Mexican Cafe Review (in precise, unfluffy English)

I went to the Mexican Cafe (110 Lichfield Street) for lunch today.

Margarita: good, lots of tequila, not too much salt on the rim and a nice flavour.
Cheese dip: average, solid cheese sort of separated from the liquid but it tasted good.
Chicken burrito: above-average, large, chicken needed more seasoning, plate was very hot and I had to ask for the guacamole I ordered but it tasted good all put together.
Conversation: totally bodacious.
Price: reasonable ($26 for margarita and burrito); the lunch menu prices are much more reasonable than the dinner menu.
Overall: doesn't even compare to La Carreta or Taqueria but pretty good for Christchurch. I would go back again.

The End.

Sydenham Bakery Review

Every morning on my way to work I walk past Sydenham Bakery at 424 Colombo Street. It looks so good and smells so good that I always want to stop and buy something. But I never do because I’ve already eaten breakfast at home. Well, last week I was smart and made a plan to stop at the bakery for breakfast. I even packed healthy food for lunch so I wouldn’t feel bad about having unhealthy food for breakfast.

All the cabinets were filled with delectable baked goods. It took me a few minutes just to look at everything on offer and make a decision. I went for a two-course meal – a mince savoury followed by a cream donut. See I told you it would be unhealthy. The savoury was very tasty and seemed to have a high meat content. It was perfect for a cold day. The cream bun was also delicious. It was very rich so definitely not a regular breakfast option. The total cost was a measly $3.80.

Now every time I walk past Sydenham Bakery I know what I’m missing out on. I’ll definitely be back but I’m going to be good and limit myself to maybe once a month.

C1 Review

After training on Sunday, I met Lisa and Dalin at some undie show at Addington Raceway. It was cheap but mostly rubbish so we left pretty fast. We eventually decided to go into town for lunch, and after exploring a couple of options we ended up at C1 Espresso at 150 High Street.

I ordered one of their famous iced chocolates. They are more like a dessert than a drink and are very decadent. My iced chocolate arrived in a tall glass with 2 (or maybe 3) scoops of chocolate ice cream, chocolate fudge syrup, chocolate milk and a couple of lollies on top. It was yummy and was all gone before my food arrived. To eat, I chose the bagel with grilled haloumi, sundried tomato cream cheese and side salad. This gave me a chance to try haloumi for the first time. I concluded that I’m not going to add it to my list of favourite cheeses but it is alright. The standout performer was definitely the sundried tomato cream cheese. It was absolutely amazing and I wish I could have taken some home for further consumption. The salad added some colour to the plate and helped me convince myself that my lunch was at least partially healthy. Lisa and Dalin seemed to enjoy their meal too. The total cost was about $16 which was great considering the size and quality of the food and drink. C1 rocks!

After lunch, we headed to Peaches and Cream for some Hen’s party research. Me and Lisa are convinced that Dalin spent the whole walk trying to work out how to avoid going in the store… she eventually came up with a weak excuse and missed out on the fun.

The PackingShed Cafe Review

I went to The PackingShed Café on Saturday for lunch. Tara gave us a voucher for a free main course and dessert and we didn't have softball till 3pm so the timing was perfect. After a nice morning spending up large at the Lyttleton farmer’s market, Mum and I headed out to 161 Early Valley Road in Tai Tapu to The PackingShed café. As we were driving I wondered how a café could survive so far out in the wops. When we got there we were greeted with a homely but modern café surrounded by farmland. Apparently they also sell fruit from the orchard during the summer months.

Seeing as we both had softball, we steered clear of the wine and stuck with a Phoenix organic juice and a Charlie’s grapefruit soda. There were lots of attractive options on the menu, including more than one vegetarian choice, but in the end we opted to share a Ploughman’s platter. It was one of the best platters I have ever had. Everything except the blue cheese (ewww) was delicious. There was bread, rice crackers, cheeses, gherkins, sundried tomatoes, and a selection of dips and spreads including sundried tomato pesto, hummus, mushrooms with mustard, caramelised onions and salsa. It wasn’t very large but it was the perfect size for me (average eater) and Mum (light eater). For dessert, we opted for a bite-sized selection for two. It took a while to come out, but a couple of minutes after Mum asked “How much longer?” it arrived. It consisted of two small pieces of four different slices from the cabinet and a shot of peach sorbet. I enjoyed the apricot caramel slice, the mudcake and the sorbet. It was good, but not amazing, and we slightly regretted not trying the chef’s special which was apricot and gooseberry crumble.

They also sell a range of pickles and sauces and we bought three bottles on the way out. We were surprised that they let us use the full value of our voucher even though we shared the main and dessert. The service was great and the food was delicious so I would highly recommend The PackingShed Café for a relaxing weekend lunch in the country. I accidentally left my black jacket at the café so now we are going to have to return again next weekend. I have made the booking already!

The Twisted Hop Review

I went to The Twisted Hop for lunch today. It was quite an illogical decision really considering I brought lunch to work (in my cheap, dodgy container ordered from the Home Care catalogue). The Twisted Hop is located at 6 Poplar Street.

Even though the restaurant wasn’t busy, we had to seat ourselves when we arrived. This wasn’t a big deal and for the rest of the meal the service was prompt and attentive. I ordered a pint of Challenger beer, which is brewed on site. I’m not a beer expert but I can say that it was good. They had run out of Lee’s preferred cider, but luckily they stock a selection of ciders. Claire and Lee both chose the Tullybarden, as recommended by the waitress, and said that it was very yummy.

For food, I decided to try the Cornish Pastie with salad. The meal was substantial and well presented but the Pastie was not very good. The pastry was dry, the meat was tough and the filling had very little flavour. Lucky there was pickle on the side. The salad was much better and was fresh and refreshing. Lee ordered the Beef Involtine which looked delicious and Claire seemed to enjoy her Chicken Satay Skewers, so maybe I just made a bad choice.

The bill came to $22 which isn’t too bad. I liked the laid-back atmosphere of the restaurant and would go back to try a different food option (and probably a bottle of that wonderful cider).

The Name Game

I just read an article about a couple who started a web poll to help them decide the name of their baby. It's quite an interesting, albeit geeky, idea. It's a pity some of the names appear downright stupid to me (Ozma anyone). You even have the option of suggesting a name... I wonder if anyone has suggested "Talula does the hula from Hawaii"?

Winnie Bagoes Review (and The House Bunny)

Me and Lisa finally decided that we should go and see The House Bunny last Friday night. We even decided to make an evening out of it by going to The Boulevard for drinks after work and then grabbing some food before the movie. We chose The Boulevard because they have some good coupons on VoucherMate, and they also have a 2-4-1 happy hour on Fridays. I was happy because they have Speights Summit (one of my new favourite beers) on tap. Jane was happy because they had a platter of free bar snacks. Right after I bought 2 pints of beer (no, I am not an alcoholic) at 5:40 pm, Stacey (the woman) announced that we were expected at Winnie Bagoes at about 6:00 pm. I wasn’t the only one affected by the short timeframe; Lisa had a couple of RTDs in front of her. We were stoked though because Stacey (the man) had a friend who worked at Winnies and he had saved us a booth even though they don’t usually do reservations.

Angel ordered the gourmet flat bread which is topped with sundried tomatoes, feta, nuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sweet chilli sauce, olives and herbs. I had a piece of it and it was amazing, minus the olives (because olives are nasty). It was even better than the pizzas that me, Lisa and Stacey (the woman) shared. We got a chicken, cranberry and brie pizza and a grand Chicago pizza. They were very yummy. Stacey (the man) ordered the Cajun chicken pasta and Jane ordered the Spaghetti Marinara and they both seemed very happy with their choices. I had a Mac’s Springtide beer with my meal because pizza is made to go with beer. It was good and I couldn’t even tell that it was a low-carb beer.

The biggest surprise of the night though was that it happened to be Stacey’s (the man) 30th birthday. The sneaky bugger had tried to keep it a secret but Stacey (the woman) let it slip and then the waiter friend bought over a slice of moist rich chocolate mud cake and we sung happy birthday.

I have never had a bad food experience (although I have waited ages to be seated before) at Winnie Bagoes so if you are looking for some good pizza and a lively atmosphere it is a good place to go. They also have a pretty cool bar area attached to the restaurant and an outside seating area for the summer months. The address is 194 Gloucester Street.

The movie was bloody funny too. I love the way that Shelley remembers names. Classic! Check out the trailer…

Guest Review from Joel

Don't bother asking who Joel is. Joel is not my secret lover from the US. He is also not a famous movie star taking a break from Hollywood. Sadly he is not a famous sports star either. Actually Joel is not even my guest reviewer's real name (it is a pseudonym). Enjoy...

Perche No Pasta and Vino
1319 North 49th St, Greenlake, Seattle, WA 98103
http://www.perchenopastaandvino.com/

We were after a quiet dinner for two on a Saturday night and selected this restaurant after an exhaustive search of the Seattle Times food guide. The restaurant had pretty good reviews; it is an authentic Italian restaurant run by a Chinese chef trained in Italian cooking. His wife is the Maitre d’. We booked for 8:30pm and got there five minutes early.

We waited in a cramped foyer, squeezed up against the wall by other impatient patrons, while we were ignored by the Maitre d’ for at least ten minutes. When we managed to grab her attention and say we had a booking she ignored us. We almost made a decision to leave on the spot (in hindsight we wish we had) but eventually she came back and hustled us upstairs to a table overlooking the open kitchen. It was quite interesting being able to look down on the kitchen and watch the chefs cook, despite the banging of pots and staff yelling to each other.

We sat at the table for around 10 minutes before a waiter turned up. We noticed people who arrived after us were getting bread rolls at their tables. Nothing arrived at ours, though.

The wine menu was inexplicable. It seemed at first glance that wine could only be bought by the bottle. The waiter seemed annoyed when we asked if he could explain the wine menu. We managed to order a glass of something each but neither of us was sure what we were going to get.

For appetisers we ordered the Prosciutto wrapped with mozzarella and the Caprese, sliced tomatos with mozzarella and fresh basil. For whatever reason, the waiter came back five minutes later and said they had run out of mozzarella and thus couldn't do the second entree. Bizarrely, the first entree, which had mozzarella in it too, was unaffected by this shortage. After checking that the spinach salad was vegetarian, and being told it was, we ordered that instead.

The bread arrived after we’d ordered the entrees. The olive oil canister at our table was empty and we managed to get another member of staff to refill it.

The appetisers arrived relatively promptly. The prosciutto was good but nothing special. Portions were pretty small. There was definitely mozzarella in it. However, after four forkfulls of the ‘vegetarian’ spinach salad, I realised there was shaved bacon in it. I was going to send it back but the waiter was nowhere to be found. I put it to one side and scowled instead.

For main courses we ordered the Risotto Seppio e Calamari, which is squid ink sautéed with parsley and calamari, and the Portobello mushroom ravioli. They arrived in quite good time and were both satisfactory. The risotto was quite basic and didn’t have a great deal of calamari with it. The ravioli was better. It was tasty, not to mention vegetarian without shaved bacon in it.

Serving like a ghastly background track to the entire night was the atmosphere of the restaurant. There was a piano player playing Eagles songs on an upright piano downstairs. He had about 4 songs in his repertoire and played too loud with the pedal stuck down. He was right below our table. By the time he got to Desperado a fifth time we decided we had had enough. Added to this was a glut of restaurant staff who pushed past each other down the narrow gaps between tables and mingled with kids from a dinner party in another room who were let loose to run around the restaurant.

We managed to get the attention of the Maitre D’ and get the bill. She seemed surprised we didn’t want to stay for dessert. We ran down the stairs and bolted out, relieved and disappointed that the peaceful dinner experience we'd wanted to have had been slaughtered.

Overall it was ugly and dusky, the service was rude and short, and the whole place unbelievably loud. The bill came out to right on $100. We usually wouldn't mind paying this, or more than this, in a high quality restaurant. In fact our record is about $280 for two. For the dining, culinary and atmospheric experience we had, however, it was pretty steep. We left a 6% tip; it was 6% too much. The Chinese owners have turned Rome into Canton faster than you could say nihou.

Two Fat Indians - The Voucher War Continues

Me and Mum decided to pick up some Indian takeaways on the way home on Thursday night. We decided that we might as well go to Two Fat Indians because it was on the way home and I hadn’t used the $20 voucher given to me after our recent lunchtime misunderstanding.

When we presented the voucher the guy in charge tried to underline “dine-in” on the voucher and say that it wasn’t valid. This was even though it obviously had “takeaway” written on it. He then questioned us about where we got it. They couldn’t get away with any silly business this time though and he was finally forced to accept the voucher.

We ordered a vegetarian platter for two consisting of 2 samosas, 2 onion bhajees, 2 paneer pakoras and 2 vegetable pakoras. We also got a garlic naan, raita and a hot butter chicken. This set us back $20 after getting $20 off. I had a mango lassi to drink while we waited for the food. The mango lassi was smooth and delicious, but that was the only really good part of the meal. All of the starters were really dry and not particularly appetising. The butter chicken and naan were okay but nothing special. Mum agreed that it doesn’t even compare to The Raj Mahal (our favourite Indian restaurant).

Don’t bother going to Two Fat Indians and definitely don’t trust any vouchers that you have from them. Their focus is definitely not on fairness or customer satisfaction (regardless of what they try to say).

The Lotus Heart Review

I met up with Mum for lunch on Monday. I decided that we should try one of Christchurch’s vegetarian restaurants. Usually I wouldn’t shun meat but Mum is a vegetarian which is a good excuse for me to try some different foods. Our first thought was Govinda’s but Mr Christmas highly recommended The Lotus Heart and there were good online reviews so we went there. The Lotus Heart is located at 595 Colombo Street.

The Lotus Heart is run by students of spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy. The atmosphere inside the café is peaceful and unassuming. All of the food is displayed in a cabinet and appears to vary from day to day. When we arrived there were only a couple of options plus some salads, but during the course of our meal they brought out at least six different choices. I have to admit that I got a bit of food envy seeing all the stuff coming out. They also offer a wide variety of freshly squeezed juices and teas.

I decided on the enchilada bake with salad. It consisted of beans, cheese and tortillas in a tomato based sauce. The combination of herbs and spices was subtle and the result delicious. The salad was nice and refreshing and had an interesting tangy dressing. The meal was substantial and I was definitely satisfied when I got finished. I also ordered a chai latte to drink which was pretty average. Mum started with an orange and pineapple juice which she was very impressed with. For food she chose the pumpkin and potato pie. She said that it was yummy, especially the pastry base. As an added bonus her meal was gluten free.

We really liked The Lotus Heart and will definitely be back to try a couple of things in particular (especially the Hunza pie). Even if you are not a vegetarian you should check it out.

Joe's Garage Review

The venue for team lunch this week was Joe’s Garage. I was pleased because last time I went there they ran out of their highly recommended brats. I was looking forward to finally getting hold of one. The restaurant is located at 194 Hereford Street. It is a nice comfortable cafe with a lively atmosphere. We were seated at a big long table in the middle of the restaurant.

When our waitress arrived to take our drink orders she seemed a bit out of it. Maybe she was high on a little more than life. That might explain why she poured and then brought out the glasses of wine one by one. She also forgot a couple of drinks including my smoothie. I ordered the “Killer Bee” which contained banana, plum, organic yoghurt and honey. It was pretty good but nothing special. The glasses of wine were generous and they had Pinot Gris by glass so maybe I should have gone for the alcohol.

The food took quite a while to arrive, and when it did, two salads were missing. One of them eventually showed up but the other one had to be converted to a takeaway order. The waitress did not apologise for this and at one point tried to bring over a completely different salad. I ordered the brat (of course!!!) with fried onions and melted cheese in a toasted bun. The brat was tough and not tasty, the onions were barely fried, and the cheese was not melted. The only saving grace was the yummy mixture of BBQ sauce and wholegrain mustard. It definitely did not meet my expectations.

On my way out I grabbed a chocolate caramel slice which was delicious. The slice managed to pull my overall food rating up from below-average to average. In total the meal cost about $16. I’d go back to Joe’s Garage for a coffee but that’s about it.