Avida - Dine Wellington

It’s not all about dégustations and burgers, you know! Wellington On A Plate offers a whole host of other events, including the Dine Wellington menus – where 97 of Wellington’s restaurants offer a menu specifically designed to incorporate local ingredients and suppliers as a prix fixe. The price of this can vary from $15 up to $75, depending on the venue and number of courses.

As I’m burgering about most days, my chances of getting to any of these is slim. However, on a Thursday evening I’m generally at a loose end, as we don’t start dance class until 8:00pm. It has become my habit of late to take myself to Avida for a couple of tapas and a glass of beer – they have a revolving stock of Garage Project beers on tap, and the tapas are of really good quality.

A quick check of my WOAP booklet showed that they were also offering a Dine Wellington menu, so off I toddled, and read their offering: a choice of any two tapas from a short list, and a glass of wine or – yes – a Garage Project beer. In this case, the beer was Beer, a brew which they describe as “Sometimes simple is exactly what you want”. It comes in a plain, simple can:

I selected the diamond shell clams and the Primestar rib from the menu, sat back, and waited. The clams arrived first:

Then the rib:

This was a monster! Slow-cooked and dripping with unctuousness, this is possibly the best rib in the world. As the man from the Dilmah ads says, “Do try it!” And at $25 including the beer, it’s a bargain.