We started with seafood appetizers - for once modest sized portions appropriate for just tempting the appetite. I went with their version of small eels which is the whitebait I've tried in omelets twice before. Wife does garlic shrimp. They do the whitebait in the same manner. The shrimp were excellent. I'm not sure what the huge uproar is over whitebait. Just doesn't seem to have much flavor to me.
Whitebait in Oil and Garlic
Garlic Prawns
Then we went on to the main courses. Wife had a filet of hake. It was very good but after our meal at Fleur's Place it was just a little less. The lamb I had was a whole roasted shoulder. It was HUGE...and DELICIOUS!
It was very different from other lamb preparations. Since I live safely a hemisphere away, he gave me the recipe. You cook the lamb at a low temperature with a few herbs, garlic, olive oil and white wine for a long time - 5 hours or so. Then you finish it in a 500 degree oven for about 20 minutes to give it an extremely crispy crust. The result is a lamb that is tender like a pot roast surrounded by a crispy exterior. It was addictive.
Filet 'o' Hake
Lamb Extrordinare!
Because of driving and our different dishes we were drinking wine by the glass. For the lamb our waiter told me to leave the selection to him. He chose a syrah from Hawkes Bay that had a great nose - almost like a cabernet - but that characteristic dryness I've come to enjoy with New Zealand wines.
It was a great end to our dining in New Zealand.
4 comments:
I'm not a big fish eater. Nor am I a fan of lamb, but that lamb preparation sounds fantastic!
I'm not sure I could convince myself to try whitebait, but the shrimp looks fantastic. And both the fish and the lamb look incredible!
That lamb sounds amazing.
Wow, that lamb looks incredible. Between your post and Stef's, I am starting to get very hungry!
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