Fat August 2014
Aug. 17th, 2015 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamarillowIt is Fat August time again, and I have been meaning to write up the 2014 session ever since it finished. Fortunately I still have the food tweets of dinner mates favourited, and the 2014 schedule has survived, as have some of the menu's thanks to the Way Back Machine, bless it always.
We kicked off last year with the Mirimar Triple Header on the Saturday. We went to The Larder [https://web.archive.org/web/20140825183925/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/the-larder/] for lunch, saw The Hundred Foot Journey [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hundred-Foot_Journey_%28film%29] at The Roxy cinema as the movie (a great movie and probably the most appropriately themed movie we will ever see for the event, also Helen Mirren is always awesome), had cocktails and then ate dinner at CoCo at The Roxy.
The Larder was a terrible start. First they told us over the phone that they didn't take bookings, then they said we should have booked, then they said they'd fit us in in 20 minutes and that they'd call us. We waited in the week wintery sunshine for 45 minutes or so, then they said they wouldn't be able to serve us the Wellington On A Plate menu as we hadn't booked, and then finally at the end the male server (who had been thoroughly unapologetic throughout) couldn't work the eftpos machine! The food was good but the service was so terrible that I think we've all been bad-mouthing them ever since. L [http://stickmarionette.tumblr.com/] and S [http://hazel.dreamwidth.org/] ordered a lot of offal off the main menu; brains and livers and so on, and enjoyed it a lot, K [https://twitter.com/kielix] and I ordered the Burger Wellington burger with the Garage Project beer match [Flame-grilled Wapiti with smoked chipotle peppers, pickles and Garage Project onion relish. Garage Project beer match: Texas Tea] which I remember as tasty but not amazing, with good chips. And Texas Tea did not make it on to my regular Garage Project beer buying list. Despite literally talking about The Larder the other day over 2015 Fat August meals I can't remember what V [http://arysteia.livejournal.com/] ordered.
CoCo at The Roxy had amazing and attractive cocktails as always, and gain points for having good mocktails for sober driver me (okay so I had a beer earlier but that was at least 6 hours before going home) but their 2014 menu is sadly lost to the internet. I remember it as being delicious and that the dinner I ate contained lamb? beef? served 3 ways including a lovely mini pie. The dessert was (quoting from V's twitter “Coco Leche Frita -- deep fried chocolate custard in cookie crumb...” and AMAZING.
On Sunday we went to the Bangalore Polo Club [https://web.archive.org/web/20140814044203/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/the-bangalore-polo-club/] for lunch (I remain baffled as to why someone decided to name and decorate a restaurant in this day and age for the British Raj in Wellington, New Zealand), and El Matador – Café, Asador Grill & Bar [https://web.archive.org/web/20140729164333/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/el-matador-cafe-asador-grill-bar/] for dinner.
The Bangalore Polo Club had good food, good service, great company and really amazing gin. I don't actually remember what I ate but we had fun. And then stayed and drank really quite a lot. We then staggered to El Matador where we were unable to eat very much, thanks to the extended lunch. Which was really sad because the food was amazing. S who had snacked at mid afternoon decided not to even order dinner, and ate a bread roll. I went for the full three courses, at a really really delicious soup (Rescoldo (ember-baked) Cuba Fruit Mart root vegetable soup with fugazza), then I got the main course boxed up after poking at it for a bit, then ate dessert (Panqueques with dulce de leche and praline whipped Zany Zeus double cream) omnomnom. My boxed up dinner (Parrilla-grilled PrimeStar rump steak with chimichurri, wood-fired beetroot, ricotta and preserved lemon and mint vinaigrette) got combined with some home cooked couscous, and S and I ate it for lunch the next 2 days. The beetroot dyed the couscous a really lovely pink.
The next weekend we went to Fratelli [https://web.archive.org/web/20140815012533/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/fratelli/] on Friday evening for dinner, One80° Restaurant & Lounge Bar [https://web.archive.org/web/20141009095217/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/one80-restaurant-lounge-bar] for Saturday lunch, and Little Beer Quarter for Sunday dinner.
Again this began less than well. Because I finished work later than the others, I went straight to Fratelli, while everyone else was still at pre dinner cocktails, I think I was a bit early even. This would have been fine, except some guys at the table over tried to pick me up. I didn't mind being asked to join them for a drink, but to have them then persist for the quarter hour or so to try to persude me after I refused, before Team Wellington arrived (while I narrated this by text to S) was Not Cool. They also tried to pick up their waitress while deriding her knowledge of wine, so all around Not Cool bros. The food was good though! I ate 3 courses; starter: Parkvale field and porcini mushroom risotto with spinach and Kāpiti pecorino topped with seared PrimeStar venison and vincotto, dinner: Housemade Boomrock lamb shoulder and roasted red pepper sausage on Commonsense Organics beluga lentils with cavolo nero and lemon braised fennel, and dessert: Honey and rosemary panna cotta with a poached pear, ginger and almond salad and Love Honey honeycomb, and enjoyed them all from memory, although I think the panna cotta was a slightly odd texture. I don't think T [http://labellementeuse.dreamwidth.org/] (who I think also ate it) found the panna cotta oddly textured though, so that might just be me. I might remember drunkenly shuffling my plate back and forth to watch the panna cotta wobble. Probably just me then.
One80° Restaurant & Lounge Bar was more sparsely attended, just S, V and myself. I remember the food as being good. I think I ate Whittaker's Dark Ghana chilli braised Wairarapa beef rib with cream corn, bone marrow gremolata crusted croquette and local parsnip crisps, but I don't remember what well. I think we might have been the only people there for lunch. Maybe they do more business on weekdays.
Little Beer Quarter had food precisely taylored to me. There was an amazing platter with pickled eggs, and battered gerkins and good brown bread and olive oil. Omnomnom vinegar tastes! They were extremely ample portions, and I don't think any of us managed to finish the next course (brisket sandwiches with chips). I think we all wound up overfull.
The last weekend we went to Ortega Fish Shack & Bar [https://web.archive.org/web/20140710002905/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/ortega-fish-shack-bar/] for Friday dinner, Pan de Muerto Mystic Mexican Cuisine & Tequila Bar for Saturday lunch, and Spruce Goose [https://web.archive.org/web/20140814044131/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/spruce-goose/] for Sunday dinner.
Ortega was good, I think. I drank deceptively alcoholic cocktails and later went to Rome in the local parlance. My memory of the food is not the best. The memory of getting off the train, walking to my Mums (she had just married, and moved in with her husband and we were borrowing her not-yet rented-out house as ours was getting rewired at the time. She was away that weekend also.), discovering that I'd locked us out, getting a taxi home to an electricity free house to sleep, and then the trek around Wellington the next day, while naming our various destinations things from Lord of the Rings as we went has overpowered the earlier evening fairly well. Home = The Shire, Mum's = Erebor, Mum's new house = Rivendell, my brothers = Rohan. We drove to Erebor to discover no, really I had completely locked us out (I had shot the bolts then we'd left through the garage, hitting the inside automatic garage door close button and ducked out), went to Rohan to get the key to Rivendell off my brother, went to Rivendell to get Mum's garage door opener from her car, then back to Erebor!
Twitter favourites, the Way Back Machine and my own memory have all failed me for what we ate at Pan de Muerto but we've been back since, so it must have been nice enough!
I think Spruce Goose suffered from being at the very end of Fat August. I don't even remember what I ate with the menu (thank you Way Back Machine!) in front of me.
I hope to also write up the (still ongoing) Fat August 2015 experience before we hit 2016!
We kicked off last year with the Mirimar Triple Header on the Saturday. We went to The Larder [https://web.archive.org/web/20140825183925/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/the-larder/] for lunch, saw The Hundred Foot Journey [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hundred-Foot_Journey_%28film%29] at The Roxy cinema as the movie (a great movie and probably the most appropriately themed movie we will ever see for the event, also Helen Mirren is always awesome), had cocktails and then ate dinner at CoCo at The Roxy.
The Larder was a terrible start. First they told us over the phone that they didn't take bookings, then they said we should have booked, then they said they'd fit us in in 20 minutes and that they'd call us. We waited in the week wintery sunshine for 45 minutes or so, then they said they wouldn't be able to serve us the Wellington On A Plate menu as we hadn't booked, and then finally at the end the male server (who had been thoroughly unapologetic throughout) couldn't work the eftpos machine! The food was good but the service was so terrible that I think we've all been bad-mouthing them ever since. L [http://stickmarionette.tumblr.com/] and S [http://hazel.dreamwidth.org/] ordered a lot of offal off the main menu; brains and livers and so on, and enjoyed it a lot, K [https://twitter.com/kielix] and I ordered the Burger Wellington burger with the Garage Project beer match [Flame-grilled Wapiti with smoked chipotle peppers, pickles and Garage Project onion relish. Garage Project beer match: Texas Tea] which I remember as tasty but not amazing, with good chips. And Texas Tea did not make it on to my regular Garage Project beer buying list. Despite literally talking about The Larder the other day over 2015 Fat August meals I can't remember what V [http://arysteia.livejournal.com/] ordered.
CoCo at The Roxy had amazing and attractive cocktails as always, and gain points for having good mocktails for sober driver me (okay so I had a beer earlier but that was at least 6 hours before going home) but their 2014 menu is sadly lost to the internet. I remember it as being delicious and that the dinner I ate contained lamb? beef? served 3 ways including a lovely mini pie. The dessert was (quoting from V's twitter “Coco Leche Frita -- deep fried chocolate custard in cookie crumb...” and AMAZING.
On Sunday we went to the Bangalore Polo Club [https://web.archive.org/web/20140814044203/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/the-bangalore-polo-club/] for lunch (I remain baffled as to why someone decided to name and decorate a restaurant in this day and age for the British Raj in Wellington, New Zealand), and El Matador – Café, Asador Grill & Bar [https://web.archive.org/web/20140729164333/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/el-matador-cafe-asador-grill-bar/] for dinner.
The Bangalore Polo Club had good food, good service, great company and really amazing gin. I don't actually remember what I ate but we had fun. And then stayed and drank really quite a lot. We then staggered to El Matador where we were unable to eat very much, thanks to the extended lunch. Which was really sad because the food was amazing. S who had snacked at mid afternoon decided not to even order dinner, and ate a bread roll. I went for the full three courses, at a really really delicious soup (Rescoldo (ember-baked) Cuba Fruit Mart root vegetable soup with fugazza), then I got the main course boxed up after poking at it for a bit, then ate dessert (Panqueques with dulce de leche and praline whipped Zany Zeus double cream) omnomnom. My boxed up dinner (Parrilla-grilled PrimeStar rump steak with chimichurri, wood-fired beetroot, ricotta and preserved lemon and mint vinaigrette) got combined with some home cooked couscous, and S and I ate it for lunch the next 2 days. The beetroot dyed the couscous a really lovely pink.
The next weekend we went to Fratelli [https://web.archive.org/web/20140815012533/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/fratelli/] on Friday evening for dinner, One80° Restaurant & Lounge Bar [https://web.archive.org/web/20141009095217/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/one80-restaurant-lounge-bar] for Saturday lunch, and Little Beer Quarter for Sunday dinner.
Again this began less than well. Because I finished work later than the others, I went straight to Fratelli, while everyone else was still at pre dinner cocktails, I think I was a bit early even. This would have been fine, except some guys at the table over tried to pick me up. I didn't mind being asked to join them for a drink, but to have them then persist for the quarter hour or so to try to persude me after I refused, before Team Wellington arrived (while I narrated this by text to S) was Not Cool. They also tried to pick up their waitress while deriding her knowledge of wine, so all around Not Cool bros. The food was good though! I ate 3 courses; starter: Parkvale field and porcini mushroom risotto with spinach and Kāpiti pecorino topped with seared PrimeStar venison and vincotto, dinner: Housemade Boomrock lamb shoulder and roasted red pepper sausage on Commonsense Organics beluga lentils with cavolo nero and lemon braised fennel, and dessert: Honey and rosemary panna cotta with a poached pear, ginger and almond salad and Love Honey honeycomb, and enjoyed them all from memory, although I think the panna cotta was a slightly odd texture. I don't think T [http://labellementeuse.dreamwidth.org/] (who I think also ate it) found the panna cotta oddly textured though, so that might just be me. I might remember drunkenly shuffling my plate back and forth to watch the panna cotta wobble. Probably just me then.
One80° Restaurant & Lounge Bar was more sparsely attended, just S, V and myself. I remember the food as being good. I think I ate Whittaker's Dark Ghana chilli braised Wairarapa beef rib with cream corn, bone marrow gremolata crusted croquette and local parsnip crisps, but I don't remember what well. I think we might have been the only people there for lunch. Maybe they do more business on weekdays.
Little Beer Quarter had food precisely taylored to me. There was an amazing platter with pickled eggs, and battered gerkins and good brown bread and olive oil. Omnomnom vinegar tastes! They were extremely ample portions, and I don't think any of us managed to finish the next course (brisket sandwiches with chips). I think we all wound up overfull.
The last weekend we went to Ortega Fish Shack & Bar [https://web.archive.org/web/20140710002905/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/ortega-fish-shack-bar/] for Friday dinner, Pan de Muerto Mystic Mexican Cuisine & Tequila Bar for Saturday lunch, and Spruce Goose [https://web.archive.org/web/20140814044131/http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/dine/spruce-goose/] for Sunday dinner.
Ortega was good, I think. I drank deceptively alcoholic cocktails and later went to Rome in the local parlance. My memory of the food is not the best. The memory of getting off the train, walking to my Mums (she had just married, and moved in with her husband and we were borrowing her not-yet rented-out house as ours was getting rewired at the time. She was away that weekend also.), discovering that I'd locked us out, getting a taxi home to an electricity free house to sleep, and then the trek around Wellington the next day, while naming our various destinations things from Lord of the Rings as we went has overpowered the earlier evening fairly well. Home = The Shire, Mum's = Erebor, Mum's new house = Rivendell, my brothers = Rohan. We drove to Erebor to discover no, really I had completely locked us out (I had shot the bolts then we'd left through the garage, hitting the inside automatic garage door close button and ducked out), went to Rohan to get the key to Rivendell off my brother, went to Rivendell to get Mum's garage door opener from her car, then back to Erebor!
Twitter favourites, the Way Back Machine and my own memory have all failed me for what we ate at Pan de Muerto but we've been back since, so it must have been nice enough!
I think Spruce Goose suffered from being at the very end of Fat August. I don't even remember what I ate with the menu (thank you Way Back Machine!) in front of me.
I hope to also write up the (still ongoing) Fat August 2015 experience before we hit 2016!
no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 08:49 am (UTC)Also oh my god I just remembered you guys snapchatted me the pannacotta wobbling AND NOW I AM LAUGHING, AGAIN
no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 08:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 08:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 09:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 09:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 09:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 08:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 08:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 08:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 08:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 09:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-17 09:30 am (UTC)