It's all about the food here in Napier...
This entry was posted on 12/17/2006 3:05 AM and is filed under New Zealand.
A reminder that here in Napier, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE FOOD!
Our
first night in Napier (pronouned "Nape-eeeee-ur") we went to a
restaurant called "Restaurant Indonesia" owned by the same family for
23 years. We ordered the Vegetarian Rijstaffel (obviously, Epod's turn
to order!). They brought us 12 different dishes to sample and they
were very delicious. We especially liked the peanut sauce with tempeh,
spicy sambal, mangos in tamarind sauce, bananas in honey sauce and
shrimp and jack fruit crackers with curried vegetables. And the
coconut and ground nut mix that you sprinkled on top of your dishes was
very tasty and added a sweet crunchiness to everything.
The front of the restaurant had this magnificent carving all from one piece of wood.
Here's what the food looked like...
The
second night was Barbeque night with the Mongolians at "What's Ya
Wok?". Choose your meat - pork, beef, chicken or tofu and put them in
the bottom of the bowl. Then choose your sauces and put them in the
bowl. Make up your own recipe using any combination of soy sauce,
chili sauce, wine, sesame oil, plum sauce, fresh ginger, fresh garlic,
black bean sauce, hoisin sauce and/or duck sauce. Then go down the
veggie line and add to your big bowl any or all of the following:
noodles, cabbage, carrots, onions, pineapple, sprouts, mushrooms,
zucchini, green onions, broccoli, peppers, baby corn and cauliflower.
Add some optional spices like Chinese 5 spice, sugar, pepper, salt or
chili powder. Hand your overflowing bowl over to a young Kiwi grill
guy and watch him cook it for you. Then he puts it back in the bowl
and off you go with your chopsticks to enjoy it. A very fun
experience. All for only $15 Kiwi ($10 US) Includes drink and ice
cream.
Here's what the choices looked like...
Now watch a little movie and see the grill guy in action...
Dinner preparation - right before our very eyes! Watch this
For
our final night's dinner we ate at Chambers Restaurant in one of
Napier's oldest hotel, in fact only one of the two buildings that
survived the earthquake in 1931. The dining was superb.
Look at what we ate...
A beautiful salad with carmelized walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, a few lettuce leaves and a very wonderful walnut dressing.
Then we shared Salmon on Potato Rosti...
And Crayfish with Scallops, Prawns and Bok Choy...Delicious!
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