Cook 'N' With Gas Bistro, Christchurch - New Zealand (and the other meals)

Christchurch Cathedral

Last week I had to be in New Zealand for a few days , not for fun but for work :)

I was going to be in Christchurch, Napier and Auckland in the span of 4 days - which didn't quite happen because of the major earthquake in Christchurch last Tuesday. 

I have never been so scared in my life T___T 

I thought for sure the earth was gonna open up and swallowed us whole when the car was rocking while we waited at the red light - naturally I freaked out ! (Big time !)

Arrived in Christchurch on Monday afternoon, spent few hours working in the hotel while waiting to meet up with my colleague to go for dinner.
Since most of Christchurch's restaurants were still closed for renovation from the first earthquake last September, finding a place that does New Zealand cuisine is not as easy.

After researching for almost a week, finally decided to try this award winning NZ bistro, Cook 'N' With Gas, located near the Art Gallery.

Cook 'n' With Gas - Front Desk

Getting to the restaurant from the hotel was another story of its own. 

My colleague is a New Zealander, but lives in Auckland, so pretty much not to familiar with the streets of Christchurch. I'm even more useless as this was my first ever trip to New Zealand LOL

With just a CBD map from the hotel in hand, we walked around the city block for a good 45minutes before we got to the restaurant.

And the best part of the whole story is ? The restaurant was less than 10minutes walk from the hotel -___-;

I truly believe that should he has stopped and asked for direction, we wouldn't have to walk for 45minutes - men and their ego *tsk*.

Logo ; Sparkling Water ;
Asahi Beer ; Knick Knacks

Cook 'n' With Gas is an award winning bistro, cooking modern New Zealand cuisine in a relaxed and warm atmosphere. 

They have a wide selection of local wines and beers to choose from, naturally I settled for just sparkling water (New Zealand sparkling water though :D) and my colleague had Asahi Beer.

Complimentary Appetizer

We received a complimentary appetizer of citrus chicken on shredded vegetables. The flavours were delicate and the vegetables were crisp and sweet.

Main Dining Area ; Chandelier ; Paper & Bulldog Clip ; Fellow Diners

It is interesting to see the contrast between the food served and the decor. The foods may be of fine dining quality but everything else was just so casual. The table is lined with white paper complete with  bulldog clips to secure them down LOL

The staffs were casually attired in black polo shirt and black pants - very casual, friendly and warm services. 

The walls were lined with frames of awards and acknowledgements that the bistro has received since they opened back in 1999. 

Meadows Mushroom NZD $18.50 (AUD $ 13.50)
Field mushroom & rabbit parfait with mushroom toast, pickled mushroom, rocket with beetroot, plum chutney and mushroom glaze.

The starter of meadows mushroom showcased the mushrooms that are currently in season. The mushroom and rabbit parfait was delicious ! Love the earthy mushroom flavour and the creaminess of the parfait, although I couldn't taste much of the rabbit. Perfect when eaten together with the crisp mushroom toast and the chutney.

Peppered Kelp & Green Bean Fritter  NZD $16.00 (AUD $ 11.60)
w/ coriander, gazpacho and water cress

My colleague made a valid and funny comment when he saw my plate of starter, "Did they ran out of white plate and had to run to their granny's and borrowed one off her ?" LOL !!

I can't figure out why the other dishes were presented in white plate except this one. It kinda made the plate so cramped and messy in a way.

The ornate design of the plate has outshine the dish itself :P

The kelps !

I ordered this dish because I've never had kelp fritter before and I'm glad I ordered it. It was delicious and light, the kelp itself tasted like those Japanese seaweed usually found in sushi (you know which one right, the vinegared one).  

The fritter itself was packed full with the kelp and broad bean, served with wilted spinach, topped with a mixture of crushed broad bean, horseradish creme and wasabi.

The gazpacho was refreshing and tangy, which surprisingly worked well with the fritter.

I wouldn't have thought of putting fritters and soup together :)

Hallmark Lamb  NZD $40.00 (AUD $ 29.00)
Olive rubbed carved rack and grilled lamb ribeye with tomato, garlic, potato confit, silver beet slaw, fetta and rosemary dumplings.

It was a plate of generous serving of various lamb cuts - you got the rib eye and then also the rack, cooked perfectly by the look of it. 

Underneath all that was a mound of potato and slaw and more lamb ! 

The fetta and rosemary deep fried dumpling were delicious, I was told.

Inside Feta & Rosemary Dumpling

Classical Gas Belly of Pork  NZD$37.00 (AUD $ 27.00)
Sliced onto a truffled kumara & olive whip, buttered greens, x-factor sauce, crackling, sweet corn and brassica. 

I was shocked when this tower of pork belly arrived 0__o

It was huge !!! Didn't even know how to tackle it other than toppling the tower of food LOL

There were 2 slices of thick pork belly which was very tender and not too fatty at all. 

Then there were layer after layer of various vegetables : what looks like half kumara (a.k.a. sweet potato) mash, silverbeet, brocolli and cabbage. Topped with super crunchy pork crackling and brassica (mustard leaves). The sauce was sweet corn puree and pork jus.

Needless to say, I couldn't finish my main - which is very rare !! I'm a firm believer of "must not waste food" motto ^_*

The serving was beyond generous !

View from the other side of the tower

Unfortunately we just couldn't fit in any more desserts ( or puddings as they say it here in New Zealand). Although I was eyeing the impressive crepe suzette that was being flambéed at the table next to us. My colleague noticed it and he said we can order one just for photographic purposes ROFL.

Had a quick thought over it but decided to be good :)

Cook 'n' With Gas

It was a lovely dinner at Cook 'n' With Gas, the foods were impressive and some of the ingredients used are quite unusual, such as the kelp, brassica and seems like they are big fan of kumara here :)

The portions were very generous for the price we paid, especially with our strong Australian dollar hehehehe.

I checked in on their website after the earthquake and I'm glad to hear that the restaurant is still standing and no one was harmed. However, they are still closed for the time being, perhaps with all the aftershocks and the rescue operations that is still on going. 

Lookie !

It was an opportune time that as we stepped out of the restaurant, The Christchurch Tramway Restaurant passed us. 

You can explore the city while dining in the tram - next time ^_^

The Chalice at Cathedral Square ; Streets of Christchurch;
Maori Phone Booth ; Christchurch Civic Building - Te Pou Herenga Waka

Christchurch Cathedral @ Night

One last shot of the Christchurch Cathedral before we retire to the hotel which was across it.

It is quite eerie to think that less than 24hours later, the cathedral was severely damaged by the earthquake *shudder*.

So that was the first and last proper meal I had during this NZ trip - the rest of the trip become a survival trip where I'm just trying to get back home to Sydney.

Obviously the rest of customer visits that was planned had to be cancelled. 

Tuesday morning, we went to visit a customer in Geraldine, about 2.5hours drive out of Christchurch. After the visit, we did the touristy thing and stopped by the beautiful Rakaia Gorge on the way back into the town. 

The water was just so breathtaking - milky blue - amazing....

There were a few people doing trout fishing there, apparently selling trout is illegal in New Zealand (salmon is okay), so the only way to eat one is to catch one ^_^

Trout Fishing @ Rakaia Gorge

Pretty opaque blue water

If we didn't stop by this place, we would have been already back in Christchurch city - either having lunch in the CBD or already waiting at the airport for our flight out. 

We missed the quake by a mere 20minutes T____T We were very very lucky and blessed !

Since the city was a gridlock and the airport was closed, my colleague made an executive decision to drive almost 8 hours into the small town of Blenheim in Malborough (the wine county). 

Managed to find a motel that can accomodate us (all of the accomodations in the small town was fully booked out because everyone just escaped to there) , too tired to eat anything but had to eat, so just get a quick bite at McDonalds :P

McDonald's Crispy Chicken Bacon Deluxe Meal
(nicely plated onto a white plate by my colleague LOL)

McDonald's @ Blenheim, NZ

This NZ trip is becoming a McDonald's trip LOL 

Breakfast at McD before heading to the Blenheim airport to catch a flight out into Wellington.

Hash Brown ; Long Black ; Trim Cappuccino ; Bacon & Egg Bagel

I am hooked on the McD' Bagel Bacon & Egg - they are freaking addictive !!!

Had it 2 days in a row :P The bagel was really soft and fresh and so much better than the English muffins. 

I want bagel I want bagel !!!

Few tips when ordering coffee here in New Zealand : skim capp = trim capp ( no wonder they looked at me funny when i asked for skim capp) , then you can have the option of having cocoa or cinnamon on your cappuccino.

The long black that my colleague ordered also comes with a pot of hot water, just in case it's too dark ^_^

Water & Chunky Chop Chip Cookie
(from the hotel mini bar)

Arrived in Auckland late at night and was too buggered to eat anything, so just grabbed a bottle of water and a choc chip cookie from the mini bar.

There you go, my first ever New Zealand trip that comes with an earthquake and lots of McDonalds.

Cook 'n' With Gas

http://www.cooknwithgas.co.nz/

23 Worcester Blvd

(opp. Court Theatre between the Museum and Art Gallery)

Christchurch, New Zealand

Phone  : +64 (3) 377 9166

WLG , Kings Cross

As part of Wellington on A Plate 2010 Festival, the people from the Wellington Tourism has brought the food & wine scene of the New Zealand's capital city right to the doorstep of Sydney siders.

How ? By opening up a pop up restaurant, WLG (the airline code for the city ), that runs only for 2 weeks from 14th - 26th September in Kings Cross.

Of course by now you would have read many other food bloggers' post on their visit to WLG, I'm one of the late one I suppose :P

It was crazy trying to secure a table at this place, I went to the booking site straight away as soon I found out about it and to my surprise I wasn't quick enough ! So, it wasn't until last night that we finally got to try this place out :)

Wine for the table ; Menu ; Cutleries ; WLG Pencil (which we get to keep, yay!)

We got there right on the dot at 6:00pm for fear that they will give our table away if we were 15 minutes late (they did say so on the booking condition), so I had to be a nag and remind everyone DO NOT BE LATE !  ^_^

As soon as we were seated, our friendly waitress with a heavy NZ accent (still very strong though she has been here almost 30 years, amazing !) gave us the menu and explain how it works.

For an amazing value of $29, you get a 3 course meal which includes a shared platter as starter, a choice of main from 3 options (meat, fish, vegetarian), dessert, and coffee & chocolate to finish the meals.

To accompany your dinner there was a good selection of NZ wines and Antipodes still or sparkling water for something alcohol free.

Our waitress recommended the Hunter's Wine Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2010 for us tonight (minus me as per usual, I stick with the cute Antipodes water ).

Rex Morgan of Boulcott Street Bistro

I was not aware that the 4 chefs involved in this special dining event is doing so by rotation. One chef will be cooking his menu for 3 days, and the next one will take over for the following 3 days and so on.
When we dined last night, we have the opportunity to taste Chef Rex Morgan's menu :)
A background story on the chef as printed on the menu :

"Rex has won every single culinary award a chef can in New Zealand, including New Zealand Chef of The Year and Dominion Post Chef of The Year. Rex has also been made a  Beef + Lamb Ambassador a record six times and was recently made a premium lifetime ambassador for Beef + Lamb. He is passionate about his profession and as the chef / owner at renowned Boulcott Street Bistro, he strives to ensure diners are tempted with new and exciting culinary adventures. Rex is a descendant of Te Arawa & Ngai Tahu, so where possible he enjoys showcasing New Zealand's unique indigenous produce & products"

With that kind of resume we were excited on what we will be tasting tonight :)

Empty Antipodes bottles as decoration - very cute !

How cute is the rows of empty Antipodes bottles on the wall ! The waitress has kindly left the cap on our bottles so we can take them home later on :)

We later found out (from the table runner that is full of informations) that they are available to purchase from David Jones and Thomas Dux - good to know.

Tastes of Wellington Shared Tasting Plate ( L - R)
Lot 8 Spiced Olives ; Venison Rillettes w/ Spiced Pear & Watercress ; Fried Goats Cheese Balls w/ Manuka Honey & Kiwi Chutney ; Citrus Cured Regal King Salmon Gravlax w/ NZ Wasabi Panna Cotta ; Crispy West Coast NZ White Bait & Grilled Asparagus w/ Chopped Egg & Caper Mayo.

Even as the waitress was pouring drinks into our glasses, the shared platter arrive. The platter is to be shared per 2 people and consists of 5 different items.

Me and my friend who was sharing the plate don't eat olives so I cannot comment on how they taste. The venison rillettes, sort of like a pate but more chunky, was very good. I was a bit hesitant at first because venison tends to have a strong gamey flavour, but there was no such taste in the rillette. It was tender and easily spread onto the sliced baguette and the spiced pear went well with it too.

The fried goats cheese balls as the waitress explained it "melts in your mouth like a truffle". It was very creamy indeed, but the taste of the goats cheese was way too strong for me and I had to take a fork full of the kiwi chutney to clean off the taste >_<

The wasabi panna cotta was amazingly good ! It doesn't have a kick as the Japanese wasabi, but it has its distinct flavour and presenting it as a panna cotta is a brilliant idea. Too bad there was only one slice to share, would have liked one piece each.

The crispy white bait is another winner, it was deep fried to perfection - crispy but not drenched in oil. I wonder what happen to the mayo that supposed to come with it though ?

Horopito Seasoned Beef w/ Slow Roasted Tomato & Lot 8 Virgin Olive Oil served on a bed of Potato Mash

Chef Rex Morgan's intention to use indigenous produce where possible was showcased in this main dish. Horopito is a native New Zealand pepper and the beef was encrusted with a thin layer of this pepper. The beef was served medium rare and it was very tender and the jus that comes with it was very good as well, not sure what it was made of.

Roasted Groper w/ Smoked Marlborough Mussels & Green Pea Stew

I was about to get the vegetarian option as two others has ordered the fish, but at the last minute I changed my mind and aren't I glad I did so !

The fish was very good, the meat was sooo tender and firm with crispy skin. 

It was my first time ever eating smoked mussels so I am not sure what it is supposed to taste like. 

All I can say is that this Marlborough smoked mussels were surprisingly sweet with just the right amount of smoked aroma that doesn't overpower the mussel. They were very good ( I want more....). The peas were so fresh and pops in your mouth with burst of sweetness, and the broth...whatever it is made of it was that good that I had to ask for spoons for us as the liquid gold is not to be wasted !

Mojo Coffee Brulee w/ Whittakers Chocolate & Orange Mousse

For dessert we were served coffee creme brulee along with a quenelle of chocolate & orange mousse and a dot of orange compote, and to finish a scattering of crushed coffee beans. 

The Dessert

The coffee creme brulee had a thin layer of crispy toffee and creamy coffee custard. It has a strong coffee  flavour and not to sweet at all with a perfect set :)

I am not a big fan of anything mousse, but this mousse I like. It was quite dense in texture, almost like a clotted cream consistency. I love combination of dark chocolate and orange so this mousse was a win for me.

The waitress we had was amazing, she had good understanding of the ingredients in the food and very attentive throughout the night. 

It was quite funny when she was clearing our dessert plates she scolded us (in a joking manner of course) for not finishing the desserts.

We were puzzled as we didn't leave anything on the plate (double checked) , not even the crushed coffee beans. 

I then said "We ate everything , unless you wanted us to scrape the smeared chocolate as well ?".

And lo and behold...she scraped the painted chocolate off the plate with the back of the spoon, it's a trick a customer showed her on last night's service she said. ROFL !

I agree though, waste not good chocolate right ? So there we have it, another half a spoonful of Whittakers chocolate ...yummm...

We had to pass on the coffee & chocolate after the desserts as we were quite full by the end.

View into the courtyard dining room ; Lantern ; Front Table ; Mojo Coffee for sale

It was trully an enjoyable dining experience with good company of friends and of course the friendly waitress :)

We couldn't help feeling a bit rushed because the dishes came out at a surprising speed. We finished a 3 course meal in just 45minutes !

It is understandable as they do want to get as many people to enjoy the dining experience so they try to turnover the tables as quickly as possible. I saw a lot of walk in customers that has to put their names down and waiting for a call as soon as a table is available. 

I hope they are doing another pop-up restaurant here in Sydney for Wellington on A Plate 2011, till then I must practice my online booking skills LOL

PS : Today , Sunday 26th Sept is the last day, so make your way there if you haven't done so already.

Don't worry if you don't have a booking as they except walk-ins and the table turnover is very quick !

Open from 6.00pm - 10.00pm (last order at 8.45pm)

Antipodes water ; Bill for the night