Drexels

On the morning we were to leave Christchurch (after the 'Robin Williams weekend'), S and I discovered Drexels. We were meandering around the Riccarton mall and were almost going to settle for dumplings when I suggested that we check the directory for other options. Nothing really jumped out at us and Drexels sounded like just another cafe/brunch place but we decided to stroll over to have a look anyway. The place was packed and there were at least 10 people waiting for a table. We took one look at the menu and the charming American-diner-like ambience and we were sold. Besides, a crowd is usually a pretty good indicator that the food is good (don't get me started on the times when this rule has failed me). We had to put our names down on the waiting list and were told to come back in about half an hour (maybe an hour), but hell, it was worth it.

When we came back, it was about 11am and the breakfast crowd had left - the place was still full, but there was a little more breathing room. We were seated in a large booth (for just the two of us, i.e. they didn't keep us waiting just because there were no small tables available) with little fresh pots of jam and butter and a little jug of milk already on the table. Everything was spotless, even the jug of maple syrup (which as anyone knows, is next to impossible to use without leaving some syrup on the spout) - I was very impressed. S pointed out that they clear everything off the table after each customer leaves and set it up again with fresh, clean jugs of maple syrup, sugar pots, butter, jam, etc. On top of all that, after you order, they bring you free toast that you can enjoy with the lovely fresh butter and jam. Being city folk, that thing on the table that looked like a scoop of vanilla ice-cream (pictured above) threw us for a while. I thought it was (whipped?) cream or something and thought it strange that I never heard of Americans spreading cream on their toast. You see? - Honest reporting, even at my expense. A few seconds later, S said that it was butter - of course! I was so busy enjoying the toast that I didn't even bother thinking about it. Stop guffawing for a while and try to understand - we'd never seen butter that looked like that. Hitherto, the only butter we've had experience with came in the form of bright yellow, hard, blocks, usually wrapped in gold foil. This butter was almost white and beautifully fluffy. Divine!

S had the Three Egg Omelette, Italian style (stuffed with ham, salami, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese), which was perfectly cooked and delicious. It wasn't greasy (as omelettes can often be) and the tomatoes provided a burst of freshness and slight acidity to each mouthful. My fear of using fresh tomatoes in a dish like this is that they weep and turn the whole dish soggy - luckily this omelette was well executed and did not suffer that fate. S was also very impressed with the hashbrown, but I can't remember exactly why - something about "this is what hashbrowns are supposed to taste like". I was kind of focussed on my own plate.

My breakfast was the Full Waffle with banana and bacon (as advised on the menu) and it was sublime! Without a doubt, the best waffle dish that I have ever had. The servings were very generous - I got lashings of fresh bananas of the perfect ripeness (not too mushy or green) and perfectly grilled, lovely savoury bacon and the waffle was nice and thick, as proper waffles should be. It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and had that exact waffly texture and flavour. Beautiful! Any waffle lover will tell you that there's nothing quite like the sight of a real, authentic, thick waffle with lovely, large deep pockets to collect all that deliciously sinful melted butter and maple syrup. MMMM! The combination of the sweet waffle, maple syrup and bananas and the savoury bacon and butter was just heavenly.

As soon as we left, we were contemplating our next trip back to Christchurch just to dine at Drexels again. Nothing like a good, incredibly satisfying Sunday brunch to kick off your week, I say.

Drexels - Breakfast Restaurant

Westfield Mall 

Rotherham St 

Riccarton

Christchurch

Liquidity

Black Tiger Prawns with Coconut Sambal

When S and I were trying to think of a nice place to dine at in Christchurch, I suddenly recalled being told by the proprietors of a Dunedin cafe that Liquidity was very good. They especially mentioned the pork belly and tiramisu, and we just wanted a nice meal at a good restaurant, so we decided to go with what we had heard. Unfortunately, we found that the food and service at Liquidity left much to be desired. 

Japanese Spiced Squid

First of all, the wait-staff were inattentive. We walked into the restaurant and stood around waiting and looking around for at least a few minutes before anyone attended to us, even though there were several staff standing and walking around doing absolutely nothing. I was already unimpressed, but they could have still changed my mind if the food was good. No such luck.

Japanese Spiced Squid - see the oil at the bottom of the glass?

To start, S had the black tiger prawns with coconut sambal and I, the Japanese spiced squid. The 'coconut sambal' was far too salty and the dish as a whole was a little too heavy for a starter. My squid wasn't scored so most of the seasoning slipped off the pale, rubbery, overcooked, not very tasty, greasy pieces of squid. If you look carefully at the second picture of the squid, you will see the amount of oil and seasoning that had collected at the bottom of the glass. It was not very appealing. Worst of all, S found a piece of hair in the rice and when she pointed it out to the waitress who came to clear our plates, all the waitress could manage was, "Oh, that's not very nice is it? I will tell the kitchen staff". Where was the apology?! It doesn't matter if you're not the one who made the mistake, you are representing your establishment and you need to apologise if there has been such a embarrassing, serious oversight. I was appalled, to say the least. 

Five Spiced Monkfish with Seared Scallops

Of course, then I was wary, albeit still (inexplicably) hopeful, about our mains. Alas, S's five spiced monkfish with seared scallops was 'blah' at best and my braised pork belly was served with a completely burnt black top layer. I was somewhat stunned. Still I ate it, thinking that maybe there was the tiniest possibility that that's how it is supposed to be served. Of course, I should have trusted my first instincts. The black top layer was tough, sticky and of course, tasted burnt and the rest of the pork belly was overdone, dryish and quite firm. I should have sent it back...I need to learn to start doing that especially when I'm served substandard food at high-end establishments. I do tell them what I think of the food, if they ask, but sometimes that just isn't enough. Needless to say, we did not order desserts, even though we  had been looking forward to trying the tiramisu.

Braised Pork Belly

Viva Madrid

Five days after I got back from KL, S and I drove to Christchurch for the Robin Williams show. There, we had two absolutely abominable meals (at Ancestral and Liquidity), some good grub from Viva Madrid at the Arts Centre Weekend Market and Dream Garden, and an excellent breakfast at Drexels. I will elaborate on the rest some other day - today the focus is on Viva Madrid.

I first had churros about two years ago in Melbourne, in some churro speciality cafe. Churros were all the rage there at the time, so I had to see what the fuss was all about. The churros at that cafe were rock hard, dry sticks served with thick, lumpy, 'overcooked' melted chocolate. That put me off churros completely, until three weeks ago.

S and I were at the market prowling for a tasty breakfast treat when we spotted the very chic looking Viva Madrid caravan. There must have been something seemingly authentic and likeable about Viva Madrid and its proprietor (must have been my weakness for paella, which was also on the menu) because we 'threw caution in the wind' and ordered some churros. Hah. I must admit that I bit into the first churro with some apprehension, despite being convinced that they had to be far better than the ones I had in Melbourne. Luckily, they were. Curved into elegant loops, unlike the roughly cut sticks I had in Melbourne, these churros were light, crunchy and crisp, but still slightly soft and chewy on the inside. We opted to go without the chocolate dip, so we were really able to taste the sugar coated churros as they were - and they were good. My only comment would be that I thought they were very slightly overcooked, which is easy to do because they are quite thin and they have grooves. Maybe that's how they're supposed to be, but I think they would taste even better if they were either a bit thicker, or spent less time in the frier.

I tried to order the paella at the same time, but it wasn't going to be ready till about lunch time, which was a bit inconvenient. We were pleased enough with the churros, however, that we decided to meander around town until lunchtime just so we could go back to Viva Madrid to get some paella. And I'm glad we did. It was very tasty and had a quite intense, complex seafood flavour. The lemon juice provided the nice acidity and brightness on top of the bold flavoured, pleasantly oily, yummy, hearty paella. A far cry from that paella recipe that we tried from that beer cookbook. Still, the best paella that I ever had was at Moussandra, in KL, but I'll have to get some pictures before I write about that. 

Lockies Fish & Chips*

Just 30* minutes north of Dunedin (by car, headed towards Christchurch), in a little town called Hampden, is a modest little shop that makes the best fish and chips that I've ever had. It's actually a residential house that has been partially converted - the rest of the house still looks like a home and I suspect that the family that owns the business live there, which makes it all the more endearing and authentic. Lockie's fish and chips are so good, that we actually went to the trouble of bringing our own tomato sauce (because we prefer it to the kind being sold there), to ensure optimal fish and chip chomping satisfaction. 

Initially, I found the bright (approaching neon), yellow colour of the battered fish a little unusual, but I quickly got over it as soon as I took my first bite. Delicious, large, plump, juicy pieces of perfectly cooked fish, encased in beautifully fried, light and crunchy batter. Simple food, done brilliantly well. What more can you ask for? There's nothing more satisfying than having a big bite of solid, good food. Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy refined, elegant, 'sit at the table with three forks and knives' dining when the mood strikes, and the food is usually excellent, but nothing quite compares to hands on, basic, comfort food. MMMMM! The beer battered chips were also excellent - thick, chunky and soft on the inside, with a tasty, crunchy coating. Enjoying all that sitting outside at a picnic table, on a beautiful, sunny, New Zealand day with one of your best friends = quiet bliss. The only thing that was missing was a cold, refreshing drink of homemade iced lemon tea. Ah, life's little pleasures.

Just remember, when you are placing an order, that one order of fish equals two* actual pieces of fish and one order of chips, is a lot of chips (we couldn't finish it all). You can't really tell from the pictures but the serving box is about the length and width of a sheet of A4* paper, i.e. the portions are agreeably large! And I love dipping my fish in both tomato and tartar sauce (even though the fish is great just on its own), so you may want to add a tub of tartar sauce to your order.

It's a gorgeous day out there today, so all of you hop into your cars and putter along to Lockie's for a good feed. It's right on the main street, so you can't miss it.

[*Edit 5:55pm: So after I wrote about this, of course I felt like having it. So, D and I went to Hampden, and thus, discovered several inaccuracies in my reporting. They are as follows:

1. From Dunedin city (proper), the drive to Hampden actually takes almost an hour, not 30 minutes. It is slightly under 30 minutes if you start timing from the Dunedin city border, but why would you do that?
2. They do sometimes give you two pieces of fish for every order of fish, but that only happens when the two parts of a blue cod fillet separate. Today we ordered 'three blue cod' and got three pieces of blue cod (shaped sort of like Vs, because that's how they are filleted).
3. OK my memory of the size of the serving box may have been a little distorted. It's not quite the size of an A4 piece of paper, maybe like one or two inches shorter in length, but it still makes for a large meal. We were just a little too full after today's tuck in.
4. The name of the shop is officially 'Lockies (sic) Takeaways' (as printed on the receipt). No apostrophe and no mention of fish and chips.

My apologies.]

Lockies Takeaways
30 London Street
Hampden