What's the feeling up on the clouds? This was what i felt today, not just physically experienced it, the feeling for the entire dining experience today just amazing as above the clouds....
yes, i gone to Auckland again!! haha, well, grab a seat just convenient (FYI, grab a seat is Air NZ promotion name)
the weather is going along with me too, wann zhen was telling me it had been raining all week before i come, but today's weather just perfect!
Felt sorry for wann zhen that she had to wake up earlier in order to pick me up from the airport, i was all good with waiting her for nearly half an hour
She brought me to Howick market for breakfast, we went into a tiny but cozy cafe named Paris Cafe. =)
just noticed they scored an 'A' for the cleanliness and food safety practice, thumbs up!
various fancy decor just flooded the wall, beautiful canvas just hanging all around...
wann zhen was calling her sis and sis-in law along with their dog, jitco for joining us, however, the cafe was too packed to fit in Jitco, so end up we just having our own breakies.
hot chocolate was just normal and up to standard, then i ordered an omelette for breakfast again as I just felt like - EGG...hehe
well, it was exactly the same as the one i had at cafe express on Halie's birthday, sigh, i still found the greatest omelette i had was the one at Sydney
Wann zhen just totally agreed with me!
We decided to walk Jitco at the park close to wann zhen's hse at Botany later...
Jitco actually hurted himself last week at the same park, he lose most of his bottom teeth, wann shiuan was wondering will he still suffered from his side effects
i guess we were over-thinking...
look at him, he ran so fast and energetic!
they kept on saying Jitco really likes me, as he just come closer to me all time, but i was thinking perhaps he knew that it was cooler to stay under my shadow =)
Too bad, my schedule at Akl this time was fully packed, wann and I had to leave Jitco with shiuan and nan as we have Otago human nutrition reunion!
We had very awesome japanese lunch at Nishiki, finally for me!
Yea, i had been told that how good was this japanese restaurant, but just always missed the chance to dine in here because of various reason.
We had wasabi dice as our entree, fish roe with wasabi mayonnaise
this was really good, tho i still weakly handled the wasabi...lol the fish roe just fresh and chewy =)
we basically shared all the meal:
wann zhen ordered this dragon roll - which is eel tempura rolls, and only available during dinner time. However, we were very lucky, the chef just agreed to cook this specially for us =P
the japanese waitress who can speak mandarin fluently just whispered to us: "there are not many customers now, so we decided to make it for u.."
The dragon roll just good, omg, i am running out of words to describe how yummy were all the meal i had.
Louise's mini salmon-don and soba set. The salmon sashimi just totally different with the raw salmon sashimi i cut myself. Yea, i admitted that i am skilless on cutting the sashimi with the exact accurate texture and cut...so salmon sashimi still a boom everywhere.
I ordered the limited unagi-don bento! Actually was slightly dissapointed when i uncovered the box, the unagi fillet was really small....TT
i just dreaming of those long unagi that cover the rice underneath in those photos of Japanese blogs i had read.
The unagi was just like others i had in other japanese restaurant, not really standing out, but still grateful to have.
zhuoshi who come later because of losing navigation on road ordered the miso dengaku - deep fried tofu with spring onion and special miso paste
it just felt like the dry version of agedashi tofu....crispy outer layer enclosed the soft and hot bean curd, very refreshing!
Well i dint miss the dessert too, lol
I ordered the parfait to be shared - crushed ice with green tea syrup, along with red bean paste, green tea ice cream and japanese mochi
very nice!
and then zhuoshi added in another dessert plate too
it was named - snow white! Is ice-cream wrapped with japanese mochi skin....omg, this just very yummy!! no wonder the japanese waitress said this was one of the best selling beside the parfait i ordered.
Life is good!
Time passed super fast, we had endless conversation tho we continued at Momotea after Nishiki closed around 2.30pm..
my stomach just nearly blown out after another bubble tea, but couldnt help to refuse the fancy dinner waiting ahead of us at 6pm.
That's exactly what i was saying how packed was my auckland schedule this time, packed with FOOD!
Shiuan bought a worthy voucher on grabone website to dine in at one of the good cuisine at city tonight, so we had to stop our ongoing conversation, i really will miss them!!
zhuoshi was so lovely, she gifted me this well known kiwi cook book in order to elongate my attachment with kiwiland
i definitely will cherish it, and cook some kiwi meal when i missed my second home.
it was not long enough to say is dinner time again 3 hrs after lunch, but no matter how full wann zhen and i were, dinner was ready
We had our fancy meal at Atico - Auckland finest Caribbean and South American cuisine!
From the interior, i could tell straight away the meal tonight will be fantastic!
It just reminds me about Xanthi, the greek cuisine i had in Sydney...Unique and Special meals were waiting for me...
Thought i had to figure what to ordered, i was in shock when shiuan told me the 8-courses meal were already set up with the voucher...
i like WHAT!! 8....EIGHT, the number 8, 8 courses meal!!!
I knew it was not buffet, but still, 8-courses! I was comforting my quarterly full stomach, hang in there my dear....
seems like i had to work out a lot after returning palmy from auckland....omg, i really hate gym! I sincerely dislike working hard for diet tho I still cant refuse to eat nicely...
well, no pain no gain...i will work out even more next week at gym TT
Food could be just described in one word: LUXURY!
I am not very familiar with south american cuisine, do know about taco, buritos, gumbo, but most of them are mexican
so with the 8-courses menu sitting on the table, we were comfy enough to expect meal coming one after next...
wann zhen and I were patiently waiting...=P
I decided to get a unique cocktail along with my meal, why not?
I forgot the name, but do remember it was using a Brazil alcohol to prepare..it was good compared with shiuan's spicy bloody mary...
So, here come our 8-courses dish:
Starting with Puerto Rico's skilled combread
it is a fennel seed and guava flour corn bread, served with Rocoto butter and avocado crema. The corn bread is different with the corn bread i eaten before, which was made by an american guy - Dave, who i met in Dunedin.
The Puerto Rico combread is more dense and corn-ish....is just resembled the latin american distinguish grain-ish meal character
i must confessed the butter and cream are heavy for dieter, but it is unique too, just different with the normal butter. Rocoto is a chili species which is found primarily in Central and South America, i dint really taste the spiciness, however, it was good combination with the bread.
Then, we were presented with the second dish:
Cuba's pulled pork: pork slices serve with tomato rice, black beans and mojo verde. Mojo verde is a popular citrus based sauce which commonly used in Caribbean and Southern American cooking.
Luckily this is a shared dish, nt all the meal on the 8-courses list were dined in per individual, 5 of the dishes were actually shared between 2 persons. Still, it was still a delux as most dish were rich in flavor and highly palatable.
This pulled pork was my favourite in today 8-courses dish. The pork is so tender and fine, taste super good with the tomato rice. Perfect match with each other on the plate.
The waitress was very considerate, tho the dishes just come as soon as we finished the previous, she was kindly asking if we need to rest for a while before they present the following dish...
well, thank god i had some rest before the 3rd dish: CooCoo chips, Jamaican cornmeal chips with chipotle aioli
so is a corn-based dish again, so i kinda figure the main character of Latin America... This chips are very good, and kinda irresistible once u had a bite
very crispy outside, and firm filling corn-texture inside.
My stomach was hinting me: miss, u reached yr quarter today....
well, the meal dint stop because of that....
Luckily the 4th dish was a sashimi....
Fire ice ceviche: it was a Barbados (where?? ==) dish, raw market fish fillet served with lime, avocado, mango, jalapeno (medium sized chili pepper) and gazpacho sorbet
Check wikipedia explanation here for gazpacho sorbet, i think it is a popular cold dish in Barbados (again, where??)
This raw fish just amazing, never have this flavour before. The raw fish preserved even better with the cold sorbet, the sour and sweet taste reminds me of thai salad, but raw food does not appear in thai salad....
p/s: i accidentally bitten the spicy seeds of the jalapeno, nearly blew me away....
5th dish: Berenjena Dominicana
A Dominican Republic creole crumble eggplant, eggplant was crumbed well done without losing eggplant texture...thus, not greasy at all.
However, we were very full by this meal, we decided to take them home.
Still, the sixth dish could wait to be consumed....it actually presented along with the creole crumble eggplant
It is Belice's crab and prawn tostadas: crab fraiche + poached prawns mixture 'riding on' corn tostadas (a latin american toast, deep fried crispy tortillas) with pickled cucumber underneath
The taste is unique, again, i am helpless to describe them beside using the word - unique, well i never have these taste before...
then, wars between delicious food and full stomach continued with the 7th dish.
Tho I asked for another 5mins to wait for our stomach calming down, the dish actually only come like 15mins after we done with the 6th dish
We kinda expect the 7th dish could be 'HUGE', nah, it wasnt.
But this Mexican's Pollo Achiote really filling too, it is a chargrilled chicken breast served with achiote (a caribbean spice ingredient), pickled red onion, chicharrones and chipotle aioli
I ranked this dish as my second favourite tonight.
Finally, we done....the 8th dish was a dessert, as i always said, females have a second stomach specially for dessert.
Tada!
Bahamas's avocado lime sorbet and Caribbean caramelised coconut bars
This could be considered the best dessert i had so far in recent. This dessert plate is just posh and delightful! The avocado texture made the sorbet different from the character which sorbet used to be. It was very firm, and melted in the mouth slowly....The chef was talented to use the strong sour lime to match with avocado for not losing the sourness which sorbet have. The coconut bar is also a good match with the sorbet, but i did feel it was too sweet..Well, kiwi will love it.
What a luxurious dinner, what a great memories, what a unique savour, what a lucky me!
Thanks shiuan, nan and wann zhen for the invitation, it was a good nite!
Not to mentioned i spotted the red sky tower once we steped out Atico.
Good rest my stomach!
