Review: Wellington on a Plate, PLUM

Food: 4.75/5
Service: 5/5
Ambience: 3/5

As a coeliac, picking somewhere safe to eat that also offers food I like can be a nightmare. So, I went through the Wellington on a Plate offerings to find restaurants that met three requirements: catered for special diets, and offered both dinner and a burger. Then I gave the list to M and told him to book us somewhere.

When he tried Charley Noble and discovered they didn’t take bookings on Friday nights for parties smaller than 8, he moved on to Plum, who happily did take his booking.

That said, when we arrived at bang on booking time, having walked in the pouring rain from seeing friends at Bin44, they couldn’t find our reservation in the book. It didn’t take too long before we were ushered through the restaurant to a table at the very back of the long, narrow space. It was very cramped, warm and loud.

The service at table was fantastic. Our server was friendly, informative, knowledgeable and personable. A great catch. He came back to check with me that pan fried was fine over deep fried for my chicken in my burger (of course!) to avoid cross contamination, which was a bonus, giving me the option to change my mind if I wanted (which I didn’t).

M opted for the 3 course Festival Menu – opening with Pate and bread (which smelt lovely, but I don’t really do pate, so left him to it rather than asking for the gf version to be served to table), followed by a decadently soft lamb neck with mushroom foam that was melt-in-the-mouth delicious.

We shared the black doris plum Eton Mess, which was not what we were expecting, containing an almost cake-like base, and no meringue, but was lovely and rich.

My burger was a pair of thick slabs of GF bread, with a divine cheese, crispy bacon, buttermilk marinated fried chicken and coleslaw. The ONLY thing I would change with it would be to put another layer of cheese on the bread that was against the coleslaw, as it went a bit mushy quickly. It was magnificent, incredible, wonderful, I need to go back and have it again (and soon, I guess, WOAP finishes at the end of next week!).

So, apart from losing our booking (while still fitting us in with only a couple minutes delay), and the fact it got incredibly warm in the restaurant, this was a fantastic meal. The ambient noise was on the high side, but I never felt overwhelmed by other peoples conversations. And even though my seat was at a tight point in the walkway down the middle of the room, I only got my seat bumped a couple of times.

Recommended. 4.5/5 overall.

Restaurant Review: Shepherds Arms, Thorndon

Food: 9/10
Ambience: 7/10
Overall Rating: 8/10
Cost: $90 for three including dessert and drinks
Kid Friendly?: Definitely. Space to move around, great kids menu. Just be careful if the fire is lit as there is no guard.

The day after I finished my last university assessment, we headed out to dinner to celebrate. Its my job to pick restaurants, because being Gluten Free can make it difficult, especially when I also dont eat nuts and dont really like seafood!

Seriously decadent. Wow.

The online menu for the Shepherds Arms showed a great selection of meals, with several options for me to pick from, which was great. Parking was awful, even at 5:15pm on a Wednesday, but the restaurant was quiet as we got in before the rush (the joy of dinner out with a toddler who usually eats before 6).

We opted to skip starters, because there was nothing that appealed, and I've been craving Garlic Bread so much lately that I would have caved and glutened myself had Mark got a loaf.

I chose the Pork Ribs, while Mark had the beef burger. We got LJ a bowl of potato and gravy, with the expectation he would just have some of everything else we had on our plates, which he did.

The ribs were flavourful and yummy, and the half serve was HUGE. Marks burger was also significant in size, needing major deconstruction to eat.

Dessert-wise, nothing was marked on the menu as GF, but the lovely waitress (who was absolutely charmed by LJ) conferred with the chef and informed me that the chocolate mousse was GF (as I expected it should be). So I had that, while Mark had the crumble and LJ had a kids sundae.

Two courses, everything scrummy, done and dusted and home by just after 7pm. Perfect family dining, and I reckon it might become our go-to restaurant with all the options it has for me.


Link to menu

Decadent Macaroni Cheese for one

Serves: One (or more)
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Equipment: Two pots, ramekin, oven, wooden spoon, cheese grater

This sweet little recipe can be amended in a million ways. The quantities here are for a single serve, but this will obviously extend well to make a baked macaroni for multiple people.
I made it with a good Gluten Free pasta that cooks quickly. For non-GF, you'll need to cook the pasta as per the instructions on the packet.
And yes, this is a roux-less Mac'n'cheese! Yay!

Per Person (essential):
*1 serve macaroni / other small pasta
*1-2T cream
*1/3C (approx) mixed grated cheese
   (I love doing this with edam as a base and a fancier cheese like vintage, smoked or mozarella mixed in)
*Home-made breadcrumbs

Optional extras:
* Bacon
* Onion
* Garlic
* Capsicum
* Other veges

Capsicum and Bacon version

Method
1. Cook the pasta as per packet instructions (I use Barilla GF pasta, cooked in a bowl of water with a little oil in the microwave for 5 minutes)
2. Heat a small pan on the stove on a low heat, with the cream in it until the cream is nearly boiled
3. Stir in the cheese and keep stirring until it has melted
4. Put drained pasta into ramekin / oven safe dish
5. Stir in any extras (cooked bacon / onion, diced capsicum etc)
6. Pour over cheese - you dont need to stir this in
7. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs (home made is best because they give better texture)
8. Bake for about 10 minutes at 180C
9. Enjoy!
    (I like to turn mine out so I can actually hold the dish I'm eating from)

You'll find everything you need for this recipe, except the pasta, on the outside edges of the supermarket.
Does not freeze.

Cafe Review: Rata @ Zealandia

Visited 09 Feb 2014

Crew: Mark, Me, LJ

Food: 7/10
Ambience: 9/10
Overall Rating: 8/10
Cost: $40 after discount
Kid Friendly?: Definitely. Two high chairs provided, kids menu that has a couple of non-deep-fried options AND a playpen with toys.

An overcast weekend day in high summer, what a surprise (not). We were desperate to get out of the house, and it was lunchtime. Since we are Zealandia members, we opted for a quick trip to Rata, in order to use our 10% off, and try somewhere new.

The cafe is spacious, airy and light, even on an overcast, damp day. We are early, there are very few people around. We grab one of the two high chairs, and steal a couple of toys from the toybox to keep LJ occupied.

We opt to sit "outside", next to the big cafe blinds that are keeping out the worst of the weather. Its still cozy, but we have the advantage of a view. We both agree that we are gutted this didn't exist for our wedding, as its a stunning venue.

The kids menu is passable. A lot of fried food options, but also a couple of brunch choices. We pick the french toast with banana (LJs all-time-favourite food) and bacon for him ($7.50), while I go for a peri jose beef burger ($19) and Mark takes his chances on the special - lamb, pikopiko and mushroom (I think) pie with a tuatara beer match ($14). I also ordered a caramel shake.

While we waited, the cafe filled up noticably. Unfortunately for another couple, they were the third baby to arrive and there were not enough high chairs.

Mark loved his pie, he thought it was awesome. It certainly looked fantastic - big wedges of lamb in a smooth gravy, with a thick crust.
My burger was tasty, BUT the mayo / cream cheese combination was unfortunately overwhelming. It was all I could taste. The salad disappeared, the sweet meat had no taste. Thankfully the sauce was not massively spicy, otherwise it would have been inedible. Instead, it was nice, but lacking complexity. The chips were very tasty though.
LJ enjoyed his french toast, even though it was too hot for him to eat to start with and wound up covered in maple syrup up both arms and all over his face. The banana was his favourite part, but he also ate good quantities of bacon and actual french toast. Mark got to finish his leftovers.

Would I go back? Definitely! I'm also curious to try their dinner menu, but they only appear to open for dinner over summer.

Kids in the Kitchen

So, I have a 10 month old, and I would dearly love for him to be involved in the kitchen as much as possible, from as young an age as possible.

Thanks to an awesome group of mums I know, here are some ideas for things under 3 year olds can do to help:

Grandma helping cake decorating

• Peeling - carrots, potatoes, kumara, parsnip.
• Trimming - beans etc
• Popping apart brocolli / cauliflower florets
• Measuring - almost anything that can be measured!
• Counting - "Can you get me 3 potatoes for dinner?"
• Filling pots (using cold water), to cover the veges
• Collecting things
• Stirring - particularly cold things. Hot / on the stove would require supervision and a knowledge of your child before trying
• Table setting
• Grating
• Make your own pizzas - either a pita bread they can top, or even go as far as letting them help make the dough!
• Rolling meatballs / patties
• Breadcrumbing
• Get them a "lettuce" knife - Scanpan brand do a plastic knife that wont cut your skin, but can cut tomatoes, lettuce etc.

About this age / slightly older, they can probably start to do things like breaking eggs, using a hand beater to whip cream and perhaps even start helping with hot stuff, like making scrambled eggs, spreads on toast and filling toasties.

A great option, if you have a parent who bakes, is to get their grandparent to spend some time cooking with them. Gives you a break, and them some special one-on-one time with Grandma / Grandad, who often have a bit more patience!

Heres hoping I'll enjoy having my son in the kitchen with me. Have you cooked with your kids? How did it go? What do you get them to do?

Mini Meringue Pies

Rantings of a Basketcase, November 2012


It was rhubarb and strawberry season, and we had been invited to a dinner party when I decided to create these. I wanted something that was finger-food friendly, could be eaten cold, and would use some cooked rhubarb I had in the fridge.
I was well pleased with the outcome, although they were better when fresh than cold, simply because the meringue weeped a little as it cooled.
Suitable for probably nearly any kind of fruit I reckon. Inspired by my Mums lemon meringue pie.

The Good: Quick, easy, tasty. No need to make your own pastry, the hardest part of this is deciding what fruit to use

The Bad: The pastry cases were a little chewy. I would definitely shell out for better quality ones next time.

Overall Result: 8.5/10

Christmas Pudding Truffles

Rantings of a Basketcase, December 2012

These did not go at ALL like I had planned. They wound up being little hard bites rather than soft, chewy truffles like I had hoped. Also, the lollies I used were not ideal. That said, they were still incredibly yummy, and disappeared at a rapid rate of knots!

The Good: Tasty, pretty, great for decorating a Christmas morning tea table

The Bad: The chocolate melts really fast, so you cant have them out of the fridge for long.

Overall rating: 6/10. I was not happy with this one. I need to try it again with a different truffle recipe. And smaller lollies for on the top!