Eggshell Green

I like bukakke

Went to this Japanese restaurant called Tatsushi the other day. (What – did you think this post was about something else?)

I got the bukkake udon. Partly because they sold out of the oyako donburi, but mostly because I’m immature and it made me snigger. “Can I have the bukkake udon please?” I asked. I coudn’t make myself just ask for bukkake.

I just expected noodles and soup, but was curious about the bukkake bit. I saw the lightly poached egg on top – white, wobbly and translucent, and I went “Ahhh.”

The dish was good. It came with crispy deep fried bits of batter, spring onions, bonita flakes and a poached egg on top of udon noodles. I got bukakke udon and I liked it, and wished there was more actually. I had to stuff my face with an icecream from Movenpick afterwards to fill the gap.

Fact: “Bukkake” is the noun form of the word “bukkakeru” which means to pour and splash. Bukkake udon is noodles splashed over with hot broth. Get your mind out of the gutter, and mine too while you’re at it.

I did like

Tags: restaurant, review

Restaurant Review: Bordeaux Bakery

I can’t say I’ve been that impressed by Bordeaux yet.

We’ve only been when I have an Entertainment Book voucher to use up. Good thing because their prices are pretty high – $8.20 for a cheese/ham/tomato croissant!? I guess you shouldn’t expect normal bakery prices because they also trade as a cafe, but still, I think that’s pretty pricey.

I went in to the one on Thorndon Quay on Saturday to grab some lunch for the hubby and me. I didn’t think it would take 10-15 minutes to heat up a panini. It’s because they put it in the queue along with everyone else’s sit-in lunch orders. It’s pretty silly that they have two microwaves on the cashier side to heat up your pies (they don’t have readily hot pies either, boo), but they don’t have a panini press! So I stood there with my other goodies, including a hot pie, and waited and waited for my panini.

The panini (finally) was nice but nothing special. It was a bit of bacon, some mashed kumara and pesto. Not a lot for the $7.50 I paid for it. The hubby commented that his beef pie was “meh”, later clarifying that “it wasn’t good”. We also got a lemon danish and a custard square. The lemon danish was good but could’ve done with more topping. The custard square is better than most of the floury goop you normally get elsewhere, but not as good as the ones you can get from Aro Bakery.

I haven’t tried their sit-in menu so can’t comment on that. Maybe we’ll give it a go with the next Entertainment Book voucher… we’ll see.

Tags: restaurant, review

Restaurant Review: Zico

Well, well, well.

Unfortunately, my only experience at Zico last week was nothing to rave about.

We were a large group of ten, out for a birthday dinner on St Patrick’s Day, and the waiters were new or just clueless, so perhaps those factors have to be taken into account for the less than satisfactory service.

First off, getting the waiters to take our orders was more trouble than it should have been. We told one of them we were ready to order and he disappeared without saying if he’d be back to take them. Luckily there was another that we caught the attention of, but her order-taking skills could have done with some polishing.

Ms Constantine inquired about the salmon carbonara to ensure she could get it without bacon. Her carbonara didn’t just come without bacon, it came without carbonara sauce and was delivered as a pomodoro pasta – if you work in an Italian restaurant you’d know straight away that there was something wrong with that. The waitress however didn’t seem to know the difference and was confident that the dish was correct.

The three boys ordered the “real deal” lasagne which is “served with green beans and potatoes” as the menu stated. This turned out to be a vegetarian dish made with green beans and potatoes. Far from the meaty tomato-based lasagne that you would expect as the “real deal”. Until we realised that there was no meat in the lasagne, there was much confusion over where the green beans and potatoes were because the menu implied they would be on the side and not in place of the meat.

As for my meal, I ordered the duo of lamb and steak, medium please. It arrived mostly rare and some bits were barely sealed… at that point I just couldn’t be bothered with making more fuss so just ate what I could. The bits that were cooked to my liking did taste good though.

And at least I had a good glass of red wine.

'Medium' does not mean one half done and the other half raw

Tags: restaurant, review, Wellington

Restaurant Review: Satay India

As the name implies, Satay India do both Malaysian and Indian cuisine. However, sometimes they will only offer one of those (I think it depends on which chef is on that night).

Satay India, located on Allen Street in Wellington city, often does two for one deals during the week – as long as you purchase a naan bread with each curry, you get the cheaper curry free.

I have to say that they make the best butter chicken I’ve ever had. It’s creamy, tangy, and has a sweet caramel taste to it. And it’s not too sweet like most butter chickens can be. It’s just divine!

The naans are always fresh and delicious too. They make the stretchy bubbly type of naan unlike the floury bready stuff we got in the UK. In fact, our two experiences of UK Indian wasn’t that great. The butter chicken was a specialty at the restaurant we went to in Wales, but was not like any butter chicken we get here in New Zealand. It was certainly buttery, but not the right colour, texture or taste. It just wasn’t right. All I could think about was how much I missed the butter chicken at Satay India!

Aside from the butter chicken, their other curries are also very good – according to friends. I’ve had a few of the other curries but I like the butter chicken best. I’m not too sure about the vegie ones though – they always seem boring but maybe that’s because I like my meat!

If you are into your beers and curries, Satay India offers Kingfisher Strong in a 650ml bottle. For about $12 a bottle and with an alcohol content of not more than 8%, it’s not a bad deal at all.

They do takeaways which I’ve been told is great value for money too.

The only complaint I have is that you can’t take home any left-overs if you have the banquet. Something that isn’t obvious when ordering. Also, they forgot to give us our poppadoms that time too – boooo!

Tags: indian, restaurant, review

Restaurant Review: Matterhorn

Two words – small and pricey.

We went to the Matterhorn a couple weeks ago with the hubby’s brother and his then-pregnant wife (who had her baby the day after me). The brother-in-law heard good things so we were keen to give it a go.

The meals were tasty, but boy they were the smallest dishes I’ve ever been served!

On top of that, the sister-in-law wanted to be cautious with her steak so asked for it to be well done. It took them three goes before they got it right. It came out medium first two times, and she had to wait an extra half hour or so after our meals were served before the poor lady could eat! How hard is it to cook a steak well-done!?

I got the ‘monk fish with spanner crab’. Ok, when you list something as spanner crab, I expect some pure spanner crab like a claw, or at least a hunk of meat. But no. Where was the crab? I could only assume it was mixed in among the processed sausagey thing that surrounded my two tiny pieces of monk fish. Disappointed with the description. I wish restaurants would describe their meals more accurately.

Matterhorn meal - feed a child for $36...

Definitely a place where you need an entrée, main and dessert, to feel satisfied – and poor. We opted for supermarket dessert on the way home instead.

Tags: restaurant, review

Restaurant Review: Good World

The Good World Chinese restaurant in Lower Hutt doesn’t do yum char so well.

We went on a Saturday at 12:15pm. Should have been a busy time, and it did look fairly populated. Unfortunately the same food kept cycling around and we only got one dish of steamed dumplings in the first 3/4 of the time we were there. Some new steamed dumplings finally arrived after about 45 minutes.

The place was a bit grimey. The bowls and cutlery were visibly unclean, and I had to wipe them with my napkin first.  The teapot didn’t look like it had ever been washed. They are quite slow at filling up your teapot too.

We also had to ask one of the waitress each time to show us what she had,  to which one of the explanations was “body parts”. Hmm, best not to ask which body parts… She showed everyone else without being asked though! What’s up with that?

The range of  food was limited and the same waitresses kept assuming we were full, exclaiming “Want more!?” each time she came around. Yes we want more. We just don’t want the body parts that you keep bringing around. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a well-rounded Asian that eats almost everything. I’ll eat the classics like tripe, chicken’s feet, tendons and so on, but calling them “body parts” and not even wanting to show us is a little off-putting lady.

If you have leftovers you want to take home, you have to bring them to the counter when you pay. I don’t know why they can’t just bring over a takeaway box to your table like normal places.

I won’t be going back. I can see why my cousins in the Hutt come to Wellington City to have yum char. We’ll stick to The Regal – our favourite place. It might cost a little more but it’s cleaner, yummier and friendlier.

Tags: Chinese, restaurant, review

Restaurant Review: Café Pica

*Sigh!*

There was nothing about this café located in the Porirua MegaCentre that made me enjoy my first, and definitely my only, visit.

All the doors were left open and you could see the cold wintery breeze pushing dustballs across the icy floors. It was uncomfortable despite being a few feet from the fire place.

The food was just bad. It wasn’t even average.

The girls had pancakes with banana, bacon and a choice of maple syrup or “orange syrup”. I chose the orange syrup because it sounded interesting but what come on the plate looked and tasted like watery orange juice…

The pancakes weren’t even home made – WHAT!? Looked like they were layered with cheap bacon and banana and microwaved till the banana was a chewy grey. Tasteless. It didn’t help that we only got a wee amount of fresh cream and syrup. Ms Constantine asked for more maple syrup for the both of us and we both agreed the maple syrup was watered down and tasted a bit off.

The boys had a cooked breakfast – you know, the typical bacon, eggs, sausage, hashbrown, tomato and toast. How hard can that be? Just as hard as pancakes it turns out.

The “toast” was not toasted – WHAT!?  It was just a thick slice of plain cold bread. The poached eggs were overdone – eww! The half tomato was hard and uncooked. The bacon was again the cheap type, and looked like it was just heated rather than grilled. The “lemon hollandaise” as it says on the menu was nowhere to be seen.

The best thing apparently was the hashbrown, which Café Pica claimed was their own. Not even! It was one of those preshaped triangular things that you buy frozen in bulk. Thankfully it wasn’t home made as it might have tasted as bad as everything else.

If you can make a better breakfast at home on a Sunday morning, then something is  seriously wrong with the café. Pancakes and cooked breakfasts are not fancy pants food!

Not going back, ever.

(I just looked online and saw all the reviews for Café Pica on MenuMania were just as bad – so I added another one.)

Tags: cafe, restaurant, review

Restaurant Review: Hong Kong BBQ

This is the place on Kent Terrace that has barbecued meat hanging in the front window – ducks, chicken, ribs and roasted pork.

I’ve been to HK BBQ several times now, mainly for a quick cheap dinner or lunch.

They also do bubble tea. Heard of bubble tea? If not, it’s flavoured tea (hot or cold) that has optional “bubbles” added to it for about an extra $1. The bubbles are either balls of black tapioca, coconut pieces or small pieces of jelly pudding. I’ve only tried it with tapioca, which look kind of like big frog’s eggs at the bottom of your glass. I get it for the fun factor.

Bubble tea with "bubbles" in the straw

The service is usually efficient, although this last time we went I think they forgot about our order. We had a couple waitresses come by and check our ticket with some confusion. The food took aaaages, but the bubble tea was enough to keep me going till then – the tapioca can be quite filling!

Their barbecue meats are delish. The triple meat dish is a good way to try three types at the same time.  Crispy roast pork is always good!

The hubby’s favourite dish is the Shanghai noodles, which are delicious.

I quite like the clay pot Chilli Chicken Wings but it varies from medium spicy to almost-too-spicy-to-eat, without any guarantees. The wings are chopped up and bones make it a bit fiddly to eat without using all your fingers.

This time I tried the sweet and sour fish pieces. These were quite good, though a bit bland when alternating with the Shanghai noodles. I found them particularly tasty the next day for lunch, with just rice.

That’s another thing – the servings here are generous. The two of us usually settle for two dishes with rice, which is plenty. Sometimes there’s enough for lunch the next day too.

It’s not a glamorous place. I’ve noticed the disposable chopsticks have been replaced by reusable ones now. The tables could be less sticky though.

Hong Kong BBQ is great for good old-fashioned Chinese food and bubble tea, if that’s what you’re after.

Tags: restaurant, review