Vivace Espresso (Christchurch CBD)

This is quite a random one. So here goes.

I was at Christchurch about a month ago and wanted to find good breakfast in the CBD on a Sunday morning. It was extremely difficult and the only place that looked damn good was  Drexel’s Breakfast Restaurant, and they were overcrowded and only took bookings!! Anyway, suprisingly, 2nd choice wasn’t too bad. Vivace is located on the same street as Drexel’s, Hereford St. The meals ordered were:

Big Breakfast.

Pancakes with blueberry and banana.

Latte Bowl.

The Big Breakfast costs $17.50, and pancakes costs $15. Both meals were fantastic but took a while for them to prepare.  The latte was good too.

Highly recommended but needs work on the timing for serving their meals. My rating 8/10.

Giapo

This place is quite a goodie. It’s very near the Burger Fuel on Queen St. Giapo serves gelato in traditional and fruit flavours. I’ve only been there twice, but have been impressed. The triple chocolate (?) and tiramisu flavours are very good. Below is a medium cup for $7:

Medium Cup Gelato.

Highly recommended, 9/10. They have a facebook page as well.

Deli & Noodle Bar @ Sky City Casino

The Deli and Noodle Bar at the Sky City Casino is always an all-time favourite for me. It opens late, and there’s plenty of pokies and slot machines to keep you entertained for the whole night – that is if you’re a gambler.

On a late winter night, I was trying to figure out where to go for dinner and decided upon the casino as I haven’t been there for ages. The Deli and Noodle Bar isn’t exactly a quiet place to eat and lighting isn’t that great. Also, your meals don’t get served to you. I decided to try the Noodle Bar since I had fond memories of the beef brisket. Samples below:

Beef Brisket Hor Fun.

Soya Chicken on Rice.

For most of the meals, you have a choices of either rice, rice noodles, egg noodles etc. The soya chicken cost $10.50, while the beef brisket cost $8.50. So, price-wise, it’s standard. Flavour-wise, the soya chicken is tasty, while the beef brisket needed extra flavours from the chilli. Overall, it was quite a good meal for the time frame as well as flavour. My rating is 7/10.

The other thing you could always try is the Deli which has various Western options. But the best way to utilise the Deli is to register for the Action Card (which is free I think). That way you can get discounts on meals.

Verve Cafe

While having a great meal at Thai Friends in Parnell, I noticed the Verve Cafe, which is right next to it. In fact, the guy who sits on the Verve Cafe can literally stare at Thai Friend’s food if they wish to do so. Not a lot of separation between the two if you sit outside. =)

Anyway, this is a rare Western meal in a  while, obviously not counting the numerous amout of fatty meals I’ve been having from KFC, Burger King, McDonalds etc etc. I know, I should stop eating there. It was a late day for me, so a very late lunch at the Verve Cafe. There was a property nearby that I wanted to have a look (it was too cramp if you’re interested to know).

The menu is not so forgiving (in terms of price), at first I thought it was a dinner menu. So, my girlfiend and I decided to go after the specials which were cheaper. Two dishes were sampled as shown below:

 

Brunch Special – Hash Brown stacked with Bacon, Roast Tomato, Rocket and Aioli.

 

Pasta Special – Penne Pasta with Bacon, Mushroom and Tomato in a white wine cream sauce with rocket and parmesan.

The brunch special was only $15, and the pasta special is $18.  The dishes were a good change from all the ethnic variety that I’ve had for the past months! But you just can’t deny that Western food, especially in the cafes are far more expensive. If you’re on peanut incomes like me, I know which one I’d pick. But once in a while, it’s good to try them out. =)

My rating is 8/10. It’s good but be prepared to pay at least $20 per head… for lunch.

Recession Special

My apologies – I have been away overseas for a couple of weeks, and coupled with two long weekends (Auckland Anniversary and Waitangi), you get a deserted blog from a lazy person like me.

Anyway, with the recession happening and all, maybe it’s time for all of us to think of ways to save money. With people losing jobs around the world, companies announcing losses, interest rates dropping like a rock etc, there are things we can do to save money.

Places you think you can’t afford to eat and/or shop – don’t go there! Cook and eat at home more often. There is one favourite “recession” item of mine, the Home Brand Baked Beans (from Countdown or Foodtown). Personally, I think it’s a fantastic product. It’s cheap – almost half the price of other brands and it taste pretty good.

Home Brand Baked Beans.

For 59c, baked beans is great with toast and eggs. No ratings, but I’d seriously give it a high one =) I’ll have more relevant posts soon!

Lonestar

Lonestar, it’s all over the place.

I went to this restaurant for a birthday celebration, where the birthday guy didn’t know anyone else. Fantastic eh? I’ve been to Lonestar a few times. I’ve tried the lamb in Rototura, and it was quite nice – it probably helped that it was paid by the company *grins* I even tried the vegetarian option, I believe it was the burrito (I had a no-animal for food phase a year ago – check out the PETA website and you’ll see why). Both times I was satisfied.

Just a quick overview about Lonestar, they are like the Hooters of NZ. Girls dress as little as possible, usually wearing a singlet and short shorts. Nice eye-candy for the boys, probably not so for the gals.

This time round to Lonestar, I was pretty disappointed. Maybe because I chose the wrong dish.  Two dishes were sampled shown below:

Kiwi Joker.

Cajun Chicken Salad.

The salad was not ordered by me. For $25.50, it was a nice dish but a tad overpriced. Personally, I have not seen a salad over $20 yet, maybe because it was during lunch. I ordered the Kiwi Joker, for $35.50. Now here comes the pun, I thought the dish was a joke! The beef was a ribeye, and I ordered it medium rare. It tasted very average. Nothing in the dish impressed me. It probably took the kitchen 10 mins to make it up (beef + potatoes + coleslaw + mushrooms + onions). For $35.50, I could have had a better dish somewhere else, or 3 very good Asian meals at the Newmarket Plaza Food Court.

This is a biased post as usual, so don’t take the rating too seriously.  Lonestar is just a tad overpriced and could do better with the meals. I probably chose the wrong dish, but sorry Lonestar, I ain’t gonna come back anymore unless someone really likes the place.

My rating, 5/10. I believe they do have good dishes, but to charge $35.50 for a dish, it has to be a flagship product.

Fish Pot Cafe

This is a deviation of dining I would normally have – that is cheap! Fish Pot Cafe is located in Mission Bay, and conveniently near all the fancy cafes and dessert joints!

For them, their corner is a gold mine. So, like any normal business, they hike up the price for fish & chips etc. For me to step into this place was weird and out of character. Just by looking at the menu, you’d probably gauge your eyes off. A dish (for lunch) could set you back $22!!! And that’s just fish & chips! However, I had a sixth sense and (easily) quickly spotted a bargain (the specials) as shown below:

Fish of the Day.

Hoki Fillets.

Generally the dishes come with chips and their special sauce. It’s quite nice and all up, cost about $30 which is not bad. The Fish of the Day was $15.90 and Hoki Fillets was $13.50. As you look clearly at the pictures above, you’ll realise the Hoki Fillets have more portion. That’s because the Hoki Fillets are snap frozen, while the Fish of the Day is fresh.

Both dishes are quite good but you’d really need to spot the specials if you wanna spend below $20 per head. I really see no point buying a burger there, but they look good as well.

My rating for this place is a 7/10. I’m considering their pricing which is a killer! The service is not bad, and I’d suggest coming to this place if there is a special.

Nando’s (v2)

I thought I better kill the silence of this blog with a random post. I do have a couple of interesting reviews but haven’t got round to writing up.

Anyway, another Nando’s visit. I usually have the usual, chicken livers with Portuguese bread! But Nando’s also has another specialty as shown below.

Chicken Espetada with Spicy Rice.

The serving is small, but it’s nice. I’m not sure how much it is. I think it’s worth a try rather than going for the usual half chicken etc.

I’ll be back!

Burger Fuel

This is a common sight all over Auckland these days. Burger Fuel!!! Compared to about 2 years ago, they were only available in certain places. Now they’re everywhere. It’s amazing how things change, their options used to be only $10-ish burgers and fries for about $3-ish. Now they have a variety, even burgers less than $10.

I quite enjoy a trip to Burger Fuel. I am a big fan of burgers and nothing can seriously beat them for good quality burgers. Oh… and the Kumara chips, a must try. Here’s one of the burgers sampled:

Flame Thrower.

Flame Thrower cut in half.

Kumara Fries with Aioli Dip – Small.

In terms of pricing, the Flame Thrower was $10.30 and the chips $3.80. It’s quite reasonable and can easily feed two people. The Flame Thrower is a chicken burger, but they have options for beef and vegetarian. There’s really nothing much I can say.

A must try (once) if you pass by a “branch”. Don’t get too confused with the menu, just go with the flow or try a biggie like the Bastard. Sometimes they have promotions (i.e. a value combo).

My rating for Burger Fuel (in general), an 8.5/10. I can’t complain. All good!

Diamond Takeaway

I have been a bit neglectful recently. Work has been keeping me really busy.

Anyway, it’s a random post today (Isn’t it always random?). Diamond Takeaway is one of those local chinese takeout for the Greenlane/Remuera area. I’ve always enjoyed some of their dishes, and one great thing you can do at this place – you can watch them cook. By memory, I think they have up to 6 woks. So up to 6 cooks simultaneously frying the rice, noodles etc. 

It’s quite amazing how the arrangement is at Diamond takeaway. A group of cooks that churn out takeouts like an assembly line. They just look at the orders and start cooking with ingredients all ready and prepared at their disposal.

A couple of dishes were ordered during a night of hunger. The combination fried rice and steak Hor Fun.

Combination Meat Fried Rice.

Steak Hor Fun.

My impression, a reasonably clean place and clearly designed to just make money. I do pity the cooks, they look a bit bored and depressed, but what can you do if all night you’re cooking fried rice etc. I hope they’re getting above minimum wage! =)

In terms of taste and price, it’s not bad. $15 for the fried rice and $14 for the steak hor fun. Generally, all their dishes are around $15 for a very large portion (enough for 2). The dishes were delicious but during the cooking, you can see them add a teaspoon of white powder (MSG!!). Apparently, their chips won an award for least fat (can someone confirm this?).

My rating, 8/10. Good to try once in a while. At times, I do enjoy the odd fried rice. They do make ‘em good!

Mondo – Christchurch Special

It’s been a while and I’m absolutely drained from my trip to Chirstchurch. Yes, yes – you heard me. I am from Christchurch. So it makes me appreciate what I (or we) have in Auckland, in terms of the amazing variety here – good and bad.

I had lunch with a good friend on Sunday at this place called Mondo. It’s located on High Street, near the Atami Bath House. =) I spent $22 on my lunch, that’s about $17 on my potato mash, and about $5 for my Charlie’s Feijoa drink. Boy do they make a killing from innocent consumers like us. Personally, food was OK but not the best. I didn’t feel that fantastic and satisfied after spending on what could be two very good dishes somewhere else.

I don’t have pictures or anything, so it’s hard for me to show. It does look good, but portion is small. Apparently Mondo is a premium deli cafe. Premium my ass, it’s just an overpriced wannabe cafe slash furniture store.

Anyway, I don’t recommend it. There are better places out there.

Cova Cafe

This review is sorta an oldie but a goodie. I went to this place ages ago. Cova Cafe is one of those oddly-placed cafes in malls. It’s very near Esprit in 277 Westfield Newmarket. I live around the area and shop there quite often. I’ve had breakfast around the area also – and my general conclusion, there are some mediocre breakfastfood (up in the food court on Level 2), and some which are very good (along Remuera Road).

I’ve always found it hard to justify eating breakfast for more than $10 per person. If you include the coffee, that’s at least $3 extra. But hey, sometimes there are places that’s a must-try.

Ordered the French toast breakfast at Cova Cafe for around $15 (can’t remember exactly) and it sure looked good. Check out the picture.

French Toast Breakfast.

No ratings cause it’s just one dish. French toast, with warm toasted bananas, maple syrup and bacon – excellent way to start the day? It was packed with people as well. I wonder how Zarbo is like compared to them? Perhaps, I’ll pay them a visit.