Eating in New Zealand

Right before Christmas 2008 I had the privilege along with a group of friends to go visit The French Cafe. As suggested by its name, the cuisine offered within is French; and despite the hefty price associated with fine dining - French style, I might add - it is one of the busiest eateries around, particularly during the latter parts of the year. For our dinner, we had to book roughly a month in advance to secure a table for 8. Anything less than 3 weeks was out of the question apparently, so when the time came to ‘go eat dinner’ we were pretty excited :)

The ambiance is classy yet relaxed. It is more well-lit than St Tropez, and you’d see more businessmen in French Cafe even though it is a fair walk from the CBD offices. From the photo above you can see the cocktail I ordered (which I’ve since forgotten and can’t find the information on their website - sorry!), one of the softest and aromatic butter I’ve tasted, and a bit of candle light to soften the mood.

The capers they served came in two parts; the first one is pumpkin soup with cauliflower cream (from memory - ’tis not on the menu either!) which I felt was mellow and not exactly what I expected - but the touch of cauliflower cream was great, as I felt it added more flavor in terms of the natural sweetness that cauliflower has, which is different to the sweetness typically found in pumpkin soups.

The second part was a sort of rissoto ball that to me was reminiscent of the gelatinous rice balls I have in Taiwan. It’s soft, sticky, and just the right portion to not spoil me for the main course (taking into account the bread and what not that I’ll have eaten).

I started off with their whitebait fritter as my first course; the last time I had whitebait was in Melbourne at an Italian restaurant, which was the larger variety of whitebait with bones and served tempura style. Having being brought up on the smaller variety of whitebait, I looked forward to how the French Cafe would serve this. From the photo above, I was not disappointed! The lightness of the basil oil, tender whitebait fritter and watercress (not to mention the tomato sauce) gave the dish quite a summer tingle to it.

For my main course, I went with the venison loins as during the past few weeks I’ve been indulging a bit in fatty foods such as Indian curries and steaks - it was a great experience but definitely not good for the arteries. So in my compromise, I ended up with a medium-rare venison loin that was tender - that seems to be the word of the day - with a sweet pumpkin puree and the sauce… mmm… not unlike the fatty goodness of garlic butter, but very nice in its own right!

Although I did not make full use of the waiter’s knowledge regarding each dish before choosing, according to the various restaurant review sites in New Zealand the waiters in French cafe are more than well equipped to explain and handle any questions regarding the offerings - a fact I would kindly remind myself when I next dine here. I would highly recommend that, similarly to that for St Tropez - that if you wanted to impress or treat someone to a special meal (or in the likely case of both) then look no further than French Cafe. Just so long as you book ahead, and plan ahead on the meals you’ll have.

I’d imagine my next outing at this eatery would be to try its tasting menu! At $100 per person it is no flimsy meal, and purportedly takes at least 3 hours to get through. I shall reserve such an outing for when I feel I can better appreciate the subtleties of French cuisine before such an undertaking! Not to mention the desserts… although some of friends opted to soldier on, my stomach was at its limit in sustaining more nourishment for the night. Perhaps a dessert tasting platter would be on the agenda as well for my next visit…

Appendix: Menu description

WHITEBAIT FRITTER
tomato ragu, baby cress, basil oil, lemon mayonnaise $25

VENISON LOIN ‘SOUS VIDE’
pumpkin puree, spring cabbage, chestnuts, pancetta, bitter chocolate $40