Opa!

My best-laid plans have been ganging aglay like nobody’s business recently! Burger opportunities are being thwarted at every turn.

On Saturday, I was shadowing a Zealandia Twilight Tour. It ended later than I anticipated, so my plan to pick up a burger at Kelburn Village Pub was denied, as their kitchen shuts at 9pm, and we didn’t get out until quarter past. Oh, well, no problem, I’ll get one tomorrow…

On Sunday, KIWIZ, the quiz team I have been participating in the World Cup with, were due to play a team from California, Cogito Ergo Mum. Due to time differences and people needing to get to work, the time we agreed was 2:00 am UK time (all timings are run from the UK, as the organisers are UK-based) i.e. 2:00 pm Sunday afternoon for us, and 7:00 pm Saturday for our opposition. So far, so good…but when the notifications came through, however, they all said 1:00 am UK time. “Oh, that’s because they’re changing to Summer Time” someone said – but that doesn’t happen until this weekend. At this point I said I wouldn’t be able to make it, as I had a morning shift at Zealandia.

That’s when the trouble really started. As I was coming off shift, I checked my phone. The time had now been switched back to 2:00 pm, but one of our team members couldn’t make it, so I said I could step in and rushed back home, burgerless. My plan had been to stop in town and pick one up along the way. As it was, I had no time.

I got home, checked in again, and found that they were back up to four people, so didn’t need me after all! So I had no quiz, no burger, and was generally discombobulated. Harrumph!

On Monday night, I was due back at Zealandia for After Hours Valley Emergency training. This started at 6:30 pm, so this time I was finally able to stop at Kelburn Village pub and try their burger. It’s called Opa! and sounds like this: Moroccan-spiced chicken with slaw and Elysian tzatziki in an Arobake beetroot bun, with beer-battered onion rings and polenta fries.

And here’s how it looked: 

Now I’m not normally a big fan of polenta (who is?), but the deep-fried “chips” weren’t bad. The burger was OK, a little on the small side, and the chicken agreeably spicy. Bun integrity was good, and overall the whole meal was…unexceptional. It did the job, and what it said on the tin, but no-one’s going to be writing home about what a great culinary experience they’ve just had. It is, after all, pub grub. As I was going straight on to work I went without the Garage Project beer match, which would have been Noon Juice. Instead, I had cranberry juice. I scored the burger 6/10.

Over the coming week I’ve got more training to do, so my burger choices might be dictated by convenience and speed rather than what looks the best. Hopefully some of them will be good.