Bird Is The Word

We’d finished bridge and decided we’d sample another local café, as we’ve covered most of the acceptable eateries on the peninsula. But we haven’t been to Scorch-O-Rama! Actually, we haven’t been there in yonks, but they know us anyway. Their Burger Wellington offering, The Bird Is The Word, is a chicken burger (did the name give it away?). It’s described on the WOAP website like this: Bourbon hot honey buttermilk fried chicken, with Fernglen Farm halloumi, Double Vision Brewing beer-caramelised onion, pickled red cabbage, chilli and apple coleslaw, and lemon and herb buttermilk drizzle in a milk bun, with duck fat roast potatoes and black garlic aioli.

It looks like this: 

The DVB beer match isn’t mentioned on the website, but they do have DVB’s Chillax. Except they’d run out…so I ended up with a Panhead Supercharger instead.

Now then people, pay attention: this is how you burger! I had to turn my phone to portrait orientation to photograph it because it was so tall! None of your false advertising here!

And the taste! This is how you burger! The crunch-encrusted chicken was sweet, juicy, flavourful…delicious! Sorry, I’m using so many exclamation marks because I just can’t help it! The slaw was crunchy and tasty. The caramelised onions – sweet, soft (looks ups synonyms for delicious), scrumptious! The sauce was good, and there was a generous part-melted slab of halloumi atop the chicken. The duck-fat-roasted chips (cos that’s what they were) were generous, sprinkled with crunchy bits and with a decent smear of black garlic aioli to dip into. And to top it off, literally, sticking out the top is a…yes, delicious!...spike of pork crackling.

There’s a lot going on in this burger, but the flavours all mix in without fighting each other. The portion is generous to a fault. Speaking of faults, I can’t really find any. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a 10 on our hands here!

That’s how you burger! 10/10!

 

Seaside Sichuan Deluxe

It’s the weekend! Which means Little Sprig in Seatoun is open at lunchtime. We go there regularly anyway, so I thought we’d give their burger a try today. It's called Seaside Sichuan Deluxe, and the Burger Wellington website describes it like this: Double beef patties, with gruyère, Sichuan sauce, rocket, carrot, red cabbage, red pepper, coriander, and spring onion in a Cottage Lane brioche bun, with straight-cut fries.

It looks like this: 

This is the picture from the website, as I forgot to take one of my own! Unlike some previous offenders, however, this is a fair representation of what we actually got.

There’s no DVB beer match as Little Sprig is part of the Sprig & Fern group, which brews their own beer. I ordered a Nectaron instead – a citrussy IPA which I thought would complement the burger.

How was it? It’s a double patty burger with additional fillings which could have made the burger structurally unstable. I picked it up and it held together – the additional ingredients were finely shredded so didn’t cause slipperiness, and the burger maintained its integrity until the end. The Sichuan sauce was plentiful and gave that characteristic numbness that you get from Sichuan peppers. The patties had been well grilled, and the vegetables gave a bit of crunch and counterpoint to the burger and Sichuan sauce. The fries were served with Sichuan mayo. Overall, this is a very good burger, and I’m inclined to call it my best of the competition so far. My only teeny quibble is with the fries, which were OK, but not outstanding. That’s the only reason that this doesn’t get a 10. I’m scoring it 9/10.

 

The Rice Age 2

Following on from Umami Sunrise, which was last year’s entry onto the Burger Wellington scene by local eatery, The Bento Bar. Not normally noted for burger-style food, this Japanese take-away has been around just over a year – presumably another of the many burgeoning hospo businesses catering to the ever-growing army of film- and game-related workers in this hi-tech hub. 

After bridge on Wednesday we eschewed our usual trip to Seatoun and decided to give this a try. Options for burgers on the peninsula are actually quite limited – The Larder aren’t doing one, Arcimboldi are just putting one of their schnitzels in a bun, and we’ve already tried Café Polo and DVB. However, this looks like an interesting choice.

The Rice Age 2 is described on Burger Wellington like this: Woody's Free Range Farm pork belly, with purple cabbage coleslaw, lettuce, soy-marinated egg, and red pickled ginger in a toasted sticky rice bun. They also say “Last year's rice burger generated real buzz with queues, an RNZ feature, and customers spreading the word. The Rice Age 2 is a playful sequel brought back because people kept asking.”

It looks like this:

It’s a takeaway bar, but they do have a couple of seats inside. Unfortunately we were unable to snaffle those, so we brought the burgers home instead. They’re unlicensed, so no DVB beer match with this one.

The bun is actually toasted sticky rice, and is quite dense. The pulled pork filling was tasty, and the slaw, pickled ginger and soy egg good accompaniments. With the rice there’s no need for chips or any additional carb, so I didn’t feel the lack of chips. My main gripe is with the ratio of filling to rice: there’s rather too much rice. In the attempt to make it more bun-like, the rice “buns” are actually quite thick; maybe making them thinner would have been the way to go? But then there wouldn’t have been much to these burgers, as they’re quite small to begin with. A conundrum to be faced next year, perhaps.

Anyway, it was a pleasant variation on the usual, but not one that I think will take off. I’m scoring it a worthy 6/10.

 

Bite And Tell

This is a visit to the source…not of burgers, but of the beers that accompany the burgers for Burger Wellington. Yes, they’re all brewed locally (to me) right here in Miramar, and their bar is one of our regular haunts anyway, so off we popped to try their burger.

It’s called Bite And Tell, and it’s described on the WOAP website as such:

Beef patty, with pickled daikon, carrot and sesame coleslaw, cheddar, fresh chilli, fried shallots, and Sichuan sauce in a Shelly Bay Baker brioche bun.

It looks like this: 

And yes, there’s a beer match! It’s Loud And Clear IPA, which I’ve already tried...but as we’re actually in their bar I can get a pint of it, rather than a can, which is what other venues offer. Result!

How was it? Well, they already do a tasty burger, so this is just a variation on their usual patty. But it was a good one: there was the characteristic numbing sensation from the Sichuan sauce, some nice crunchiness from the slaw, a bite from the pickle, and the heat from the chili. The flavours combined rather than fought each other. Other points to note: a pick-upable burger (although the sauce did run all over my fingers), and also the chips at DVB are always quality – crunchy, chunky and golden. Overall I’d eat this burger any time, and I rate this a strong 9/10.

 

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!

All About The Heat

Our final foray into Burger Wellington was to local brewery and bar, Double Vision Brewery. We went there last year and had a very nice coffee-infused burger, and this is, regrettably, the first time we’ve been back since. We really must go there more often! It’s a great little bar, and the beer is first-rate.

We went on a busy Sunday lunch but managed to find a table, and ordered two of their All About The Heat burgers. It’s described on the WOAP website like this:

Bacon and cheese stuffed wagyu beef patty with bacon jam, smoked cheese, pickles, lettuce and a housemade BBQ sauce (with your choice of spiciness) in a Shelly Bay Baker bun, with chips and housemade tomato sauce

It looks like this:

The Garage Project beer match is Tiny XPA, a non-alcoholic beer. Sod that for a game of soldiers, thought I, and went for one of DVB’s brews, the Big Hop Redemption.

The deal with this burger is that you can select the heat of the house-made barbecue sauce in the burger, and we both selected medium. In retrospect, we should probably have gone for hot, as I didn’t detect any spiciness. That aside, this is a tasty burger, as it should be with wagyu beef. The patty was generous, as was the slice of cheese, nice bacon jam; and it was pickupable, so I ate it in the traditional way. The chips were crispy and tasty, as was the house-made tomato sauce. This is one of the best burgers I’ve had in the competition, only beaten by Café Polo’s effort which was done with just a little more presentation. But I’m going to rate it the same, 9/10. Why not a 10? I’ve only given out 10s to absolutely remarkable burgers over the past years, and the gold standard is one I ate at Boulcott Street Bistro way back in 2012.

That wraps up our official burger shenanigans for this year. I say official, as some venues will continue to serve their burgers after the close of the competition, and of course the ultimate winner does so as well, so I may get the opportunity to try one or two more.  

Chickens Are Seoul Food

Burger Wellington is drawing to a close, and our opportunities for burgerisation are becoming fewer. I wanted to sample another local eatery, so, instead of making the burger-eating part of a wider outing, we made a special trip to our local beachfront café, Scorch-O-Rama in Scorching Bay.

Scorch-O-Rama does have the benefit of being open seven days a week – unlike many of the cafés  around Wellington, which have reduced hours, particularly in winter. We went on a Tuesday. Their burger is called Chickens Are Seoul Food, which pretty well flags what it’s going to be like: a Korean-flavoured chicken burger. It’s described on the WOAP website like this:

Korean buttermilk chicken with kimchi slaw, caramelised pineapple, and sticky honey spicy sauce in a Brezelmania charcoal bun, with squid chips.

It looks like this: 

There’s no Garage Project beer match, so I opted for local brewer Parrotdog’s Birdseye Hazy IPA instead.

As you can see, it’s in a charcoal bun. This only affects the colour, not the flavour, and it is quite a light, fluffy bun. Inside, the chicken thigh is covered in caramelised pineapple, and the kimchi slaw is underneath. This is again one to tackle with cutlery, not hands. I dug in. The generous portion of chicken is well spiced, and the kimchi gives a nice tang to counter the sweetness of the sticky sauce and the pineapple. There’s quite a chilli kick to the sauce as well. Instead of chips, it's served with polenta-crusted squid “chips”, which had been deep-fried. These are crunchy, perfectly-cooked sections of squid, which I really liked. This is a really well-put-together burger, and is one of my favourites of the competition so far. I scored it 8/10.

 

Cormac

OK, I’ve had it with burgers that don’t live up to expectations. Today we went to local joint Café Polo for their Burger Wellington offering, Cormac.

It’s described on the WOAP website like this:

Wagyu beef patty with smoked cheese, red onion, lettuce, jalapeño and pickle comeback sauce, and spiced carrot jam in a housemade 'carrot top' bun, with curly fries and sweet 'n' sour sauce

It looked like this: 

The Garage Project beer match was Red Dog, a red IPA with Japanese flavours designed to go well with a burger. It’s a tasty brew with a good, strong flavour. 

And yes, it delivered! The patty: big, filling the bun, juicy, cooked medium rare. The sauce and red onions were generously applied – so much so that the burger was a bit slippery, and I decided to go in with knife and fork rather than risk squirty burger syndrome – you know, when you bite into the burger and everything flies out the opposite side. There was a healthy portion of curly fries with accompanying sweet & sour sauce. Overall, a good combo, with a bit of heat coming from the jalapeno. Definitely a recommendation, and I’m scoring this one 9/10. Why not 10? The superfluous  lettuce and the unpickupability of the burger, otherwise this would be perfect.

OK, where to next? Who can challenge this hunk of beefy goodness?

Pass The Pig

Another lunchtime, another burger. This time I went local, for reasons, and chose The Larder, our favourite local café. Their offering this year is called Pass The Pig, and it’s described on the WOAP Burger Wellington site like this:

BBQ pork belly with coriander, pickled cucumber, chicken liver pâté, carrot, red chilli, star anise and roasted spiced peanuts in a Myrtle sourdough bun, with shoestring fries, and chilli, lime salt, and lemongrass mayonnaise.

It looks like this: 

The Garage Project beer match is Fugazi, which is a beer I’ve had before, and isn’t one of my favourites. I opted instead for a Double Vision Brewery Chillax XPA instead.

First up: this is a tasty dish! The pork belly is well rendered, so not chewy, and all the ingredients in the bun give it a crunchy, delicious flavour. Is it a burger, though? It’s more of a meat sandwich – the pork belly is whole, not formed into a patty (not sure how you’d do that anyway?). The shoestring fries were a little pale, but crispy and the mayo topped with chili and lime salt. The Myrtle bun was really good as well – Myrtle being Jacob’s other venture, a bakery in Mount Victoria. A satisfying meal, I scored it 7/10.

Election Day

We’re coming up on re-election day

New Zealand has been having one of its general elections recently. They happen every three years here, which is quite often. When the election comes around the Electoral Commission advertises for casual workers to deliver the election – around 20,000 people get involved in the whole process. Nicola and I decided to give it a go this year. 

We applied online and were duly invited to an interview/assessment to see whether we were suitable and for which roles. We both ended up being OSVIOs, which is Ordinary/Special Vote Issuing Officer. It’s our job to complete the voting paper (what used to be called a ballot paper) for each voter as they come to us; telling them how to mark their vote (if necessary), and where to put the voting paper when they’d finished.

Unlike some countries, voting is open for two weeks before the final Election Day, so voting places (what used to be called Polling Stations, but this is too difficult for some people to understand) are open and need to be staffed. We both attended training in the weeks before so that we would have a clear idea of what we were doing – you can watch so many videos and online modules, but there’s nothing like practising doing it for real. Nicola was allocated to work in the Miramar Community Centre, which is just down the road, and I was in Hataitai Community House, which is a bit further away, necessitating a drive. In the week before election day, I was working for five days, then did the final ED on Saturday. This is a long day, as we start at 9am instead of the usual 10am, and go through to 7pm instead of 4pm. But at 7pm, it’s not over. In the days leading up to ED, we’d finish up with a reconciliation to total all the votes issued that day to a running total – a process that normally took half an hour. On ED, however, we have to count all the votes for each candidate and each party, and send those to Electoral Headquarters. On ED I’d been moved to Miramar Community Hall so I was in a bigger voting place than I’d been used to. Additionally, we had three electorates for which we were counting votes there, and each one needs to be processed separately.

You remember that bit about “where to put their voting paper”? It’s up there, at the end of paragraph two? Yeah, that’s too hard. So when we were first starting the count, we had to open up all the ballot boxes and make sure that they contained only those votes for that electorate. You’re way ahead of me on this one, aren’t you? Of course there were some in the wrong boxes! After we’d sorted that out, the counting proper could begin. This is a long process, but once it’s complete the manager gets on the phone to headquarters and relays his results…which then get fed through to the TV stations and news networks.

We finished up around 11:15, signed out, said our goodbyes and “see you in three years!”es, and got home. My back was aching and I was still buzzing, so I watched the results show with a glass or two of muscle relaxant before I hit the hay.

 

 

The Dave

We were looking for a burger in the local area, and decided that Café Polo was a likely candidate. Their standard burgers are good anyway, so their Burger Wellington offering must be worth a try?

It’s called The Dave. I don’t know who Dave is*. It’s described thus on the website: Harrington's pork, beef and sage sausage meatloaf patty, with a crispy Zany Zeus ricotta and potato fritter, caramelised onion, and green pea salsa, in a housemade milk bun with chunky chips and beef gravy. It looks like this:

The Garage Project beer match was again The Devil’s Lettuce, which is a tasty drop. It still hasn't made it onto GP's website so whether it will be continued after Burger Wellington remains to be seen.

Basically, what we have here is a sausage burger, and a tasty one. Caramelised onion – tick. Green pea salsa was more like mushy peas. Just as an aside here, New Zealanders can’t do mushy peas; they use garden peas instead of marrowfat, which doesn’t work, the texture’s all wrong. The chunky chips were good, and the gravy, served on the side, was delicious – chips and gravy is a rare delicacy! You can tell there’s a “but” coming, though, can’t you? Yes, indeed: it’s the ricotta and potato fritter. It may have been crispy at some stage in its life, but it wasn’t by the time it reached the table. So what you had was a layer of mashed potato on top of the patty. Ricotta isn’t a strongly-flavoured cheese, and diluted with mashed potato it was barely discernible. All this did was add an unnecessary layer of carbs, which unbalanced the whole burger. Overall, I scored this a 7/10.

* The vegetarian option is called The Chas. Mystery solved! 

Big Yen

Iron Horse, formerly known as Gasworks, has been a Miramar institution for a number of years now. Not noted for fine dining, but they can produce decent pub grub. We’d tried to get there earlier in the week only to find them closed (even though all their media said they were open), so took the precaution of phoning and booking in advance this time. This was also due to trying, and failing once more, to get into Café Polo, who couldn’t accommodate us until 1:30pm because of the 50-person maximum rule currently in force. As Nicola was working this wasn’t feasible.

Iron Horse was practically deserted. There was one other table, and that was it. Still, we ploughed on, and ordered a burger. The Big Yen (did they mean Big Yin?) is described thus: PrimeStar prime Angus beef patty with fried haggis, Whittaker's 72% chocolate and chipotle mole, smoked tomatillo salsa, pickled onions and baconnaise in a Brezelmania bun, with hash bites. The Garage Project beer match is Cereal Milk Stout – not a style of beer I usually go for, but I gave it a try anyway.

It looked like this:

 The unique feature of this burger is the haggis component. Now, haggis is normally quite soft and squishy, but this one had been formed into a patty and then fried to within an inch of its life. The chocolate and chipotle mole was superfluous as it was completely overwhelmed by the salsa. The baconnaise appeared to be simply mayo with bits of bacon in it, rather than a proper mayo made with bacon. Given the chewiness of the haggis and the large quantity of salsa, I didn’t even attempt to pick this burger up, as this would have been a recipe for instant burger collapse. The hash bites were crisp and salty, so a good accompaniment. I felt that although this burger had some good components, they’re tried too hard to stuff everything into it, and the ingredients were unbalanced – way too much salsa, and the haggis overcooked. Not the best, and I scored it a 6/10.

Under The Sea

What is it with people not being open? Today, we wanted to go to Iron Horse, the pub formerly known as Gasworks, to try their burger for lunch. Better check they’re open, though, so I looked on their website, on Google, and on their facebook page. All said they were open…so, they’d be open, right?

Wrong. They’re shut. Now, the reason we’d selected them is that many of our local Miramar eateries do shut on a Monday, and open up on Tuesday (or Wednesday). But Iron Horse is a 7 days a week venue. Except today. Our choices were limited, so we took a look at what Park Kitchen were offering. It looked OK, so we went round there, and, thankfully, they were open.

My best-laid plan to get back to beef had seriously gone up the spout though, as their burger is a fish-based one. You probably guessed that from the name? The Under The Sea is described thusly: Smoked fish and coconut patty with cucumber, seaweed and ginger salad and wasabi dashi mayonnaise in a Brezelmania coconut bun, with prawn crackers. The Garage Project beer match is Arvo XPA.

It looks like this:

 And it tastes…fishy. Not noticeably smoky, though, and also you wouldn’t know the bun was a coconut one if you hadn’t been told. Nor was there much wasabi in the wasabi mayo. In fact, although it was a nice enough burger, I felt it lacked oomph. None of the promised flavours were big and bold, but rather muted. The most notable things about it were the chewy seaweed, and the prawn crackers. It did the job, but it failed to deliver on its promise. I’m scoring this a 5/10, and I’ll probably continue to avoid PK for the future, as I have been doing so successfully for the last few years – although this has previously been down to their lackadaisical attitude to actually providing a service.

Cheesy Louisey

After the hiatus caused by the Level 4 and 3 weeks, Burger Wellington is back with a rescheduled bang! Now running from 8^th September until 3^rd October, lockdowns permitting, so I’ll be trying some of those tasty burgers over the coming weeks.

First up, I went local. After my adventures on the first day at Level 2, I decided to reward myself with a burger from local joint, Gorilla Burger. Their offering is called the Cheesy Louisey, and is described thus: Juicy Lucy gouda-filled patty with Swiss cheese, smoked brisket, pink pickled onions, bacon jam and cheddar mayo in a Brezelmania cheese milk bun. There’s no Garage Project beer match as Gorilla have a tie-in with rival local brewers Double Vision. The waiter offered me a taste of their cream ale, currently on tap, but I didn’t like it – it tasted of cream soda. So I had a tin of Fortune Favours Adventurer instead. It looked like this: 

How was it? Well, messy would be a good way to describe it. They don’t offer you cutlery at Gorilla Burger. You’ll also note an absence of fries. Now, some burgers come with fries, or other accompaniments, as part of the deal, and some don’t. Where they don’t however, the waiter should ask whether you want fries with that. In this case they didn’t so I went without. Flavour-wise, it held up, although half of the cheddar mayo deposited itself outside the bun on the first bite. Despite this, the bun maintained integrity to the end. This despite the bun being cold - not even room temperature - and had clearly not been toasted in the required fashion. The smoked brisket, however, was surprisingly good: the right amount of smokiness, and well-cooked to fall apart – sometimes it remains chewy, and this is not what you want in a burger. Even so, it’s not a brilliant burger. I rated it 7/10.

Gochu

Another day, another burger dictated by timing and accessibility. I was due to do another night tour shadowing at Zealandia as part of my training, so decided to get an early burger in Miramar before heading to Karori. The venue I selected was Gasworks, as they are (a) open in the evening, and (b) on the way. Nicola came with me and walked back home afterwards.

Gasworks’ burger is called Gochu, and is described like this: Beef patty with gochujang sauce, pickles, cheddar, Swiss, jalapeño cheese, Woody's Free Range Farm pastrami, caramelised onions and ketchup in a Brezelmania potato bun, with fried daikon pickles.

It looked like this:

So what did I think of it? Well, there was a nice spiciness about the gochujang sauce, and it was easily manhandled without falling apart. And whilst all the trimmings were there (fried pickles is a theme that seems to be running this year), the central element was a let-down: the patty itself was flavourless. I don’t know what beef they were using, but they need to find something better. Overall, a disappointing effort. I scored it 5/10.

Umami Monster

It’s Day Three in the Big Burger House, and once again I decided to go local for today’s offering. This was due to time constraints around use of the car – Nicola has a thing at 2:00pm in town, so I needed to get back in time to hand over the key. I chose our local, and still fairly new, burger joint: Gorilla Burger. We’ve been there a few times and found their offerings pretty good.

The Umami Monster is described as such: Smoked point end brisket with Beehive bacon bits, Fortune Favours Necromancer black beer cheese sauce, dill pickles and pink onions in a Brezelmania milk bun. There’s no Garage Project beer match as Gorilla Burger are pretty much joined at the hip to Fortune Favours Brewery, so I selected a Trailblazer as accompaniment. They’re also offering $1 fries at the moment, so I took those as well.

It looked like this: 

Gorilla Burger’s offerings are designed for picking up, none of your namby-pamby “eating burger with knife and fork” nonsense here. As you can see, however, this one’s going to be messy. Nevertheless, it held together until the end; the bun, though light and airy, did not sacrifice integrity. This is just as well as a heavy bun can make the whole experience hard work…they’ve hit just the right balance of consistency and structure.

The burger itself was tasty, full of umami as advertised. The burger contained both a patty and strips of brisket, with plenty of sauce, and pink onions. Bacon bits as described. The brisket was slow-cooked to be fall-apart tender, and hadn’t been over-smoked, as some brisket burgers are; which sometimes overpowers the actual beef flavour of the burger. The bun was topped off with a deep-fried pickle, which seems to be the thing these days. The fries were their standard-issue fries served with aioli.

“This IS a tasty burger!” I said to myself, and polished it off in short order. The first beef burger I’ve had (OK, only three days in), and easily the pick of the bunch so far. I score it 8/10.

Level Two

So here we are at Covid-19 Level Two. Restrictions have been lifted, shops, cafés and restaurants opened, and New Zealand travel allowed. Yippee!

On the first day, we headed up to Zealandia for the first time in seven weeks, for a walk. We got there early, and it turned out that this was a good plan, as by the time we were returning the place was beginning to fill up. Certainly the car parks were full! I will be returning there on Saturday in a professional capacity, volunteer guiding in the afternoon.

We then headed into town for me to get…a haircut! Yes, the Eighties look has been lost, and I’m now back to my Shaun The Sheep style. They were only allowing three people into the shop to wait, so the queue had started to form outside. I was fifth, but as there were three hairdressers we got seen fairly quickly.

For lunch we went out to Café Polo. They’re still offering only a limited menu, but at least we could sit down in there, have a beer or wine with lunch, and generally try to get back to normal. There weren’t as many people availing themselves of this as I’d have thought. The Larder don’t appear to be open for business yet – they’re still passing food out onto a table à la Level Three. They were offering a bubble dinner on Thursday and Friday, but these sold out within minutes and we didn’t make the cut. We’ll be back to them when they reopen properly – probably next week. Meanwhile, we had their Vietnamese lunch the other day – pork banh mi and chicken dumpling soup – which was very tasty.

We’ve also had another meal from Loggy B’s (that’s Logan Brown to you) delivered for home assembly. This time we had confit duck, and again it was a restaurant-quality experience. We’ve ordered again for next week.

On Friday morning we went down to Scorch-O-Rama for brunch. Again, oddly quiet. I’d have thought that people would be flocking to these venues again, but either they’re back at work, or staying at home afeart. Maybe they’ll be busier over the weekend.

In Covid-19 news, we’ve had three days on the trot with no new cases, followed by one case today...but this turned out to be someone who had symptoms two months ago, tested negative, was isolated anyway, is now no longer infectious, and now tests positive. Not entirely sure how they get this to be a “new case”, but hey, what do I know?

Next week will see further relaxations, with pubs and bars allowed to reopen. Some are open already if they're serving food, but there are no drinks-only establishments open at the moment. And no, crisps and nuts are not a meal (they checked). The Level 2 restrictions will be reviewed on Monday, 25^th May.

Level Two Is Coming

Saint Jacinda announced on Monday that New Zealand would be going to Covid-19 Level Two at 23:59 on Wednesday, 13^th May. This means that from Thursday, more businesses can open, we can sit in cafés and restaurants again, and people can go back to work and school, with appropriate spacing measures in place. Woohoo!

For us, this means we can go back to volunteering at Zealandia (me), and possibly taking tours (the level of demand for tours is still being worked out – watch this space!), and going back to chorus and orchestra (Nicola). Pub quiz is going to take a little longer – pubs are closed for a further week, so we’ve got at least two more virtual quizzes before we can even contemplate the possibility of actually going to the pub for a, you know, PUB quiz.

Of course, this has only just started, so over the past week we’ve continued taking deliveries from our favourite cafes and restaurants. Whilst we’ve been keen to spread the love, we do keep coming back to those that are our particular favourites, and that provide a service that we’re happy with.

Scorch-O-Rama: We continue to support our local café when we go out for a walk, getting coffee and tea there and doing the crossword by the beach. We’ll get a proper brunch there when they open up again. Total cost: $9.00.  Overall rating: still 8/10.

The Larder: The Larder were offering “Greek Week” last week, as many people had commented that they were planning to be away in Europe/the world/anywhere else but here. Jacob cooked up a selection of Greek treats, so we had a Greek lunch on Friday, consisting of lamb gyros followed by galaktoboureko. Next week is Vietnam, so we’ll be going back for another lunch. Total cost: $41.20 (including $1.20 card charge). Overall rating: 9/10.

Field & Green: The first time we’d ordered from them, but we’ve been there regularly and their beef cheek goulash looked like a tasty option. They delivered at 7:30pm (having promised 7:00pm) but had texted to let us know of the delay, so can’t really fault them for that. Also, a delivery charge of only $5 to Eastern Suburbs is cheaper than everyone else. Whilst it is supposed to be delivered hot, I suspect it had been in the vehicle a while so we needed to reheat. Not a problem, except the lids of the containers turned out not to be microwave-proof! Fortunately I caught this before any damage was done. The beef cheeks were delicious, there was a creamy mash and sauce as well, but I decided we needed to add a side of peas to round out the dish. Still, a very good option, and it comes with pudding included as well – a slice of bakewell tart. The only problem is…it’s really the only option on their menu (they’re also doing a vegetarian goulash, and kedgeree, but that’s more of a brunch thing) so we’ll probably make this a one-off. Total cost $75.00, including $5.00 delivery. Overall rating: 9/10.

Day 42

Day 42 of lockdown passed in a blur of meaninglessness. The weather has improved from the storms of the beginning of the week, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of the days.

The day started with what is now the normal Wednesday morning activity of tuning in to Lenny Beige (broadcast on Facebook on Tuesday evening in the UK) with my coffee and toast. This week’s edition was slightly different from previous weeks’…it included a large segment of the show in a pre-recorded chat between Lenny and impressionist Lewis MacLeod. TBH I prefer the “standard” Lenny Beige show where he includes songs, chat, shout-outs, facts from Max Factor, and the like. It was noticeable that the production quality of the broadcast has been seriously upped, though, which is good. This Friday’s show is the London Show, with songs about, or made in, London.

The Covid news was that there were two new cases, breaking the previous two days’ run of no new cases. However, it is looking increasingly likely that the announcement next Monday will be for a return to Level Two by Wednesday 13^th May.

The sharp-eyed among you may notice that we're reporting negative numbers of new cases on some days. This happens when suspected cases, included in the new daily total, are subsequently reclassified as not Covid-19 related. These are deducted from the current day's total and, on some days, outnumber the new cases.

We continue to support our local businesses, heading down to Scorch-o-rama for coffee (weather permitting) as part of our daily routine. We’ve also ordered out to Gorilla Burger, so were able to have burger and fries immediately before our Tuesday Night Quiz.

Gorilla Burger: have only just opened up in Miramar, on the site vacated by La Boca Loca. I had the OG Single with fries, while Nicola opted for the Congo – halloumi and mushroom. It’s probable that under Level Three they’re not operating under optimum conditions, but I suspect that it had been cooked and ready for some time before my chosen pick-up time specified on their web ordering system, as it was all a bit cool by the time we ate them. Nevertheless, it was a tasty burger, and we’ll definitely be back for more. It’s nice to have a decent burger place in Miramar. Total cost: $39.00 (no delivery charge as I picked up). Overall score: 8/10.

Logan Brown: Logan Brown are offering Logan Brown At Yours, which, rather than delivering a ready-cooked meal, is more like a Woop deal – they provide you with prepared ingredients and sauces (rather than just the raw ingredients like My Food Bag), and you simply have to do the final cook and assembly. We ordered the venison noisettes with pumpkin risotto cake. Delivery was specified as a vague “between 12 and 5pm”, but we must have been near the top of the list as we received it at 12:45. I followed the cooking instructions on the Logan Brown website, and served it with a bottle of Fromm 2014 pinot noir – I felt it deserved something a bit special! This is by far the best restaurant meal we’ve had on our forays into the Wellington hospo scene’s Level Three service. We’ll be back next week. Total cost: $60.00 including $10.00 delivery. Overall score: 10/10.

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Support Local Businesses

Since moving to Covid-19 Level Three, cafés and restaurants have been allowed to open and supply take-away or cook at home foods, either to be picked up or delivered. Naturally, we want to support our local establishments because we want them to still be there when restrictions are lifted completely and we can get back to whatever the new “normal” will be once this is all over. So here’s what we’ve had, and how I’ve ranked them:

The Larder: This was the first place that we went to on Tuesday, as it’s our local and we wanted to show our support. They have a limited menu, so we went for a burger (me) and prawn risotto (Nicola). I picked up from the restaurant – it was ready after about a 10-minute wait. The burger was good, the fries crispy, and the risotto also good. I’m giving this 8/10. Why not 10? Well, they’re not burger specialists so the burger was OK but you wouldn’t write home about it. Wait a minute, that’s exactly what I’m doing, isn’t it? Total cost: $41.20 (incl. $1.20 credit card surcharge). Overall score: 8/10.

Scorch-O-Rama: On Wednesday, we took in our normal walk around Scorching Bay and, having checked all the details yesterday, were ready and prepared to order via text. They also allow ordering via the Regulr app, which allows them to bill you once per week, thus reducing their credit card fees. Unfortunately the app is a piece of shit that doesn’t work, so instead I’ve been direct crediting them via my bank’s app. They can make coffee and tea for takeaway, we’ve not tried any food yet. Also they accept keep cups. Total cost: $9.00. Overall score: 8/10.

Café Polo: Another local café, and one providing a reheatable menu service. We tried them for dinner on Wednesday evening, having collected the food earlier in the day. We had a large serving of Scottie’s sausages, mash and peas. The sausages were good, but due to being reheated in the oven, didn’t have a crispy skin. The mash was fine, but there were precious few peas in the portion, and the gravy had become incorporated into the mash. I augmented it with a serving of frozen peas, but frankly this was a bit disappointing. Once I get some decent sausages again I can do better than this at home. I also ordered a loaf of their five-grain bread, which was good, but at $12.50, a bit overpriced. Total cost $33.50. Overall score: 5/10.

Jano Bistro: One of Wellington’s top-end French bistro restaurants, where we’ve been supporters of their cuisine almost since the day they opened. They are one of Wellington’s unsung heroes of hospitality, and I was more than happy to support them with their menu offering. We chose the salmon and leek crayfish bisque gratinée. This was a dish that sounded great on paper, but disappointed in reality. I’ve read a book called “The Billionaire’s Vinegar” – Jason bought it for my birthday a few years ago – which describes the experience of drinking wines that are over 100 years old, and are sold for many thousands of $$$ a bottle. Occasionally, one of these bottles is opened, and an expert wine-taster delivers his verdict. Naturally, some of these bottles aren’t really drinkable by this stage, so the oenologist declares “it is wine”. I felt the same way about this dinner: “it is food”. Sorry guys, and we will be back once you’re properly open again, but your delivery offering wasn’t up to scratch. To add insult to injury, they’re using a delivery service called Pandemic Pack, which promised to deliver between 6-8pm…they eventually showed up at 8:15pm, after I’d already started to prepare another dinner, assuming it wasn’t going to arrive (there was no answer on their phone, other than to inform me that they would be open for business again on Tuesday next week). If you’re using Pandemic Pack, order for lunchtime delivery if you want to eat dinner at a reasonable time. They’re also the most expensive delivery option at $15. Total cost: $67.00. Overall score: 1/10.

Next week: Logan Brown and Gorilla Burger, and possibly food from Scorch-O-Rama.