Tim Freedman

Tim Freedman is coming to New Zealand, and Wellington, for the first time! Who is Tim Freedman? He’s the frontman of Aussie band The Whitlams, who hit fame, fortune and grief in the 90’s. He’s the only survivor of the original threesome, the other two members having killed themselves in 1996 and 2000. He carried on with new musicians, keeping the name The Whitlams for most of his career, but also touring as himself (I saw him in London as Tim Freedman). The band have recently reunited and released new material under the name The Whitlams Black Stump, but for his current tour of New Zealand he is performing just under his name.

He's playing at the San Fran, one of Wellington’s smaller venues with a capacity of 500. As it’s in Cuba Street this gave us an opportunity to gain another stamp on our Mosaic passport by dining at Kisa, where we overordered to the extent that we took some of it home in boxes. We then headed up the street to get there in time to stake a place at one of the few tables at the back of the venue. But wait? What’s this? The whole venue has been set out with tables and chairs! Apparently they’re not expecting the youth crowd for this gig, even though we’ve seen previous performers there who attract a somewhat vintage crowd of punks, goths etc. So we staked a place upon one of the benches near the back. Maybe the fact that the doors opened at 6:00pm was a clue...?

The support act came on about half an hour later: Tyson Smith is a local Wellington musician, and played a set of songs old and new (he released an album in 2014, and another last year) with his acoustic guitar. The songs are very long so he only got through five of them. 

After a bit of clearing up and tuning up, Ollie took the stage, shortly followed by Tim Freedman. Together they make up 40% (he’d done the maths for us, and told us this) of The Whitlams Black Stump, who tour and produce albums under that name. their latest, Kookaburra, is what they’re promoting with this latest tour, which is also visiting some of the main centres in Australia, playing with symphony orchestras rather than the small venues they’re playing in New Zealand. Unfortunately they've yet to make it available in New Zealand in CD format, so I haven't bought it.

He started out with Charlie No. 1 and Charlie No. 2, both familiar tunes to the cognoscenti, before diving in to new material. Tim sat at his keyboard throughout, and Ollie variously played pedal steel guitar and other guitar parts. At no point did he wield “one of those keyboard axes, wanted to get out and dance away from the piano”. They played a mixture of songs, but definitely leaning to those that featured a piano-based arrangement, rather than some of the more guitar-oriented tunes of yesteryear. 

They wrapped up the set by around 8:30pm so us fogies could take ourselves off to bed.

Le Petit Chef

Le Petit Chef is a self-described “immersive dining experience” with “the world’s smallest chef”. It’s available around the world, and in Wellington it’s put on at the Intercontinental hotel.

We’d been enjoined to arrive half an hour early, although this appeared to be for their benefit rather than ours as there wasn’t any additional entertainment of drinks, just their standard hotel choice. We were eventually ushered into what appeared to be a meeting room set up for dining. Above each table was a projector which is the source of the animated show. Tables are set for four people, so we were sharing with a couple from Kapiti.

Before the dinner started the host introduced herself, took us through emergency procedures, and explained what was going to happen. Then the lights went down, and the first of a series of skits was projected onto our table and our plates as the chef, an animated character, sets about preparing the first course from his garden. It’s billed as “3D animation” but is, in fact, decidedly 2D.

 In between each course there’s a similar show, lasting a few minutes each. The food that comes out afterwards does somewhat resemble what is in the animation but isn’t necessarily an exact match. The courses were quite small, but with five of them there was sufficient that we didn’t go hungry. Overall the quality was what you’d expect in a hotel restaurant – good, but not outstanding.

Caprese salad

Bouillabaisse

Chicken with truffle

Chocolate mousse

Was it worth it? It was good, but not brilliant. A bit of a gimmick. Apparently, there’s a whole series of these with further additions to the story, but I don’t think we’ll be going back for more.

Paul Kelly

Veteran Aussie raconteur Paul Kelly is touring Australia and New Zealand. I’ve known about him for many a decade – even saw him playing at Shepherd’s Bush Empire before we moved to New Zealand!  I thought it was high time I saw him again.

As usual we arranged dinner first. The wider restaurant group that operates Mr. Go’s are currently running a promotion whereby you collect stamps each time you visit, with the aim of getting $50 reduction once you’ve collected them all. We’d already registered Parla, and collected a second stamp at Mr Go’s who provided us with their usual high-quality EastAsian inspired nosh. And we’ll be visiting Kisa soon as well.

It's but a short hop, skip, and jump down Cuba Street to the Michael Fowler Centre. We were there in time for the support act Reb Fountain, a kiwi who’s been around a while a has made half a dozen albums in the country/folk style so beloved of New Zealand women. She acquitted herself well, with tunes old and new.

Then it was time for the main act. Paul Kelly is supported by a 6-piece band, and he played a whole bunch of old well-known songs. There was quite a bit of newer material, which I was expecting to be honest, as he’s been busy - releasing 13 albums since I saw him last (he’s done 28 in total in various guises)…but there was enough of the recognisable tunes, and a lot of chat about them in between as well. He finished up the set with three classics: Dumb Things, How To Make Gravy, and From Little Things Big Things Grow, which got everyone singing along. He then returned for a four-song encore including Leaps And Bounds, one of his earliest hits. That set list in full can be found here.

As ever, he gave us solid entertainment with a set that ran well over the allocated two-hour time slot.

Rueben’s Hot Sister

I haven’t been to Choice Bros in, like, ages. Why not? It’s centrally located on Ghuznee Street, brews their own beers, and is open during the week. Years ago, it was a regular stop for me for a burger and beer when I was taking tours. But then, something changed…they decided, without consulting me, to change to an all-chicken menu. Yes, the only burger available was a chicken burger. Now, I don’t mind the occasional chicken burger, but when I want a beef burger, that’s what I want…so I stopped going.

Earlier this week, whilst reading reviews of Burgers Wellington, I came across their offering, and observed that it was, in fact, made with…beef. Well, blow me down! A quick investigation revealed that they’ve abandoned their whites-only policy, and are now back in the business of offering proper burgers. Again, they did not consult me on this decision, so I don’t know how long they’ve been missing out on my custom.

 After my work on Saturday I decided to drop by and sample their effort.

Rueben’s (sic) Hot Sister is described on the Burger Wellington website like this: Smashed beef patty with hot honey–cured beef short rib, smoked provolone, spiced pickled cabbage, pickled onions and spicy Russian dressing in a Cottage Lane brioche bun, with housemade kettle chips and Kāpiti brie bacon cheese dip.

It looks like this: 

There is no DVB beer match as, again, I’m in a brew pub so I’ll have whatever they recommend – in this case, Choice Bros Perfect Day low carb lager.

There was a bit of a wait for the burger as it was a popular choice and the bar was, if not full, at least reasonably patronised for a Saturday lunchtime. When it came though, it was good. This is a proper burger made by people who make proper burgers. All the necessary ingredients were there, and there was none of that extraneous “salad” that some insist on including in the burger. The pickled cabbage and onions provided some necessary crunch and flavour, and the cheese was tasty. The housemade (apparently; they tasted like they were out of a packet) kettle chips had, hover, gone a bit soft. Nevertheless they fulfilled their function of scooping up the brie and bacon dip. I felt, however, that just sticking to chips might have been a better option in this case. I scored it 7/10, because although it’s a good burger, it’s not an exceptional burger. I’m really looking for that one that blows your socks off to score higher.

 

Bosh

OK, now for something a bit different. After bridge we went out to lunch at Café Polo, one of our local eateries which could soon become the best café in the area. Why do I say that? Well, the best café in the area always used to be The Larder, but a short while ago Jacob & Sarah sold up, and it is now under new management. So far, nothing has changed, but we’ll have to keep a weather eye on it.

Café Polo’s offering is called Bosh, and is something a bit different to your usual burger: It’s a pork and prawn patty. Say what? Yes, you read that right. It’s described on the Burger Wellington site like this: Harringtons pork and prawn nugget with sweet and sour sauce, pineapple, pickled capsicum and onion, coriander, spring onion salad and crispy chilli mayo in Cafe Polo’s housemade sesame seed milk bun, with salt and pepper chips. The DVB beer match is The Classic lager.

It looks like this: 

How did it taste? As you can see, there’s a lot going on here, so much so that it’s held together with a stick...this is a burger for tackling with a knife and fork. According to the chalkboard description, the patty is 80% pork. The sweet and sour, and the pineapple combine well together, and the whole thing just zinged off the tastebuds. Unlike some burgers that have had the kitchen sink thrown at them, this is one that’s well thought out, with sweetness, sourness, spice, crunch and flavour. The chips were crunchy and generously seasoned, too. This is the best burger I’ve had so far this year, and I’m scoring it a 8/10. It’s not quite a perfect burger - pickupability, flavour and patty composition all play a part; as has been mentioned, I’m a hard man to please!

The Coastal Rogue

Another local excursion for a burger at the weekend, and this time we picked perennial favourites Little Sprig, a branch of the Sprig & Fern chain of pubs. Their offering is called The Coastal Rogue, described on the Burger Wellington site thus: Grass-fed beef blend patty with liquid cheese, crispy onions, bacon-jalapeño jam and Sprig sauce in a housemade brioche bun, with shoestring fries.

It looks like this:

Yes, I borrowed this pic from the website, as I forgot to take my own pic. 

There is no DVB beer match, because Sprig & Fern are a brewery and don’t sell other people’s beers.

There’s not much different to this burger, except the liquid cheese – effectively a cheese sauce rather than a slab of cheese on top. The crispy onions were a nice touch, and the fries were different to their usual, which are normally handmade and can veer to the soggy side on occasion. But not this one! They were crispy and well-seasoned.

This is as good a burger as the Burger Liquor one, so I’m giving it a score of 7/10.

 

Smokey’s Girl

Burger Liquor are a pretty reliable place for a burger; it’s in the name! I went after work to try their offering, Smokey’s Girl. Their regular burger, which I eat, er, regularly, is called “The Smokey”, so this is a girlfriend for the old favourite. It’s described on the Burger Wellington website like this: Smashed Conscious Valley beef patty with smoked cheddar, jalapeño crisp, shredded lettuce, strawberry and onion jam, and bacon ranch in a sesame rolled Brezelmania milk bun. The DVB beer match is Mouth Party, which I eschewed in favour of Burger Liquor’s house lager by Abandoned Brewery.

It looks like this: 

How was it? Honestly, it’s not a million miles away from The Smokey. The only thing missing was the bacon, which was added with the bacon ranch dressing. I mean, it wasn’t bad, but their usual offering does take some beating, tbh. It is a tasty burger, but I can’t in all conscience score it higher than a 7/10.