Wellington on a Plate 2011:Chocolate Festival

Two years ago I went on holiday to Tonga and missed most of the inaugural Wellington on a Plate (except for this fine, fine lunch at Logan Brown). Last year I made up for it by getting in as many Dine Wellington set lunches as possible, attending the Cibo Arte event at La Bella Italia in Petone, the WLG pop-up restaurant... I'm feeling full just thinking about it all.

This year I haven't been on a Pacific Island holiday but I have been away for two of the three Wellington on a Plate weekends (having a lovely time up the mountain and in Auckland and Waiheke, I might add) and my weekdays have filled up with meetings and appointments and a general sense of oh-my-god-so-busy that I haven't even gotten to a fraction of the things on my list.

Still, I've managed to fit in a bit, including the opening of the New Zealand Chocolate Festival last weekend, where I met up with fellow food bloggers Rosa, Shirleen & Emma and wandered around tasting chocolate for a while before I (sadly) had to head back to work.

I have to admit I'm not a chocolate-mad person. I don't go weak at the knees at the mention of truffles or ganache or devil's food cupcakes. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like chocolate - but I feel the same way about it as I do about all food: if it's done well, it's the best thing in the world; if done half-heartedly, I can take it or leave it.

So the best thing about the Chocolate Festival was seeing so many of New Zealand's artisan chocolatiers in one place, seeing so many people so passionate about what they do. I was definitely wowed by several of the stallholders. I won't list them all, but here are a few highlights:

She Chocolat are one of my favourite chocolate-makers... I was won over by their Decadent Dates years ago and have been out to their shop & cafe in Governor's Bay, Christchurch a couple of times. Here they were tasting nutty and rich dark-chocolate covered cacao beans.

Schoc is a Wellington favourite (made in Greytown) and they had a table full of their usual range of chocolate bars, but the most exciting thing was the little display of some new flavours: curry & pappadom dark chocolate and "Tropical Heat" white chocolate, with hints of coconut, pineapple & curry. I didn't buy any but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for these flavours - they were unique but I can see them becoming pretty addictive. 

RQute is a relative newcomer on the chocolate scene. Rochelle roasts and grinds the cacao beans herself in the back of Ernesto on Cuba St before making adorably colourful, almost cartoon-like chocolate creations, including a range of chocolate lollipops and chocolate puzzles (which would make great gifts).

Criollo chocolates were down from Auckland selling a range of exquisite-looking moulded chocolates. The highlight for me, though, were these pralines. Light and crunchy and sweet but not overwhelming. I nearly bought a box until I realised I'd probably eat them all before I got back to work.

I couldn't not include Esque - the very lovely Annette is at the City Market most Sundays (I posted about it here) and makes the most special chocolate, exquisitely flavoured and elegantly wrapped in paper and ribbon. I took a block of her "buzz" chocolate - dark chocolate with manuka honey brittle - back to work in the hopes it'd soften the fact I was gone for so long on a Friday morning. It may have worked: it disappeared in a flash! 

I'm glad I was able to attend the chocolate festival, even if I did miss out on some of the demonstrations because I had to run back to work. Other highlights included the tasting session run by Swiss chocolatier Rene Fellman (it makes sense, but I never stopped to think that slowing down and breathing in could bring out so many layers of flavour) and the warm, gooey pain au chocolate I messily ate while the opening formalities took place (and quickly ran away to wash the melted chocolate off my hands as soon as I could... oops!).

The organisers said they're hoping to make the NZ Chocolate Festival a regular event, and it might move around the country... here's hoping it's in Wellington again soon!

Ti Kouka Cafe, Willis St

It's not exactly new anymore, but Ti Kouka Cafe on Willis St has fast won a place in my heart as one of my favourite new cafes. If I wasn't heading out to Miramar all the time I think I'd be here a lot more often: the food is good, they make the best damn strawberry milkshake of all time (I'm straining to think of a better strawberry shake I've had but getting nowhere), and on the couple of times I've been there the atmosphere was friendly and relaxed even though it was around noon on a Saturday: no big deal that it's peak weekend-brunch time or anything. 

And the strawberry milkshake ($6): like I said. So. Incredibly. Good. That's real strawberry you see there, no artificial pink stuff here. And those little black flecks of vanilla? Always a good sign. This shake is, true to its name, a milkshake rather than a thickshake: it's light and almost fluffy-tasting and doesn't weigh your stomach down like a brick if you drink the whole thing. Which I did almost immediately. And then had to restrain myself from ordering another one.

On my first visit to Ti Kouka I couldn't go past the smoked paprika & tomato baked eggs ($14, with chorizo). These were so, so satisfying.




The eggs were cooked beautifully, with runny yolk spilling out into the earthy, tomato-y sauce, and the shaved parmesan melted into everything: delicious. I ate this almost like a soup, taking big slurpy spoonfuls or eating it with the sourdough toast.

E had the grilled haloumi with apple, beetroot, bread & dukkah ($16). I was enamoured with the presentation, especially of the salad: wafer-thin slices of beetroot topped with little baby beetroot (it's hard to tell from the photo) and thin slivers of green apple.

The halloumi and salad were good, but I thought the real star of this dish was the dukkah: nutty, aromatic, beautifully spiced. I would take some home in a jar if I could. 

On another visit (and please excuse the bad photo, but I really, really want to share this) E had the pulled pork roll ($12). And I'm not sure if I was on a high after guzzling another one of those strawberry milkshakes, but after taking a bite of this sandwich I was ready to proclaim it the best sandwich in Wellington.

The pork was melt-in-your-mouth soft, contrasting with the crunch of the iceberg lettuce and paper-thin red onion. And the bun: substantial enough to hold together all this saucy goodness, but still light and almost fluffy*; I couldn't stop sneaking bites, even after I was bursting.

The sandwich came with feijoa chutney which appeared to be homemade, and again, if I could take it home in a jar, I would.

I had the sticky beef burger ($15). Rather than your everyday mince patty, this burger had a slab of slow-cooked, falling-apart beef, with usual burger accompaniments like tomato and beetroot, as well as the more unusual braised red cabbage (which was lovely, by the way).


The only things that could've been a bit better with this one: a bit more salt on the meat/sauce (which was easily fixed) and maybe toasting the bun to combat sogginess - the combination of the meat, tomato & beetroot juices soaked right through the bottom half - but otherwise this burger was delicious.



These big, chunky chips ($7.5) had been on my must-try list ever since reading Laura of Hungry and Frozen's comment on this post over at Mrs Cake's blog. They were definitely up there with other notable chunky chips I've had (comparable to the ones at the Larder) but made a bit more special by the fact that they came with homemade tomato sauce, aioli (which tasted homemade as well - bonus) and harissa.**

So if I can tear myself away from heading eastwards to Miramar for a Saturday brunch you can bet this is where I'll be. It's in a good spot for weekday lunches, too, though a bit too far from work for me (and I've been saving for an overseas trip so have cut back on bought lunches). I only wish they were open a bit earlier on weekdays (they open at 8) so I could get there for a pre-work breakfast, or that they closed a bit later than 6:30/7pm... though admittedly that end of town does become a bit dead after that time anyway.

TI KOUKA CAFE
76 Willis St (upstairs, where Katipo used to be)
Wellington
(04) 472 7682

www.tikouka-cafe.co.nz

8am-4pm Mon-Wed; 8am-7pm Thu-Fri; 9am-3pm Sat

*yes, I'm aware that's the second time I've used the word "fluffy" in this post...
**and if I could take these home in jars...? Yep.

The Larder, Miramar

Oh my god, Miramar. Since getting a car last year I've been slowly exploring the suburbs for new favourite cafes and food spots. Slowly, because most weekends I can't get past the urge to hop in the car, drive through the tunnel and past Evans Bay, out to Miramar. Between Cafe Polo and the Chocolate Frog and Marie and Nico's Patisserie and a couple of new places I'm very, very excited about* there's heaps to choose from in Miramar but just as often as not I find myself headed to The Larder. The following is a cobbled-together collection of some of my favourites from at least 3 recent visits. 

Usually on the weekends I'm after a cooked brunch but sometimes, when I'm really hungry, I'll get a little something from the gorgeously-stocked cabinet to nibble on before everything else arrives (at which point I usually groan that I've ordered way too much food, but hey). The date & cardamom scone ($3.50) is hard to pass up: it's got that perfect-scone lightness, sweet chunks of date, a hint of cardamom to make it stand out from the standard cafe date scone. So good warmed with a little butter.

On another super-hungry Sunday morning I got this fig & star anise scone ($3.50). Again, a delicious way to curb the hunger pangs while sipping a coffee and reading the paper while waiting for the rest of the food to arrive. Out of these scones, though, I preferred the first: this one was a bit dryer in texture and I wished there had been a bit more star anise flavour.

Invariably, whenever I go to the Larder it's almost impossible for me to not order what has become a firm contender for my Favourite Breakfast in Wellington: these scrambled eggs with hot smoked salmon and rocket on toasted sourdough ($17). I had them on my first visit here and have had them so many times since. The eggs are dreamy and soft, the toast chewy and well-buttered, the rocket wilted just so, but the best, best part of all is the salmon: substantially smoky and savoury, I think it's fair to say it's the most delicious hot smoked salmon I've had.

On one rare occasion where I actually managed to order something else, I had these portobello mushrooms on toast with aged balsamic and parmesan ($12). Too often we think brunch = eggs but these mushrooms needed no accompaniment besides the shaved parmesan on top. I can only say good things about this dish and if it weren't for the scrambled eggs and hot smoked salmon I'd be getting this more often.



I'm a firm believer that it's never too early for steak. E's sirloin steak with lemon and caper butter, onion rings and hand cut chips ($22) came out a glorious slab of meat, cooked medium rare (as requested), dripping with the tangy, salty lemon caper butter. I couldn't stop stealing bites. The onion rings, though unassuming in appearance, were deliciously soft and crispy at the same time (and how often do you see red onion rings?).



And those chips ($6, with aioli, if you order them separately): I swear each one contains a whole, perfectly cooked potato. Okay, maybe a rather small potato, but these are substantial chips, crispy on the outside and almost-fluffy on the inside. On occasion I've had a slightly undercooked chip or two but for the most part these are thick and heavenly.

One of the best things about this place is the menu changes according to what's seasonal and available, so although there's a core of staple offerings (the salmon and eggs being one for which I'm so grateful) it's always a bit of fun seeing what else is on offer. On our most recent visit E had this pappardelle with lamb meatballs and roasted tomato sauce ($17): perfect comfort food for the cooler months. I thought the pasta could have been cooked in saltier water, but that could have just been me, and anyway, the meatballs were so plump and tender, the roasted tomato sauce hearty, with flecks of mint adding a different but altogether complementary dimension. 

 

If you're like me and find it hard to pass up dessert when you're full (even after breakfast) you'll be glad these tiny brulee tarts exist. They're exquisite, and at only $2 or so, it's totally okay to pick up a couple for the ride home.

So there you have it, one of my favourite suburban spots. Actually, one of my favourite spots in general: relaxed and comfortable atmosphere, quality ingredients, an emphasis on local and seasonal produce, good coffee (they use Supreme), and perhaps due to its somewhat out-of-the-way location, never feels crazy-busy or rushed. If I lived in Miramar, I'd be there almost every day (well, I'd have to do a rotation among the other eateries mentioned at the start of this post).

The Larder

Cnr Darlington and Camperdown Rds

Miramar

Wellington

(04) 891 0354

www.thelarder.co.nz

Open Tues-Sun, dinner Thu-Sat.

*So very excited. Expect more soon :)