The Grove - Auckland

For our recent trip to Auckland, hubby booked us in to dine at 'The Grove' - one of the top restaurants in the city. It's a softly lit restaurant set in a slightly odd 'L' shape. Service is quick to collect our coats and offer us drinks. We had a choice of a-la-carte or degustation. I think hubby was leaning for the degust, but for the night, I just wanted a simple tasty meal.

Due to lighting, my photos are just not great... sorry!
Amuse Bouches came. All I remember was that it was deliciousness. Crispy elements and smooth pate elements.... that's all I remember... >.<

As for our entrees, hubby got the crayfish and blue nose boudin blanc with creamed potato, savoy cabbage, and bottarga. LOVED it! The boudin blanc was creamy and full of flavour. The bottarga also added a good punch to the whole dish and the mash tied the whole dish together. Wonderful really!

I got allured by the thought of truffled scampi, served as a terrine with leeks, roasted chicken juices and cholorophyll. Unfortunately, the terrine lacked a bit of flavour. It was mainly chicken flavour... but barely even that. Small bits of scampi was scattered throughout... but where's my truffle flavour? :( I quite like the chlorophyll though~

The mains exceeded my expectations. Hubby got the veal, super slow cooked, super tender and super melt-in-your-mouth. Soooo tasty and delicious! It was served with scampi, stuffed morels, aubergine and young carrots. Yes the scampi was just a tiny bit on the end of the plate, but who cares when the veal was so amazing?

My hapuka was also really tasty. Perfectly cooked fish served with a champagne veloute which was also crazy delicious. On top of that, there was salt baked turnips and toasted macadamias. The whole dish was packaged well and delivered more than I expected.

We also got a side of greens with cafe de paris butter and bacon which was decent enough. Dessert-wise, none of the sweet options enticed me and so, we just opted for a NZ local cheese. I remember that I really liked the pre-dessert. I think it was like a strawberry sorbet with a crisp and a marshmellowy foam? Again, my memory is hazy. The cheese we got at the end was also a good end to the meal - nothing too overly special but.

All up, we had a great time at the Grove. A delicious meal with fresh NZ produce. YUM.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 7.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 31/40

The Grove
St Patricks Square
Wyndham Street
Auckland
Tel: (09) 368 4129

Patagonia Chocolates - New Zealand

My partner went to NZ to go snowboarding recently (without me) and left me in Sydney (working for three of the four days that he was gone). As such, I made him buy me chocolate - and due to our current need to save, I requested ONE chocolate. BUT I ended up with... "omg this feels like 2 kgs of chocolate". OK - so my lovely awesome husband-to-be does spoil me a little...some of the time... hehehehe :)

Unfortunately, my partner's snowboarding trip was met with horrible, un-snowboardable weather and it seems like all he did in NZ was drive around and eat the best pies on earth in Arrowtown. Also in Arrowtown is Patagonia chocolates, where he purchased my super heavy box of chocolates. Before opening my box of delectables, I questioned him as to whether or not he just stepped into the store and asked the store attendent to pack one of every chocolate (which would have been unsincere) and he denied it, he pointed me towards their website and quite clearly stated that I wouldn't eat half the stuff (which is true). What he did do, was pack me everything he thought I would eat (which was a big enough selection in itself).

my box of patagonian goodies

So I found chunks and chunks of chocolate. Yes - they are not lovely to look at. Just rectangles and block-like. It was also quite hard to tell what chocolates he had actually pack. I actually have to eat them to distinguish the almond from the macadamia from the hazelnut etc etc etc. What they do have in common, however, is the really strong chocolate hit. As the name suggests, they make chocolate the Patagonian (in Sth America) way and this way is really really smooth and really really rich and really kind of dense. So dense that I, a lover of dark chocolate (and one that can eat much much chocolate) gets knocked out by just one of these slabs. Not sure if it's a super good chocolate hit - but it definately is a wake-me-up hit (for atleast a few minutes).

my selection

mentitas - creme mint disk

coconut

sesame (and sesame with a hint of chilli/ginger?)

more slabs

assorted truffles

A dark chocolate flake? :)

So I guess if you're headed NZ way (or you can just order online), maybe just pop by for some intense chocolate hit. Oh - btw, I only have a sample of the dark chocolate line. Maybe the milk/white chocolate lines are not as strong?

Patagonia Chocolates
40 Buckingham street,
Arrowtown
New Zealand
Tel: (03) 4098584