and Im wondering if Im jinxed or Im just plain fussy, but I will leave it for you to judge.

We didnt have starters cos we were just plain hungry I think, so it was straight into the mains.

The picture (above) looks nice, but basicly this was 4 slices of roast lamb on top of mashed potato (which had chopped mushrooms and bacon in it) with a few beans and a runny gravy. I could have done better at home........really I do a way better roast lamb than this.

Of the four pieces of meat on my plate, the first piece was all grissle (grissel, grizzzzzzle), you know what I mean. The next piece was almost raw, so that it was ...............slimey and hard to cut. The other two pieces were ok. Once I got through them I got to my mash.

Mash shouldnt have other stuff in it. This mash had bits of bacon and mushroom. It was a smooth mash with lumps of other stuff in it. You could not taste the mushroom or the bacon.

The beans were very nice. About 6 of them....Yay! see the pic. What kind you may ask? Fava beans? Not really sure, but they were tasty, and the sauce (runny gravy) around the dish was tasty but really did just taste like runny gravy, not "garlic cream sauce".

The whole meal was very disappointing. But I ate it because I was having a good time with friends and I was HUNGRY!

Next came dessert.

Im sorry, but really this was a total disaster. Why did I even choose Rhubarb Crumble. To be honest I wish I hadnt because it was probably to date the worst dessert I have had in a restaurant so far.

Take a look at the photos. This is my Rhubarb Crumble. Can you see the crumble????

When it came out my first thoughts were, that it it was huge, then I was wondering if it was what I had ordered. I was looking for a browned crumble. You can see that the ice cream ball on the top is sinking into the soupy mixture (see the close up picture).

A crumble is normally a browned mixture of flour, butter and sugar or other dry mixtures on top of a stewed fruit.

This was a soupy bowl of overcooked rhubarb and whatever was left of a crumble was sunken into the mix with the dollop of icecream slowly following suit.

It was incredibly bad.

This is the first time I have not eaten what I have been given. I really did try, but this dish was disgusting. The Rhubarb was like soup and it was soaking in a super super sugar syrup, that you could not taste any rhubarb flavour whatsoever.

When the waitress collected the dishes she asked why I hadnt eaten the dessert and I said it was just like a soup. She deducted the cost off the bill, which was very commendable. However, I really would have liked a dessert!!!

I had a wonderful night with friends but the food at this restaurant was sub-standard and I would not recommend it to anyone.

Sometimes food can come out looking kinda wonderful, but when you taste it and examine it, it just does not come up to the standard you are paying for.

We also found this venue to be overheated. We felt quite hot at our table.

I also watched the chef after he finished his shift, come out to the front of the restaurant and smoke a cigarette. Seeing this often bothers me. I once saw a chef come out of a cafe onto the street front in his dirty apron and smoke a cigarette right in front of the customers. It made me not want to go to his cafe. It is best if the staff in the kitchen remain anonymous, especially if they have the habit of smoking.

To be honest I dont remember anything about the service at this restaurant. It was pretty average. The food came out in good time.......hhhmmm perhaps quite a longish wait for our mains.

I do like the dark decor of restaurants/cafes. It seems to be the in thing to have dark tables and flooring. So that was a plus for this venue. But this was more of a sports bar and had 3 flat screen TVs going the whole time.

Im sure it must be a great sports bar, but a restaurant it is not!

Positives:

Nice decor.

Negatives:

The food!

FFC Rating:

Presentation - Average - Actually I have to say there was no effort at all in making the dishes look anything more than average.

Taste - Average, I could make better at home.

Size - Average

Service - Average

Venue - Nice

If you think Ive been harsh, take a look at the food from the photos I have of Mount Bistro meals and just compare to the boring photos from this venue.

PLUTO!

2010-07-07T17:46:00.002+12:00

Pluto on Devonport Road, Tauranga has to be the best place to pick up a nice hot soup for a winter lunch on the run. Their Seafood Chowder is awesome! Grab a roll from the counter top and you get a little packet with knife, spoon, butter and serviette. Amazing value for money and extremely yum! When I was there I couldnt get over how busy they were. Its obviously the favourite place for workers to pick up a salad or soup to go.

Alimento, Tauranga

2010-06-27T20:13:00.007+12:00

Big Breakfast

Lemon & Honey Chicken Salad

Lemon Tart and Chocolate Truffle

It was lunch time but that didnt stop my husband from ordering a big breakfast meal at Alimento this particular day.

So thats his lovely breakfast meal at the top, which he assured me tasted wonderful and is very nicely presented. The pieces of bread were quite large and about an inch thick. A bit much for him as he is gluten intolerant. I didnt really notice too many gluten free offerings at this cafe.

When you arrive at Alimentos, you are sure to find a long line, expecially at lunch time. You order your meal at the counter and then go off and find a table. The building used to be the Masonic Lodge. It has a nice front room looking out onto the street and a lovely courtyard area with a huge tree, and in the back there is a more quiet room with a lovely warm fireplace. Its recommended for business meetings.

The cabinet had all kinds of gorgeous looking food in it. The noodle salad I chose looked so nice and I noted that it had lemon in it, which is one of my favorite flavours. On the counter they have 3 empty plates in a stack to show you the size of salad you can order. I thought this was a great idea, so I ordered a medium serving.

We also ordered a dessert and a cup of tea and asked for them to come last. The happy smiling assistant said to just give them a yell when we were ready for our second course.

The food came in good time and we both enjoyed it but I have to be honest and say that the chicken salad had very little chicken in it, you only have to look at the photo and see if you can see any.....um there might be 3 tiny pieces and a cashew nut in that pic........
There was no lemon or honey flavour. I think they just called it that because that was what they made their dressing with, but still I couldnt taste either.

The dessert was lovely. Came a little late as it was lunch time and after asking the waitress we think she actually forgot. We then got our dessert but the tea didnt arrive and we had to ask her again for it.

The tea for two arrived as tea leaves in a pot and hanging on the side of the pot these nifty little strainers, the handles of which were piping hot from being stuck in the teapot! They were quite strange and I have never come across them before. It took us a while to figure out how they worked and to this day I still dont understand why the strainer has a little cup under it. They gave us two, when only one was necessary, and they gave us coffee cups, which is my pet hate. Thick rimmed shallow coffee cups with tiny handles. Sux for drinking tea.
The lemon tart was yum, but the crust was very very thick and I left it behind. Hubby loved his chocolate truffle.

Positives:

Great range of food.

But if not for the lovely venue and atmosphere, the place would be standard.

Negatives:

Tea served with coffee cups!

Stingey on the meat in the chicken salad

FFC Rating:
Presentation - Very Good
Taste - Good
Size - Very Good
Service - Good
Venue - Very Good

My life's not all about food!

2010-06-25T17:15:00.005+12:00

Thats right, my life isnt all about food. And if I keep to food on this blog I will soon run out. Lets face it I cant go out for dinner every night of the week. So it looks like this food critic blog is going to develop into just my diary of all the things I like, ESPECIALLY FOOD. But today I thought I would share with you this very cute card I got for mothers day last month. My son and his girlfriend sent it to me from Melbourne. It folds out and makes a really cute display, dont you agree? And yes, I do like fairies!

Mount Bistro - Dessert at last!

2010-06-23T19:10:00.009+12:00

RASPBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE CHEESECAKE

Vanilla bean cheesecake studded with raspberry & white chocolate truffles

CITRUS SELECTION
A rolled citrus sponge with lemon posset & icecream with lemoncello syrup

Here are the gorgeous desserts we had at the Mount Bistro for my birthday dinner.

My husband said that his cheesecake was light and creamy and just as good as our daughter makes. She is a patisserie chef and makes the best cheesecake we have ever tasted, so that was really saying something!

My dessert looked fabulous. Parts of it were just beautiful to eat and parts were a little disappointing. The icecream was so creamy and the posset was really gorgeous. Lemon posset is basicly sweetened thick cream with lemon added and set in the fridge. It was very delicate tasting, but I was hoping for some strong lemon flavours and I think they were all a bit too light for me. The sponge was lovely and fresh but I couldnt taste any lemon. And the little piped bits that looked like cream on both our desserts were hard, as though they had been made a long time before. Perhaps they were supposed to be like that and I have just learned something new!

Both desserts could be described as "melt in your mouth" and both were $15 each which I thought was pretty reasonable.

FFC Rating:

Presentation - Excellent

Taste - Excellent

Size - Very Good

Service - Excellent

Venue - Very Good

Mount Bistro - Mains

2010-06-17T19:14:00.006+12:00

EYE FILLET STEAK – (HARMONY ORGANIC)
Char-grilled with braised osso bucco on fried Israeli couscous

DUET OF LAMB – (HARMONY ORGANIC)
Honey glazed rack, smoked lamb loin, kumara confit & coriander, kiwifruit walnut pesto.

Just looking at all this food is making me want to eat it all over again. These mains were amazing! The waitress did actually say that the meals were a good size but I guess we thought we had better cover ourselves in case she ate like a sparrow! So we both ordered some veges. I ordered the sauteed and hubby ordered the tempura.

With hubby being gluten free the waitress asked the chef to replace the couscous, and so the steak came on a bit of potato mash with fries on the side. Great that they dont mind providing for different dietary needs. The menu also indicates gluten free dishes.

My meal was a good size and I was blown away by the flavours. There were 5 pieces of honey glazed rack cooked to perfection, just a bit pink and the two pieces of loin had a lovely smokey flavour.

I loved the confit of kumara which sat on the pesto. A yellow kumara on the bottom, orange in the middle and topped with a deep red/purple kumara which looked like a beet root. Im not sure if it was a kumara coloured in some way or if it was natural. It all tasted so good with the pesto and nuts under it and the gorgeous sauce.

Everything came out at the right temperature, even the vegetables. The tempura veges were delicious with such a thin coating of batter.

This must be one of the best meals I have had in a very very long time.

See my next post for the dessert!

Mount Bistro, Mount Maunganui

2010-06-16T11:13:00.008+12:00

SWORD N SAUCE-RY (2007 Monteiths beer & wild food challenge national winner)
Skewered scallops, prawn tail, crayfish, salmon & fresh fish
flambéed with horopito & lime vodka served with dipping sauces

CHICKEN LIVERS WITH GRAND MARNIER PATE
Sautéed livers with spinach & bacon, Rewana loaf and pate

It was my birthday the other day and my present was a night out at a great restaurant with my best friend (my husband). We just love eating out and were determined to visit this restaurant which is located right below the Mount opposite the hot pools. It is very popular so it is essential to book in advance. We parked right outside the front door....good start, and on walking in were greeted by the gorgeous staff dressed as above. We soon found this was all to do with the Monteiths Beer and Wild Food Challenge. The girls were dressed as wolves in line with their entry dish "Twisted Tale" which is based on the story of the three little pigs and of course features wild boar.

The chef, Stephen Barry (in the background of my photo), is an award winner and you can check out all his awards at their website here.

Today Im just going to critique the entree because I just have so much to say about this restaurant.

We ordered this entree to share, which we would definitely recommend - cost $20. The portions are generous with all the meals.

My husband is gluten intolerant and mentioned this when ordering the main and so the waitress suggested she add some gluten free crackers to the entree as well. Please, somebody come up with a different gluten free cracker than Sakata Rice Crackers. My hubby eats them all the time at home, so a bit of a let down there. They are in the pic above.

The dish was large and the chicken livers were hot and beautifully cooked with the spinach and coated in a tasty sauce. Thats the Rewana bread sliced up in the centre, tinted pink! And the pate sitting in the spoon was amazing. It was so smooth and a beautiful full flavour. I loved the presentation on the spoon - really different.

The waiting staff were definitely of a high quality. We watched the waiter don a crown and serve up a previous winning Wild Food dish to the table beside us. The lights were turned off momentarily as they lit up the Sword N Sauce-Ry dish pictured above. Great entertainment.

Next post - The mains!

Sad!

2010-06-07T18:57:00.005+12:00

Its a wet holiday weekend and I'm afraid I havent ventured too far to go out for a meal so I just thought I would share this video with you. The guy behind them is so intrigued but trying to hide it. How on earth could you enjoy a meal if this is how you have to eat it! I thank God I was born in New Zealand.

The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants!

2010-06-04T08:00:00.002+12:00

Quay - Peter Gilmore

The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2010 have now been announced. The list is the result of an extensive poll of the world’s most celebrated chefs, renowned food critics, leading restaurateurs and well-travelled gourmands – collectively they are The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy.

The top restaurant in the world is Noma in Denmark. Visit their website here.

Check out the list here.

Thats right folks - New Zealand didnt feature anywhere! Not even in the top 51 - 100! So I guess I will have to showcase the closest thing to it and that is Quay restaurant in Sydney, Australia. They were number 27.

Looking out over Sydney harbour, Peter Gilmore serves rare and organic vegetables, and enthrals diners with his fascination with flavour and textures – Mud Crab and Pearl Meat, Five textures of Southern Lobster, and his legendary Eight Texture Chocolate Cake to name a few. Patrons are also reminded to take a camera for the stunning views.
Quay has now taken the accolade of Best Restaurant in Australasia, as well as a host of other awards in the last 18 months.

So lets check out some of his food:

Im a sucker for punishment!!!!

2010-06-03T15:24:00.009+12:00

Viva

Cafe @ the balcony - Eggs Benedict

I love my friends, and when they ask me to lunch for their birthday, they get to pick the cafe! So here I am, I find myself back in a cafe I would not have chosen to return to - Cafe @thebalcony. Hmmmmm so what to order............. definitely not a panini! (see my post on 23 May) I decided that if I have to be back at this place I will order something that I can compare to another cafe, so Eggs Benedict it was. The menu said it came with Salmon and the price - $17.00. It was suggested I might like it with bacon instead as it is cheaper - $15.00. Im thinking, these eggs better be pretty good.

So here we have two photos, the top pic from Viva Cafe, Katikati, I have used 3 times now. Its a good example of eggs benedict. Compare it to the meal below at Cafe @the balcony. One looks delicious, the other looks a bit sad. They managed to burn the extemely fatty bacon all around the edges! The eggs were fine but the hollandaise sauce was insipid, not rich and creamy like Vivas. The bread apparently is home made but it just tasted like regular bread. For this price I would have expected far better quality bacon and perhaps a bread like turkish or ciabatta.

And Im damned if I could find any salt and pepper on any of the tables. I love cracked pepper on my eggs.

So, like I said earlier, this meal was $15. For only one more dollar I can get the gorgeous Warm Pork Sandwich from Bravos (see my other 23 May post). What more can I say.......

.........I love my friends!

Oh and I didnt drink tea this time. Had a filter coffee.....ho hum.

No FFC Ratings - cant be bothered.

Vue de monde, Melbourne

2010-06-01T18:46:00.010+12:00

dessert!

http://www.vuedemonde.com.au//default.aspx

Okay, so I havent been there, but I hope to go to this restaurant one day. I checked it out on the internet because my daughter is working there as a chef de patisserie. Their website is amazing. The food is a work of art and the home page shows these dishes being plated up in a sort of stop motion fashion. When you go there check out the Photo Gallery, you will be blown away. They have a cafe, a bistro, and the restaurant, which are run by chef Shannon Bennet.

Their home page says - Vue de monde is testament to the belief that restaurant food can be a wondrous, unforgettable experience.

Check out the menu page. Menu gourmand - 5 courses for $150.

Oh if only we had a restaurant like this near by, I guess I would go bankrupt dining there!

LongRoom, Ponsonby, Auckland

2010-05-28T23:11:00.001+12:00

Fish of the day wrapped in prosciutto w' creamed leeks, seasonal vegetables & potato fondant • $28.00.

Beer battered market fish w’ fries, minted pea puree & egg tar tare • $22.00

During one of my day trips up to Auckland to see family I took my daughter out to lunch and we tried this classy looking restaurant and bar in Ponsonby. Choosing it had alot to do with the fact that we had a baby buggy and it was easy to get into.

Well, what a surprise, we both chose the fish.

My daughter absolutely loved her meal and there was definitely no complaining coming from her direction.

My meal was nice, but not memorable and as you can see had far too many fries.

I must add to my list of pet peeves the serving of battered fish on top of fries. This is always a bad idea. In this particular case the fish had not been drained very well and so as I ate through my fries I reached an oil puddle in the middle of my plate with fries swimming in it.

The minted pea puree was very tasty and something I have never had before, but Im not sure it really matched the dish that well.

An interesting way to present the lemon garnish - wrapped in a piece of muslin. It didnt really work that well.

In the end I wished I had ordered my daughters dish which looked scrumptious.

The service was good but they werent very busy as it was after the big lunch time rush. Once again dark tables and dark polished floors seemed to give a cosy, modern and stylish atmosphere.

Positives:

Classy style

Negatives:

Battered fish not drained enough and served on top of fries.

Too many fries.

FFC Rating:

Presentation - Good

Taste - Good

Size - Good

Service - Good

Venue - Very Good

Tauranga Airport!

2010-05-27T08:00:00.004+12:00

Time for something different.

Airport Food..............eeeeew. Seeing as I have frequented airports alot over the last 3.5 years I thought I would just add in this little critique of our local one.

And no, Im not the jetsetting type. I am the one who stands at the airport waving to the plane as my hubby takes off once again to work overseas. Departure has always been from Auckland, but his latest contract has allowed him to leave from Tauranga, which Im loving. Wearing a track to and from Auckland every few weeks was not fun! So I've visited Tauranga Airport three times now and I must say it is a very clean, tidy and modern airport, with good parking.

Now for the food! Yes you know it - sandwiches lined up in a row in triangular see thru plastic cases. You peer at them wondering how old they are, how long they've been sitting in that cabinet with people looking at them and never buying them! You glance up at the girl at the counter with the scowl on her face and the dirty apron and you wonder if she made them. There seems to be no-one else at the one and only food kiosk and you really dont like the thought that this girl may have thrown these sandwiches together!

So, we chose a baked product, a biscuit, which surely would have been brought in, unpacked, and gently plopped in the glass jar on the counter. My husband is gluten intolerant, which causes him no end of annoyance when he travels, but amazingly they had one jar with gluten free chocolate chippies. I chose a chocolate biscuit for myself, but at the last minute was tempted to swap it for a fresh looking danish.

Tea for two is our usual choice of beverage when we are together and it was pretty standard, although the girl tried to give me Earl Grey.......no thank you. One thing hubby and I agree on - Earl Grey tea tastes like soap! Go figure!

Service at the counter was by Miss Grumpy who looked like she hadnt cracked a smile in a very very long time. I hope that nothing bad had happened to her personally, but Im just so amazed at how people who are serving the public dont smile or have a kind word for the customer. It would make such a difference. Even a suggestion of purchasing something else with your order. But all is done in silence with a scowl.

Once we were seated I began reading a free copy of "Creative Beat" while my husband was filling in a travel document. There were TWO articles on Katikati in it, which I was most surprised to see. One on the murals in the town and one on the new Dramatic Theatre Group which my friend has started. Katikati......we're a special little town.

As we ate and drank and waited for the flight, which happened to be delayed, we watched the kiosk girl attend to the used tables. To our surprise she did not wipe them with a cleaning cloth but just scraped the crumbs off with her hands.........amazing! It saddens me that people dont realise how lucky they are these days to have work and that they dont do the job wholeheartedly. When you do your job well you will get noticed eventually and when it comes time for promotions you are more likely to be the successful one.

Oh, and the gluten free biscuit was hard and crumbly as they usually are but lucky for me, my danish was soft and fresh!

Tea was average

Smith & McKenzie (Chophouse), Chartwell, Hamilton

2010-05-26T12:05:00.000+12:00

BUTCHERS BLOCK -- $23.90, FISH & CHIPS - Fresh fish bound in a crispy beer batter w/ steak fries, mesculin salad, & tartare sauce -- $16.90

I know....... here I am, eating fish again! AND its at a steakhouse type venue. This restaurant is known for its meat, but I eat so much meat at home I just love to have fish when I go out. My home town of Katikati is not too good on providing us home cooks with a ready supply of fresh fish, and the important word there is FRESH!

We started off with the Butchers Block which is a Platter of smoked salmon, marinated mussels, salt & pepper squid, chorizo, grilled beef, smoked chicken, sundried tomatoes, mixed olives, grilled vegetables, bread, crostini & dips (enough to share). This was a lovely way to start the meal and was just enough for the four of us to get a taste of everything but not be too full for the mains.

I loved my fish & chip meal! It was sooooo tasty. The batter was lovely and thin and underneath, the fish was soft and moist........well done chef! I just love the way they are doing fries these days, cutting them into flatter more rectangular shapes rather than square. It must help with the cooking.

What about the salad you say? Well, yes it was nice and moist with a tasty dressing, but my only gripe would be the mesculin was all one leaf, which was long and stalky and messy to eat as well as a bit stringy. Not easy to cut up or put in your mouth without getting awfully messy.

The venue was cosy even though it was large. I liked the dark brown decor and there were lots of deer antlers about, chrome and meat hooks, but in a stylish way.

Our waitress was a bit ditzy and didnt quite have the restaurant language mastered, but we got our meals in good time and they werent very busy. I think the meal cost a little more than the price Ive posted above, which comes from menumania.
I have heard other good reports that the Seafood Chowder here is also excellent.
The four of us were happy with our lunch and some of the meals were quite large, hence we did not attempt dessert.

Positives:

Fresh and flavourful food.

Negatives:

Ditzy waitress, and I will say that my husband thought his steak was slightly tough.

FFC Rating:

Presentation - Good

Taste - Excellent

Size - Very Good

Venue - Very Good

Twickenham Restaurant, Katikati

2010-05-25T17:50:00.000+12:00

Lamb kebabs with rice, and Grilled Mushrooms on potato with basil.

Twickenham Restaurant is an historical homestead built in 1896. It has a beautiful atmosphere both inside and out, with alot of tables set up in the established garden. It is an ideal garden wedding venue.

My friend and I popped in one Sunday lunch recently and had a light meal. The food was pleasantly presented, but honestly it was not memorable, and my friend and I agreed that the food seemed to lack in flavour. Perhaps it needed more seasoning?

We were enjoying a lovely chat out in the garden, but were soon surrounded by a large party of people who were obviously having a private function. The waitress came and asked us if we would be leaving soon. This was something that should have been pointed out to us when we arrived. A shame, as we were having a great time and felt very settled in.

Positives:
Lovely atmosphere
Negatives:
Timid waitresses

FFC Rating:
Presentation - good
Taste - average
Size - good
Service - good
Venue - Very good

Breakfast!

2010-05-24T08:00:00.001+12:00

Feijoas, feijoas, and more feijoas!

Feijoas have always been one of my most favourite fruits and the most disappointing thing about them is that they are only available for about 6 weeks of the year, in April/May.

If you are anything like me you will know someone with a tree or two or even a hedge, and you can enjoy free feijoas to your hearts content. By the the end of the season though, there are bags and bags of feijoas arriving on your doorstep, and unless you bottle them they can quickly go off.

One of my favourite ways of enjoying them is freshly scooped out, on top of my cereal......mmmmyum. My mother-in-law used to bottle heaps of them in sugar syrup and they were especially nice on cereal that way.

Other ways to use feijoas:

Feijoa jam

Feijoa muffins

Feijoa cake

Feijoa crumble

Feijoa sauce

Feijoa salsa

Feijoa scones

Feijoa relish

What is your favourite way of eating feijoas?

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!

2010-05-23T16:11:00.008+12:00

Bravo’s hot free range pork in Dijon cream with caramelised onions on multigrain bread with pesto $16.00

I've been away so long I thought I should dish you up a double portion today!

As I have previously raved, Bravo has been my favorite cafe in Tauranga, and yes sometimes they have disappointed me. I havent let them off the hook, but this particular day we loved our lunch outside in the red square sitting under the red umbrellas, people watching as we waited for our Pork Sandwich.

Now this dish has been on Bravo's menu for years. I have eaten it often and it has changed and developed, I guess as the chefs have changed and developed.

I will never forget the first time I had it and I must admit that was when I fell in love with it. I liked the earlier version the best but thats not to say that todays Sandwich was anything less than scrumptious!

The dijon cream is just the right sauce for this pork and being a big meat eater I just adored the flavours. It is lovely with the caramelised red onion and the balsamic glaze on the plate.

My one and only gripe would be the size and amount of bread. Those slices are almost an inch thick and for a woman probably only one slice would be ample. I would forego a slice of bread for a more generous portion of onions. We ordered the french fries and really didnt need them.

All in all, once more, its Bravo to Bravo

Positives:
Delicious tasting, stylish food, served by excellent waiting staff who smile at you!

Negatives:
Too much bread, not enough onions.

FFC Rating:
Presentation - Very good.
Taste - Very good.
Size - Very good.
Service - Excellent.
Venue - Excellent.

Cafe @the Balcony, Katikati.........Why did I do it!

2010-05-23T15:31:00.006+12:00

Chicken, camembert and cranberry pannini.

I'm back! I know I know, its been forever since I have posted, but life has just been a great blur of busy-ness lately and Im afraid my blog has suffered terribly. BUT, I hope to make it up to you all and get some good old food critiquing regularly under way again.

I thought I would start off with a doozey!

I have been to this cafe twice before. Once in the evening for a restaurant meal. I wasnt blogging then, but I really wish I had been. It was one of the worst meals I have ever had, dining out. My husbands meal was even worse than mine and had to be sent back to be cooked! He vowed we would never be setting foot in there again but I have to confess that I have done so a couple of times since, just for a cuppa with a friend.

This particular day I dont know why, oh yes thats right, I was hungry, so I ordered some food. There it is folks, the pannini! Such a simple thing for cafes to make and a quick light meal.

"Does it come with a salad", says I. "Yes there is a small salad", says the lady serving me. I wait with trepidation, for my meal to come, hoping that it will be just right.

Sadly this cafe could not pull itself out of my bad books, even with a plain old pannini. The whole thing was dry and my pet peeve was presented to me with a smile by the waitress..................a salad (if you can call it that) with no dressing on it. Take a look at the photo above. Not a single speck of moisture to be seen on this "salad". A dry lettuce leaf! Accompanied by a pile of dry julienned carrot, and a half a slice of cucumber that looked like it had been sitting around all day. Im sorry but what are these people thinking? And look at the pannini. It looks like its made from plastic bread!

Do people who own cafes ever eat their own food? Surely if they were making this for themselves they would do a better job.

Here is a comment from a family member, stirred by some of my posts and I will put it in here because its about her experience with pannini:

Hi Wendy, you have stirred emotion in me - with regards to food. I too am now a critic; in Taupo yesterday I ordered a ploughman's panini - which I thought would have had chutney in it, but it was ham, tomato and cheese, it came with a lovely little salad and fries. The salad was drenched in dressing, which was nice but it drenched my panini and it was all wet and soggy - the dressing should have come in a dish for me to add to the salad perhaps. I ordered a pot of tea; and as usual, I am sure, only one teaspoon of tea in it or one tea bag. By the time the tea is drawn it is cold. I would love to see two teaspoons in the pot or two tea bags.I noticed the waiter deliver a glass of soft drink to a customer; he had his hand all around the rim of the glass - nice. Drinks should be served on a plate and the waiter should only touch the bottom of the glass.So thank you I am now more aware of the goings on in cafes and more and more I am disappointed with the food and service. If I wasn't so hungry I could have noticed more faults.

Kaye

I would love to hear from my readers - What awful pannini or salad experience have you had?

Positives:

None.

Negatives:

Ive said it all. DRY SALAD

FFC Rating:

Presentation - Bad

Taste - Below average

Size - Average

Service - Average

Venue- Good

Tea - Average (not really worth mentioning)

Hollandaise Sauce

2010-04-13T21:04:00.006+12:00

Okay so I dont know if you've noticed but sauces are important to me. How they appear on a dish, how much or how little, how they enhance and decorate it, and of course how they taste.

Ive been wanting to talk about Hollandaise Sauce for a while. I like to make it if I'm cooking fried or baked salmon and really I thought there was only one basic recipe and method, that being - egg yolks, lime or lemon juice, salt and pepper and melted butter mixed very quickly together in the right order. I use Annabel Langbeins recipe for Easy Lime Hollandaise and it never fails me, but whenever I go out to cafes their hollandaise sauce is never as rich or as yellow as mine and Im wondering how on earth they make theirs.......or do they make it at all......could it be out of a jar? Take a look at the hollandaise in this pic I took recently of a delicious eggs benedict from Viva Cafe. This hollandaise was decidedly pale and very light in texture.

A quick search on the internet and you will find a gazillion recipes for hollandaise. One I found had water in it.....doesnt really sound right to me. I also discovered "Foaming Hollandaise". For this you simply make the hollandaise as normal then whip the usually discarded egg whites and fold them into your sauce at the end. Apparently this allows you to freeze your sauce, which is awesome, because one of the most annoying things about hollandaise is the waste factor. If you dont use it all you just cant keep it. Keeping it warm for serving is not an easy task either. So, Im wondering if this foaming hollandaise is the answer. It would definitely make the sauce lighter in colour and texture.

I would love to hear of anyone elses hollandaise experience, or recipes.

Rustic Pumpkin Revisit

2010-03-30T23:54:00.001+13:00

Chicken and Mango Frittata with Salad

One of the things Ive always loved about this cafe is the lovely sauces dribbled liberally over the meal. One is an aioli and the other tastes like berries. This picture shows them off really well.

I decided to give this cafe another try after our last visit left my husband decidedly determined never to go back. This time I was with my son and once again I ordered out of the cabinet. The frittata is lovely but the salad continues to be one big disappointment. A pile of green leaves and thats it.

My son had a thai dish which he very cleverly ate with chopsticks. I was impressed. I tasted his dish and it definitely was very good.

I recall they used to make lovely salads here, with at least shaved cucumber and carrot in it, but I think they have just gotten lazy.

I left thinking I cannot dismiss this cafe and will have to keep giving it a go. So I hope that I will find a redeeming feature when I return at a later date.

Positives:

Nice sauces.

Negatives:

Nothing salad.

FFC Rating:

Presentation - average

Taste - good

Size - good

Service - average

Venue - good

Waitete Cafe & Restaurant, Waihi

2010-03-28T11:09:00.000+13:00

Garlic Prawns

Complementary Sorbet

Lobster

Tonights special....Lobster!

A combined birthday and wedding anniversary definitely calls for a lobster dinner dontcha think?

Waitete has been one of my husbands favourite restaurants. We love the chef. He's a friendly chap who likes to come out and say hello either before or after your meal. This particular night he came out before and so we quized him about the Lobster special that the waitress had quoted. He told us they were like Morton Bay Bugs, but they were Lobster and they were farmed in Thailand. Oh lets have them then we said bravely.

My husband ordered the duck liver entree and I had the garlic prawns. We both enjoyed them. We normally choose lovely wines at this restaurant but sadly the ones we liked most were out of stock. Namely, Charles Wiffen's reisling and his pinot noir, so I settled for a pinot gris and hubby chose the next on the list!

Inbetween courses you will often get a surprise complementary sorbet and this night was no exception. Please excuse the photo of my feijoa sorbet as I had half eaten it! Sooooo delectable and a lovely clear pallet after it.
The Lobster dishes were impressive as you can see and I would like to say they were lovely but really there was not much flavour at all. I guess we are spoiled with our memories of crunchy crisp flavoured melt in the mouth kiwi crayfish meat. These were bland and about 6 small mouthfuls per lobster. The rice underneath was very delicate and I even picked up some saffron in there. Bit of a disappointment for hubby who was really looking forward to something special. But, lesson learned. If its not a good ole kiwi crayfish, dont order it.

We did have dessert but it was equally unimpressive. Warm boysenberry pie with icecream, served in a pudding bowl like you get at home.

Positives:

Good entrees, good atmosphere.

Negatives:

The overall standard of food has gone backwards.

FFC Rating:

Presentation - average

Taste - good

Size - good

Service - very good

Venue - very good

Iguana Street Bar & Restaurant, Hamilton

2010-03-25T10:23:00.002+13:00

Whole loaf partly devoured!

Crumbed fish

Hi 'n' Iron Pizza

Iguana for lunch on a Sunday in Hamilton

I seem to be forever shouting family members to lunch. Off we went to Ham town to attend church with our son one Sunday morning at the Gate. Then off to Iguana with Deano, Ben and Lauren. This is a really nice restaurant/bar with atmosphere. Lots of polished wood and plenty of space. I cant even remember what my son Dean ordered but my husband enjoyed his pizza which had various meats to keep the man happy, hence the name Hi 'n' iron.

We dont usually order bread because my husband is gluten intolerant and it will just make me fat!, but I must say that the little whole loaf my son ordered was irresistable and I just had to have a bite. Mmmmmm warm fresh bread and garlic butter is just irresistable. I think I could have just eaten that for lunch and been satisfied but I had ordered my fish so, what the heck, I had to eat it.

Sadly the fish was cut into small pieces, crumbed and then deep fried. It was overdone and the edges were dry and chewy. Such a shame. Fish should be cooked very quickly, and you can probably see from the photo that they placed the lightest looking piece on the top but it didnt save the dried up overcooked and overbrowned bits underneath. The salad was standard. The little bowl of vinegar useless. Yuk, why spoil your fish with vinegar!

Positives:

Good company, good atmosphere, good service.

The home made fries were yummy.

The fresh cooked bread scrumptious!

Negatives:

Overcooked fish. Meals a bit overpriced for the standard presented.

FFC Rating:

Presentation - average

Taste - average with glimpses of yum!

Size - average

Service - very good

Venue - very good

Autobahn Cafe, Fish and Chips, and John Key

2010-03-23T09:52:00.002+13:00

John Key being a regular guy at the Pacifica Festival, posing with the public.

And now for something completely different......

Sometimes I am quite happy to just have some good ole kiwi fish and chips. You cant go past the Autobahn on the left as you leave Auckland heading south. Forget about the McDonalds next door just pop in and order your fish and chips and you'll get them quick smart.

I love this place because its so 'standard'. What you order is what you get. No frills, except for maybe a bit of parsley. You know what to expect from this place.

I have fond memories of all my visits to this place every time I've picked up my husband from the airport after his overseas contracts.

The most interesting visit though was when we were sitting there minding our own business when some noddy tried to get in the glass doors right beside our table. The doors had clearly been closed for a very long time and were no longer in use and the 'real' entrance was further down the building. To our delight the noddy happened to be John Key with minders in tow.

After ordering his coffee he came over to our table laughing about his lack of knowledge of the building and pleased that no photographers were about to capture his gaf. He stayed and talked to us for the whole time until his coffee was ready. He was extremely interested in why my husband and his friend were working overseas in places like Mexico and Africa, and I got a chance to talk to him about the state of the building industry and how busy I was with my architectural design.

We were very impressed with John and let me say that he does look way slimmer in real life than he does on TV. So its true what they say about the camera putting pounds on you.

The food......oh thats right the food.......?

The fish and chips were great. Nice gold chips, really hot, fresh moist fish with yummy batter cooked just right. Eat it fast and be on your way!

Positives:

Good basic fill you up food.

Negatives:

Bad for the waist line!

FFC Rating:

I wont rate this along with the other cafes because I only ever stop there for a take away style meal, so really cant compare it. But do go, you never know who you will bang into!

Bravo Cafe and Restaurant, Tauranga

2010-03-21T13:11:00.003+13:00

Bravo's Ceasar Salad with cos leaves, bacon bits, croutons, capers and anchovies, topped with a poached egg. $19.50.

Lamb Koftas with rocket, baby spinach, toasted pistachios and mint tzatziki. $22.50.

Oh dear, this day my fave cafe/restaurant did not perform well. Perhaps I am so in awe of the Bravo free range pork sandwich with dijon cream and caramelised onions, that I have not considered their expertise elsewhere!

The big big problem this particular day was taste!

I shouted my son and daughter to lunch at Bravo during the summer and my daughter ordered the Ceasar Salad while I ordered the Lamb Koftas. Sadly my daughter was highly unimpressed with the salad which was completely overwhelmed by the anchovies. It was basicly a "saltfest". She picked them all out but I dont think it helped much.

My Lamb Koftas were extremely tasteless and I would say the lamb was "over minced". They tasted like mushed up papier mache. Absolutely no flavour whatsoever. The mint tzatziki was useless but probably the tastiest thing on the plate.

What a huge disappointment, especially when I wanted to treat family members.

Positives:

Bravo's service and atmosphere is always excellent.

Negatives:

Bad flavours or no flavour to the dishes.

FFC Rating:

Presentation - very good

Taste - bad

Size - very good

Service - excellent

Venue - excellent

Robert Harris Katikati

2010-03-19T08:21:00.003+13:00

The dreaded Tomato Sauce Swizzle......mmmmmmmm classy!

Robert Harris Cafe

Well, I have given this cafe so many chances but I have to say it would be one of the worst in Katikati, foremost for service and then the food. Why go? Well, sadly its the only cafe that is open 7 days in the main street of Katikati, so if you want to go somewhere for Sunday lunch its the most obvious place. It has an awesome location right on SH2 with an inviting outdoor area out the front. Other family members have eaten here and found it lacking. The main problem being with the service. The counter staff always seem new and dont know alot. The waitresses are very untrained, leaning over customers and getting orders confused.

One of my pet peeves with staff is their lack of initiative in suggestions to customers. I ordered the pumpkin frittata out of the cabinet. I also wanted a cake and ordered the carrot cake muffin and a cup of tea. She DID ask if I wanted cream with my cake, and I said YES, thank you very much, but she did not ask if I wanted salad with my frittata.

Soon after sitting down she arrived with the cup of tea. I said I wanted it with my muffin, which was after my frittata. She said I should have asked! So, she left and came back with the Frittata which arrived as pictured above. I honestly expected it to come with a salad. No-one asked me if I wanted salad and if I had been asked I would have said yes. However, this is how it arrived.....with a really classy swizzle of tomato sauce on the side!!!!! Amazing. I was there again just this last Sunday and gladly did not eat a thing, but watched a friends lovely chicken and feta filo wrap and salad arrive with the dreaded tomato sauce swizzle on the side! Firstly.....who eats tomato sauce with chicken? let alone chicken done in a nice filo wrap! What are they thinking? A nice sweet balsamic glaze would be so much more acceptable. Needless to say, my friend ate his wrap and salad and left the tomato swizzle to rot!

Ive sat there with another friend who just wouldnt finish his lunch because he said it was awful!

Finally, my carrot cake muffin arrived.......without the cream......completely naked, with a cup of

tea. My husband pointed out the lack of cream which I had asked for but I just plain couldnt be bothered asking for it. The cake was dry and unimpressive.

I dont think I will set foot in this cafe again and I will not recommend it to anyone.

The times I have been there in the past I have also had bad service, received salad with no dressing and had to ask for some, so I think I've pretty much had it with Robert Harris, Katikati.

Tea:

Always arrives in a coffee cup.....what more can I say.

Positives:

There is food there.

Negatives:

Ive pretty much covered it above but to summarise, bad service, tacky bland food, tomato sauce with everything!

FFC Rating:

Presentation - bad

Taste - average

Size - small

Service - bad

Venue - average

Tea - average

The Rustic Pumpkin

2010-03-17T07:21:00.004+13:00

Nice rustic atmosphere

Salad consists of?

Everyone serves up this Carrot Cake!

Rustic Pumpkin Cafe

Ive been to this cafe so many times. Hubby and I had missed lunch because of commitments and were starving so we went out to the Rustic Pumpkin which is a few kilometres north of Katikati. It was about 3pm and perhaps not the best time to visit a cafe for food. I had the pineapple, kumara and curry frittata with salad and hubby had another pre-made pie from the cabinet. We both chose to have a piece of cake after with a cup of tea.

I was disappointed in my salad which was just a pile of greens, not a single piece of carrot, cucumber, tomato, sprout, red onion, or julienned anything for that matter. They always have the same dressing which is passionfruit based and very sweet. This is obviously just squirted over before serving. The Frittata was not very flavourful at all, but I was soooo hungry I ate the lot.

Then came the carrot cake. Once again a generic carrot cake with the chopped dried apricots and pumpkin seeds on top. Nothing to write home about. I thought the little chocolate fish on the fake cream out of a "spray can" was really tacky and ruined the whole thing.

The meal looked like it had been thrown on the plate very quickly and so I was disappointed in the lack of care about how our meals looked. I think you can see this in the photos.

Worst of all, not long after arriving home hubby got an incredible tummy ache and ......yes......after many trips to the toilet vowed he would never go back there again.

I am wondering whether choosing foods out of a cabinet at the end of a cafe day is very safe???

Is the food very cool? How long has it been there?

I noticed that this cafe has added a HUGE Thai and Vietnamese menu of foods that only cost $5. An extensive menu does not help a cafe at all. Im wondering if the new additions to the menu have caused the existing menu to become neglected.

Tea:

This was fairly normal but probably the worst part was the young lady who served it to us. Her hands were so full she almost dropped everything. She juggled the crockery which had brushed against food and the cups had raspberry jus stuck to the sides.

Positives:

Im having trouble finding some for this particular visit.

We got a pot of boiling water with our pot of tea.

Negatives:

Cafes should make sure that their standard is kept up from opening time to closing time.

The salad was very disappointing.

Chocolate fish for decoration???? Not classy.

This cafe used to be great.........

FFC Rating:

Presentation - average

Taste - average

Size - good

Service - average

Venue - good

Tea - average

Avatar and a Bull

2010-02-22T21:18:00.000+13:00

We'll have the steak, the panfried fish in a macadamia nut crumb on buttery potatoes, and a glass of pinot please?

Its always a dilemma if you decide to go to a movie in Tauranga which starts at 5.00pm. Do you have an early dinner before hand and then have to eat supper later, or do you eat snacks in the movie and have a late dinner? We chose the latter.

The movie we went to see was Avatar in 3D. Being the green country folk we are we just bowled on into town thinking we could get into this movie no problem, only to find out that all the good seats were taken and booked up for a week in advance. If we wanted to see the movie right then we would have to sit in the second row from the front! Oh to heck with it lets do it we said!

While hubby sat glued to the movie screen I squirmed about in my seat with goofy 3D glasses on, then off, then on, then off. As the 3 hours went by I was feeling a little woozy from lack of food as well as the sensation of being IN the movie flying huge lizards through the forest. Sudden drops off cliffs and such like sent my tummy into a spin as well as my head. I was not the only one. The girl in the seat next to me was curled up into a ball looking away from the screne, and when the movie finished she exclaimed "Thank goodness!" First lesson learnt - Never watch a 3D movie on an empty stomach 2 rows from the front! Second lesson learnt - Dont eat at the Horny Bull ever again!

We were soooo hungry and after reading the Horny Bull's menu at the front door we decided it was the place for us. Hubby wanted steak and I wanted fish and there it was, described beautifully on the menu, so mouth watering to us who were starving at 8.30pm. Oh what a disappointment.

My husband ordered medium rare steak (I think it was sirloin) and it was overcooked. As the picture shows it had a sauce all over it which was tasteless. It sat on a bed of curly fries with a couple of onion rings on the side. Our salads were the same.

I will critique my fish dish .

Positives:

The wine was lovely!

Negatives:

The fish was dry and tasteless. Even the crumbed coating had no flavour and there was some kind of thin white sauce on the top which was also flavourless. The fish was sitting on what was supposed to be buttery potatoes. They tasted like jacket potatoes done in a microwave. They were dry and I could not find any butter on them. The salad looked like it had just been thrown on the plate. Interestingly they had cut up the sprouts to make them easier to eat (one of my pet peeves - trying to eat those long sprouts in a lady like manner). But the overall effect made the salad look a mess. I think the photos speak for themselves.

Our waitress was also quite nervous. Perhaps it was her first day.

I havent been mentioning prices in my posts but the added negative for this cafe was the cost of the meals. Neither of these meals were worth the $29 each we paid.

And finally, my other pet peeve - dry salad! My husband had to ask the waitress for some salad dressing!

FFC Rating:

Presentation: Below Average

Taste: Below Average

Size: Average

Service: Average

Venue: Good

Brownys - Bikes, Beer & Breakfast!

2010-02-21T22:50:00.011+13:00

Harley

My corn fritters

Hubby's big breakfast

Mudcake and a cuppa.

Big Breakfast, Corn Fritters, Tea and Mud Cake thanks?

Katikati's newest cafe, Brownys makes for an interesting stop. We went to Brownys on the corner of Lockington Road and SH 2 just after Christmas and were pleasantly surprised.

The cafe is also a bike museum and Browny is adding to it gradually. As you can see from the pics there are enough bikes there now to interest the guys the minute you walk in. His plan is to also sell boutique brewed beer.

The day we went we did have to wait quite a while for our meal but we were so busy looking at the bikes and the books that we were able to handle the wait.

This is an excellent stopover for motorbiking enthusiasts and deserves another visit from hubby and I next time we are out on our KLR 650.

Probably the one thing that struck me as a negative with this cafe was not knowing exactly where to go to order the food and the food available was not that clear (to me anyway). Its a big open room.

We actually waited for the first 20 mins for our food and then received an apology that the chef was alone in the kitchen and it would be another 10 minutes, but that stretched out to at least 20 more minutes! There actually werent that many people there at the time and I wondered if the chef was actually skilled in multi-tasking???? This could have been a glitch on the day and because its new Im gonna give them another chance. So here is my critique of the food.

My husband loved his big breakfast and it was just as he expected it to be. My corn fritters were just as they should have been. Tomato sauce is fine if its served with sausages but not for anything else, and certainly not as a plate decoration. The sauce squirted about the edge of the plate was cheap and messy.

The mudcake was fairly generic so it tasted good and the tea was average. By that I mean as many cafes averagely serve tea - in a coffee cup instead of a tea cup - one of my pet peeves.

Positives:

Fantastic atmosphere for bike enthusiasts. Browny himself is a really friendly guy.

Negatives:

Staffing problems (that I can see). Timing. Presentation.

FFC Rating:

Presentation - average

Taste - good

Size - good

Service - bad

Venue - very good

Tea - average

The Katz Pyjamas

2010-01-29T00:29:00.008+13:00

Beautiful downtown Katikati

Chicken Salad

Chicken, Ricotta & Spinach Slice - Gluten Free

Presentation plus. Check out the cats paw!

Another lunch for two in Katikati

After having eaten in most of the cafes in the Katikati town and district, I would have to say that so far the Katz Pyjamas would be my favourite. This cafe is like a local secret, although in an obvious place on the main street many visitors to the town dont get to taste of its delectable food........the reason?.......the absolute crying shame is.....its not open on weekends! And at Christmas time it was closed for 3 weeks! The owner, Paula, does all the cooking herself and tells me she needs a life. I just wish she could clone herself and be open weekends. I know I would be taking people there alot!

Right at the end of the main street on the left before you turn the corner and head off north to Auckland, you will catch a glimpse of the Katz right beside one of Katikatis famous murals (Waitekohe School)

You cant miss the building as its bright blue! Inside is even brighter, but dont let that put you off.

The added bonus about this cafe is it has a wonderful array of gluten and wheat free meals that look just as amazing and tasty as the rest. Just take a look at the meals pictured. Mine was the Chicken Salad and my husband had the gluten free ricotta slice and the gluten free dessert.

Check out the presentation here. I particularly like the way they decorate the dessert plate with the name in chocolate and a cute cats paw from berry jus.

The food is always decorated well with just enough to make you swoon over your meal, but not overdone. I particularly like the red pepper sauce and aioli sauce combination which Paula drizzles over slices and fritattas.

Today I am critiquing just the Chicken Salad dish, although my husband did love his gluten free slice and his gluten free raspberry slice dessert.

We had a cup of tea and it was pretty standard.

Positives:

I have to say that when my chicken salad arrived at the table I ooooed and aaaahhed over it. The presentation was beautiful, and the greens were fresh and tasted fine. There was a huge piece of camembert and a lovely piece of mango on top and the dressing went all the way through.

Negatives

The chicken was just cold chicken cut into pieces and so they werent that tasty if eaten on their own. I've realised after this that my personal preference for a chicken salad is for the chicken to be stir fried and served warm with the greens. The deep bowl it came in meant that I had no surface to cut anything on. I didnt want to pick up the piece of mango in my fingers so I had to manouvre it to the side of the bowl and try and slice it that way otherwise I would lose it down in the middle of the salad. The same for the pieces of cucumber which were whole round slices. Serving a salad like this is fine if the components are all small enough to not require cutting and can just be popped in your mouth with a fork. I probably wouldnt order it again, simply because of the bowl, and I was disappointed because I usually love everything I eat from this cafe.

FFC Rating:

Presentation: Good (let down by the bowl)

Taste: Good

Size: Very Good

Service: Very Good

Venue: Very Good

Tea: Good

Brunch in Katikati

2010-01-23T20:22:00.016+13:00

Viva!........Its Eggs Benedict for two.

The other day my hubby and I went to Cafe Viva in Katikati. This non-descript eatery is tucked behind the Main Rd shops in a block of modern office buildings. It was incredibly busy when we were there and the staff seemed to know alot of the customers who were obviously regulars.

Ive called this brunch but it was really actually lunch time, its just that we couldnt resist ordering a breakfast meal. So eggs benedict it was.

I must say that even though they were busy our meals came out quick smart. We had also ordered a neenish tart with a cup of tea and asked for this to be brought out after we had finished the eggs. No problem, the staff were onto it as soon as we had finished.

The eggs were just as they should be, and there seemed to be heaps of bacon. The bread underneath tasted like turkish but Im not sure. Anyway it was very tasty and had been fried or grilled with butter, mmmmmyum. I was mostly looking forward to tasting the hollandaise sauce as this is something that can make or break your eggs benedict.

The sauce was very nice, lemony, but quite light in colour and texture. It made me wonder how it was made, as I am a bit of a wizz at making my own hollandaise and if you make it correctly it should be a deep golden yellow colour. Looks like I'm gonna have to share that recipe now that Ive mentioned it, and maybe look into the correct way of making this tricky sauce.

And thats the thing, its very tricky making hollandaise and I notice cafes never seem to get it wrong. The hollandaise LOOKS right but is it made correctly. Oh please dont tell me it comes from a jar. This deserves a post of its own, so lets get on to talking about the tea!

Ah, a good cup of tea, and YES that is exactly what it was. Take a look at the photo. They gave us tea cups! Halleluya! Not a coffee cup trying to mascarade as a tea cup, but a tea cup with big open handles so you could put your finger right through. The tea for two came in one teapot, with a second pot of boiling water for top ups, excellent! I had two cups.

Oh and by the way, I often look at the container of sugars in cafes and check that they have sugar substitutes in them. Its amazing how some cafes dont include them, which is quite odd with all the people wandering about with diabetes these days.

The neenish tarts you ask? I am hooked on these. I go to this cafe often and buy one to take away. They make them on the premises. They are quite large, and fresh and taste beautiful. They are not overly sweet and they have just the right amount of filling in a buttery shortcrust case. Well worth the $3.50. They offered us cream but we thought we would be brave and have them straight!

Positives:

Quite alot of them mentioned above. But mostly the whole package - service and food.

The Tea:

This was the best tea and best tea service I have had in a while.

I noticed that many of the customers were ordering the tea and not the coffee, so I would say that their tea reputation has gotten around. Also, there were alot of old people there and lets face it, seniors prefer a good old cuppa tea more than a coffee. The cafe's location makes it very accessible for seniors.

Negatives:

Hard to find them really, but if I had to be really critical I would say the cafe needs a bit more of an atmosphere. The inside is very plain. Sitting outside in the sun is always nice.

And, I guess I have been pretty spoilt eating naturally dry cured bacon at home, so anything less just doesnt taste that great to me. So, we got fairly standard bacon, which is relative to the cost of the meal.

FFC Rating:

Presentation: Good

Taste: Very Good

Size: Very Good

Service: Very Good

Venue: Good

Tea: Very Good

GGrrrrrr

2010-01-23T19:56:00.003+13:00

Possibly one of the things that frustrates me most is not the food Im eating, but this blog. There are bugs.....and it should be better.
What is it with the line spacing. I put double lines between my paragraphs etc. and then they come out all squashed up........sorry guys.

Fish!.............Bravo!

2010-01-21T02:19:00.010+13:00

Salmon and Potato Cakes and Fish of the Day please?

What can I say. If you've been to Bravo at the Red Square in Tauranga then you've probably had a great meal. I love going there. Admittedly there has been the odd time when I have been disappointed but this is the curse of going back to your favourite spot. What will sometimes happen is the dish you love will be prepared by a different chef as the regular one is away and this can cause great disappointment. Continuity of the dish is really important.

This particular day was not disappointing. My daughter and I were starving and fish was the order of the day.

The Maitre D at Bravo is excellent, and if you are there when he is there then service is excellent. I didnt see him there this particular day so waitresses were not as attentive as they should have been.

My daughter loved the salmon and potato cakes which are actually quite large. This picture does not capture the size well. I had to help her finish the last few morsels. The sauce was lovely, but the sprouts are always a little annoying to eat.

I ordered the fish of the day which was Terakihi. I love to order fish when I am out because I dont cook it at home. Well I can only say that it was awesome. The fish was soft and tender and tasty, cooked to perfection and covered with the most delectable buttery sauce. As you can see in the picture it was served on potatoes and baby spinach leaves with bacon pieces. I cant rave on enough about this dish. I couldnt fault it and just thinking about it now makes my mouth water. The sauce is what really made it special.

My positives and negatives today will only be for my meal.

Positives:

Fresh fish

Fantastic buttery sauce.

Lovely waxy potatoes.

Negatives:

None!.....Nada.......Thats right I couldnt find any negatives.

FFC Rating:

Presentation - Very Good

Taste - Excellent

Size - Very Good

Service - Very Good

Venue - Very Good

At least someone appreciates me!

2010-01-14T16:07:00.003+13:00

I had to post this. Last night at a meeting my friend Christine presented me with the RED PLATE. This concept comes from Parenting With Confidence and the idea is, when one of the family has done well in something they get to eat off the red plate which usually has something scrumptious on it. Its a reward basicly. Thanks to my awesome friend and fellow leader Christine. She gave me blueberry muffins on the plate and I had to be very quick to capture this photo before the last delicious morsel disappeared! If you cant read it, the wording on the plate is You're a Star and We appreciate you.

The Mediterranean Cafe - Devonport Rd, Tauranga - Dec 09

2010-01-14T15:13:00.007+13:00

We'll have the Chicken Salad with marinated mushrooms please!

The Mediterranean is a nice, popular cafe half way up Devonport Rd in Tauranga. My daughter and I popped in for a quick lunch. Its a cafe with atmosphere so it was pretty busy and it did take quite a while before our food arrived at the table. We both wanted the Chicken Salad, and it came in a lovely big white dish with a poppadom added. My daughter thought it was a strange addition but it had been cooked in a very tasty oil and you couldnt help but lick your fingers. Ive never had a paper thin crunchy poppadom before so I cant really comment on whether it was done well or not. I just know that I liked it.

Positives:

The meal was a really good size and filled us up well, with plenty of chicken pieces.

The Salad:

Well the whole meal was a salad which had lovely fresh greens and was dressed really well. There were two lovely big pieces of seasoned tomato on the top and I particularly loved the juicy marinated mushrooms. Cooked pumpkin pieces were scattered through it.

Negatives:

Sadly the chicken pieces were kind of tasteless and a bit rubbery. My daughter is a chef and she suspected that the chicken pieces had not been seasoned and had ended up stewing in the pan instead of being seared quickly. Searing seals in the moisture and then creates a lovely tasty brown coating on the meat, but if meat is not cooked quickly at a high heat it stews slowly, and ....tadaaaaa!, ........rubber! The picture clearly shows the insipid little blighters hiding under the greens.

The chicken was the main part of the dish so it was a shame as the rest of the flavours were great.

Tea? Not this time, it was too hot so we had a nice bottle of organic feijoa juice.

FFC Rating:

Presentation - very good

Taste - below average (missed out on a very good cos of the chicken)

Size - very good

Service - good

Venue - good

Salad - very good

Pet Peeves!

2010-01-08T17:48:00.000+13:00

Dry salad!
Have you ever received a salad with absolutely no dressing on it or even on the side?
What is it with that? Sometimes I wonder if the chef has ever eaten a salad.

Lukewarm coffee!
Well to be honest I have just stopped trying to get into this coffee culture thing because whenever I ordered coffee it was a lukewarm tiny cup of froth which disappeared in 3 sips. I would be left with most of the cake I had ordered with the coffee and wondering what I was going to wash it down with.

Sticky tables!
This really freaks me out. I am wondering if cafe staff have had enough training on how to wipe a table.
Recently my husband and I stopped at The Woodturners Cafe which is on State Highway 2 just north of Ngatea. They have these distinctive signs on the Highway saying "Fabulous Food" and "Fabulous Coffee". We sat down at a free table which had not been wiped and asked the waiter to wipe it. He proceeded to wipe it very quickly without catching all the crumbs and they fell into my husbands lap! He left the table quite wet with frothy detergent along the edges. My husband had to go into the mens room and get a paper towel to wipe the table dry so that we could touch it. Needless to say the food was not "fabulous". The Nachos my husband ordered were some of the worst he has ever had but the lemon cake I ordered was scrummy! I wasnt blogging then so will try them out again soon and give them another chance. Look out for a post on Woodturners some time soon. Im always popping up to Auckland these days.

Zaggers - Tauranga - Dec 09

2010-01-08T16:49:00.005+13:00

Chicken and Apricot Filo Wrap and tea for two please?

Zaggers is a large cafe in Tauranga with a good selection of readymade wraps, fritatas and stuffed things in the cabinet as well as made to order food from the blackboard.

We chose the chicken and apricot filo out of the cabinet and we both liked it.

Positives:

The service was good and we didnt have to wait too long.

The wrap was moist and had the right amount of ingredients in it and the small dish of apricot sauce was sweet and a nice addition.

The salad:

Although there were no tomatoes in the salad, the freshness of the greens and julienned vegetables etc. made a nice salad with plenty of tasty dressing.

Negatives:

The tea:

We ordered tea for two and this is something cafes dont do very well. They tend to cater for the coffee crowd and forget about the tea lovers. The tea did taste fine (how can you possibly get it wrong), but for two people sitting at a small table it is kinda ridiculous to bring out 2 teapots, and 2 milk jugs. That along with our 2 cups and saucers, salt & pepper, glasses of water, and our meals made for a very cramped table top. (See pic posted)

FFC Rating:

Presentation - good

Taste - good

Size - good

Service - average

Venue - good

Salad - good

Tea - good

2009-10-11T23:05:00.000+13:00

Okay, I've decided to start this blog because of my absolute frustration with food. In fact you could really just call it disappointment, but basicly I continually come across food that I am promised will be "delectable", "delicious", "fabulous", etc. etc. and yet when I come to eat this food or sometimes even just lay eyes upon it, it falls extremely short of the sellers over zealous description, and most of all, of my expectations!
I like to frequent cafes and am continually intrigued (and annoyed) by this obsession with coffee which often appears at my table as a disappointing 3 slurps of lukewarm froth in a fat edged cup with a tiny handle obviously meant for miniature fingers!
Most of all, I take great exception to paying good money for food in a restaurant and walking out disappointed. The crazy thing is, I do it often. Because you see I am a nice person. I dont usually send food back, or create a fuss, what I will do though from now on, is post my photos and thoughts of the food I encounter, on this blog for all to see.
The good news is I will also be including the food I sample that really is delectable, delicious and fabulous.