Wellington: Zibibbo

Agnes new zealand, travel, wellington

On our last evening in Wellington during our long weekend there, we met up with Alastair’s father, Malcolm, for dinner. He booked Zibibbo, located on Taranaki Street in the old Police Station building.

Alastair and I rocked up a bit early, and headed upstairs to the restaurant. There was some confusion about whether it was too early for us to be seated. We offered to go downstairs for a drink, but were told somewhat vaguely that it was fine.

Our table was located just beyond the entrance and in front of the kitchen. It was a rather draughty position to sit in, and I felt cold the entire evening!

Alastair and I shared one of the specials for our starter – Bluff oysters ($25 for 6, $45 for 12). We opted to have them natural (the other option was battered and deep fried) and they came with a bowl of tangy thousand islandish sauce and buttered brown bread. The Bluff oyster season starts around March each year, and it is eagerly anticipated by oyster lovers. I never liked oysters when I lived in NZ, and I think it’s because of Bluff oysters. They just don’t seem to excite me! They were very popular though and these were okay, although unexciting (to me) – I saw many, many plates of oysters leave the kitchen.

For mains, Alastair and I both choose lamb. This was a brioche crumbed braised lamb with salsa verde and thyme jus ($29.00). It was an interesting way of serving lamb. The very tender braised meat was shaped into a log, covered in brioche crumbs and baked (I think). The tenderness of the lamb was very enjoyable, but I found that the meat and the jus were a touch too salty. The creamy mashed potato on the side helped with the saltiness though.

For desserts, I had the vanilla bean pannacotta with poached apricots ($14) and Alastair had the blueberry crème brulee with lemon financier ($13.50). The pannacotta was great – creamy and silky with little specks of vanilla seeds, and the poached apricots were a nice fruity contrast.

Alastair’s crème brulee was mostly good too, although I noticed some spots on the top had gone past caramelisation and were actually burnt. He ate his blueberries but left behind the lemon financier. I took a bite, and found it light and zesty. Malcolm had the chocolate fondant cake and he said that it was one of the best chocolate cakes he had eaten. High praise indeed!

All in all, it was a mostly good meal. Service seemed a tad distracted, and we found it hard to flag someone down to order coffees after our desserts were cleared.

When we left, I realised why I had been so cold the entire evening. The weather had completely changed from when we had entered – there was a bitterly cold wind blowing and whipping the heavy rain sideways into us as we walked to the car. Ahh yes. This was the kind of weather I had been expecting during our visit. Wellington, I love you, but I sure as hell don’t miss the weather.

Zibibbo
25 Taranaki Street
Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
Phone: +64 4 385 6650

Wellington: Southern Cross

Agnes new zealand, travel, wellington

After drinks and cheerios, we felt a bit peckish. Since we were already at the Southern Cross, we took the easy option and decided to eat there.

We asked for a table in the dining area, and unfortunately got seated in the darkest corner of the room, so excuse the shite pics! The “stone grilled” section of the menu intrigued us – you choose your desired meat/s, plus chips/potatoes and salad/green vege. The meat comes out on a slab of volcanic rock, letting you cook it to your liking. Gimmicky? Probably…. but we are suckers for a gimmick!

Holy moly!

Alastair and I shared the “A Taste of the Cross” ($58, serves 2). My eyes widened when our petite waitress appeared carrying our meal – a plank of wood about one metre in length, on top of which was bread, dips, a bowl of nuts, a bowl of olives, the volcanic rock, potatoes and vegetables, smoked salmon, avocado, salad and a cup of pulled pork. On top of the slab of heated rock were two pieces of completely raw rump steak, two mussels, two oysters and two spoons holding scallops.

The meat sizzled away on the extremely hot rock and the seafood sat quietly cooking. Unfortunately I was overcome by the novelty of the big plank being plonked on to our table, plus was um… taking pictures, and only noticed the oysters after they had been on the hot rock for a couple of minutes. It was long enough for them to cook. Gak. While the meat was cooking, we ate the mussels and scallops. Well, I ate a scallop. Alastair dropped his one on the floor!

The rosemary roast potatoes were okay (although I must confess that I very rarely dislike potatoes!) but didn’t have much rosemary flavour. The green vegetables were okay too, although a couple of the green beans had some brownish spots.

We only nibbled at the bread and dips. I think one dip was capsicum and despite appearances one seemed to be blue cheese. There were also olives that were marinated with preserved orange. I wasn’t really a fan of the preserved orange and left the olives after trying one. I did eat most of the bowl of mixed nuts though.

The pulled pork came in a ice cream sundae cup, and it was spiced and smokey. There was a bit too much food though, and we didn’t eat much of the pork.

When we had finished eating, the rock was still hot, so we sat and chatted and plonked random things on the slab. Naturally we had to ask about the rocks, and found out that they are heated in a kiln for several hours. They can cook for 30 minutes and stay hot for an hour and a half!

It was a fun meal and definitely a gimmick worth trying at least once.

The Southern Cross
35 Abel Smith Street, Te Aro
Wellington, New Zealand
Phone: +64 4 384 9085

Wellington: a long weekend, and a wedding

Agnes new zealand, travel, wellington

Alastair and I flew into Wellington on Friday morning for a long weekend. It was a very busy one – we attended a wedding, had a couple of drinks with friends, had dinner with Alastair’s dad, and went to a wedding lunch, a wedding dinner, a day after wedding lunch, day after wedding drinks, plus many, many walks (in high heels) up the stupid hill to our hotel on the Terrace.

Wellington from the Majestic Centre

Somewhere in the middle of all that stuff, we managed to have a quick walk around Wellington. I hadn’t been back in almost four years, and wasn’t terribly surprised to find that not much had changed since my last visit. Most of the shops and restaurants were still the same, the bucket fountain was still there, and it was still windy.

On Friday, after a quick sleep, we met up with mum and dad to give them some tech support. They had especially brought their laptops down from Auckland, and Alastair patiently answered all their questions (sucks to be the IT guy, huh?). Alastair needed a bit of strength first though, so we walked down the road to get a coffee. We walked into a place that looked cool and hip, and Alastair went up to the counter to order us some coffees. I’m not sure what the problem was, but he had issues ordering a latte – maybe it was the accent, or perhaps the guy was new, but eventually Alastair had to flag down someone else to place the order!

The picture above wasn’t from the place in question. This coffee was at Old Bank Arcade on Lambton Quay. We had a quick bite to eat there before going to the wedding ceremony. The coffee was good and we returned on Sunday morning. I felt like a soy latte on that morning and although I didn’t take a photo it was the BEST soy latte I’ve ever had. It tasted like chocolate, caramel and soy. Yum.

At the Old Bank Arcade, I had a smoked salmon and rye bagel for breakfast. I did take the pickle out and eat that first though.

On the soy latte day, I had a mushroom croissant. Alastair had a danish on both days.

On Friday evening, we caught up with one of my friends for a drink. She suggested the Southern Cross. Later that evening, we met up with one of Alastair’s friends. He made it super easy for us by suggesting that we meet at Southern Cross. And where was the day after wedding drinks held? Yup, the Southern Cross!

While there we wanted something to nibble on before dinner. Normally we would get a bowl of hot chips, but then we discovered you can buy a bowl of cheerios – so cheerios it was! It made me think of birthday parties that I attended as a youngster where cheerios and tomato sauce would always be served.

Speaking of being a youngster, we went to the supermarket so I could buy some supplies to take back – sour cream and chive Grainwaves, Chocolate fingers and Aprioot and chocolate CookieTimes. While there, I saw a bottle of Mello Yello, and had to buy it for the nostalgia factor. And…. it was sickly sweet and icky. What a disappointment. Some things should remain in the past!

These photos were taken from the 28th floor of the Majestic Centre, Wellington’s highest building. There’s no public viewing facilities in the building – we were there for the wedding cocktail luncheon. The view from up there is gorgeous. The room that the function was held in appeared to be a meeting room – what a waste of a view!