New Zealand Trip Part 3 - Dine by Peter Gordon

After a fun and crazy day at the cave/farm/geyser, a nice meal would be the perfect way to end the day.  We chose to dine at 'Dine' by Peter Gordon who won Top 50 Restaurant of 2012 in New Zealand.

We had the degustation which was 5 courses with a palette cleanser and petits fours.  It is NZD$185pp with matching wines but NZD$115pp (converts to around AUD$90) without it.

*PS: I have to apologise for the inconsistent lightning and sad quality of the photos. The place is filled with dim orange light and there's not much I could do about it. >-<

Dine by Peter Gordon:

Degustation with Matching Wines

The place serves a unique blend of Asian, Pacific and traditional European cuisine. This theme could be seen throughout the dishes served in the degustation.

 

Seared Yellowfin Tuna

Ruinart Blanc de Blancs, Reims-France NV

First course is a seared yellowfin tuna with yuzu, wakame, sesame and kelp, kumara, tahini miso salad and a deep fried quail's egg. A mainly Japanese inspired dish with a touch of European glamour.

 

Pyramid Valley, Savagnin Rose, Marlborough '10

Savagnin Rose is now relatively rare in cultivation but it is great to match with Asian food and fatty fish.

Matched with:

Prawn and Panko Crusted Hapuka

Prawn and panko crusted Hapuka with wok fried greens, wood ear fungus, urenika potato with red lentil pandan coconut broth and crisp curry leaves. The dish is filled with Southern Asian elements but tastes really good cooked Western style.

 

Waitaki Braids Pinot Noir, North Otago '08

Matched with:

5 Spice Roast Cambridge Duck Breast

Five spice roast cambridge duck breast with smoked kumara mash, bok choy, pickled shiitake mushroom spring roll, fig and orange chutney. I really liked this dish as it has a citrusy sweet and juicy meat and crispy skin with a hint of five spice.

Pasquale Limoncello and Feijoa Granita

A really refreshing palette cleanser with my feijoa fruit goodness! I really fell in love with this fruit as it is a more citrusy version of a custard apple and so readily available in NZ - they're everywhere!

 

Alpha Domus "The Aviator" Cabernet Blend, Hawkes Bay '09

Matched with:

300 Day Grain Finished Wakanui Angus Beef Fillet

300 day grain finished Wakanui angus beef fillet soft black olive polenta, buttered spinach, a crisp braised ox tail dumpling and roast capsicum salsa. Look at the pinkness on the inside! A perfect medium rare steak with all the nice frillings on the side.

 

Rene Mure "Clos St Landelin" Gewurztraminer VT, Alsace-France '07

I love dessert wines. I wish I could swap all of the above wines for 5 servings of sweetness. Gewurztraminer is a more fragrant version of the Savagnin Rose with a pungent lychee note.

Matched with:

 

Frangelico Panna Cotta

Frangelico panna cotta with white chocolate and hazelnut powder, toffeed feijoa, polenta tuile and maple sherry ice cream.

 

Selection of Petits Fours

Dine by Peter Gordon

Location: Skycity Grand Hotel, 90 Federal Street, Auckland

Opening Hours: Daily 5.30pm - 10.30pm 

Phone: +64 9 363 7030

Website: http://www.skycityauckland.co.nz/Restaurants/dine.html

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New Zealand Trip Part 2 - Waitomo, Agrodome and Rotorua Tour

This is NOT a sponsored post

On the second day in New Zealand, I booked a day tour to Waitomo Glowworm Cave, Agrodome Organic Farm and Rotorua Te Puia for NZD$315pp via Greatsights. Some sites offer tours at $280ish but it's AUD so when converted, it is actually more so watch out for the payment currency before forking out your money!

Prince of Wales Feather Geyser

The tour includes complimentary pick-up and drop offer service, luxury coach, all entry tickets, performances, breakfast, lunch and snack.

I must say, New Zealand is the land of the rainbows because being there for 3days, I saw no less than 15 rainbows. The place rains for 5 minutes every freakin half an hour but then, a beautiful rainbow appears.

Rainbows, rainbows, everywhere!

The bus came to pick me up at 7am at Sky Tower Hotel. Little do I know that their bus depot was on the other side of the building and it took less than 20 seconds to arrive at the main pickup spot =.=///

Everyone on the bus received a bottle of water and a muffin to start off the day and the friendly bus driver made commentary all the way to our destination.

Waitomo Glowworm Cave

First stop was Waitomo Glowworm Cave where we got to walk through a limestone cave and hop on a boat to see spectacular glowworms. It was truely magical as I saw thousands of greenish-blue light flickering through the darkness just meters above your head.

As the glowworms are very fragile beings, no photography nor noises are allowed so sadly, I couldn't take any photos of them.

Maori Wood Carving

Waitomo Glowworm Cave Limestones

Glowworm Nests

(Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nzhannah/317619300/)

Glowworm Lights

(Photo Source: http://www.glowworm.co.nz/gallery/images/lg-photo4.jpg)

Lunch and Snack

After the glowworm tour, we were given another bottle of water, chicken, mayo, rocket and cheese sandwich, chocolate cake, raspberry pastry and an apple.  Although it doesnt look too appealing in a plastic container, the chocolate cake was uber moist and probably the best I've ever had!

At the end of the tours, we were given yet another bottle of water and a ham sandwich to eat on the way home.

Agrodome Organic Farm

Look! Another Rainbow!

Seriously, rainbows everywhere! I can finally see the end of a rainbow :D

I didn't have high expectations for this part of the tour as you know, there's sheep and cows everywhere in Australia too but gee, the New Zealanders sure know how to make it interesting.

 

We started off with a little herd dog demonstration where the dog strategically chases sheep to go back to it's pen then, we saw how to shear a sheep. I've seen this numerous times at the Easter Show but never this close. The shearer was less than 1m away from me and we got to feel the sheared sheep and wool after.

We got on a humongous tractor and it dragged us across the farm.  As it is an organic farm, all the animals grazes happily in the hills then comes back to it's barn to sleep at night.  

When our tractor stopped in the middle of a hill top, flocks of sheep ran towards us for a little snack.

 

Video of a mountain of sheep charging at us for food! (video by me)

 

Alpaca

I patted an alpaca and was amazed at how soft its wool is compared to a sheep - literally like touching a cloud! 

Moo....

Deer!

This cow's name is called Lovely :)

 

Emu, Bull, Ducks and Rooster

As our tractor stopped, all the chickens and ducks waddled over to get a feed.

 

Kiwi Wine and Juice

The place also plants organic kiwi, olives and feijoa (an awesome fruit that tastes like a more citrusy achacha).

Te Puia, Rotorua

The last place of the tour is Rotorua where we got to see some Maori culture. 

Karanga (Traditional Maori Welcoming Dance)

 

Hakka

After some great performances, we got a guided tour of Te Puia's geothermal valley, woodcarving and weaving schools.

There is also a kiwi (the bird) shelter but they're nocturnal animals so all I saw was their butt as they slept :(

Ngamokaiakoko Mud Pool

 

Video of the Ngamokaiakoko Mud Pool (video by me)

The mud pool was pretty cool as you can see the mud bubbling away at 80C and making 'bloop bloop' sounds.

Prince of Wales Feather Geyser

When in full eruption, this geyer is similar in shape to the feather that appear on the Prince of Wales coat of arms.  It was given the name after Prince of Wales Edward Albert visited here in the 1900s.

This geyser is known as the indicator geyser as it lets you know when Phoutu Geyser will next erupt.

It erupts up to 7 meters high.

Video of the Prince of Wales Feather Geyser (video by me)

 

So Beautiful!

I was particularly upset that I didn't manage to see it erupt as our coach was leaving.  The tour guide said we can see it's true beauty if we could just wait another 10-15minutes. :(

Waitomo and Rotorua Experience - Great Sights

http://www.greatsights.co.nz/waitomo/waitomo-rotorua-experience/

Waitomo

http://www.waitomo.com/

Agrodome Organic Farm

http://www.agrodome.co.nz/

Te Puia, Rotorua

http://www.tepuia.com/

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New Zealand Trip Part 1 - Jade Dragon

 

Kia Ora!

Last month, I took a quick trip to New Zealand during the long weekend and spent almost my entire time grazing on food and jamming a bit of sight seeing in between.

As all good food bloggers do, we have to start with plane food.  I flew with Emirates in the morning so we had the breakfast menu.

Breakfast Grill

Grilled beef patties served with chicken sausage, sautee button mushroom, roasted potato wedges with parsley and grilled tomato. Croissant, fruit salad, bread roll, orange juice and butter as sides.

Jade Dragon 怡龙阁

I checked into Skycity Hotel and took a quick rest before ushering to dinner at Jade Dragon 怡龙阁.

 

Pretty Plates

We had the VIP Banquet with a slight variation in the menu (I didn't take photos of all the dishes).

Braised Superior Soup

Braised superior soup with fish maw, dried scallops, abalone, sea cucumber, prawn, fish, squid and Chinese mushrooms.

 

Peking Duck (Two Ways)

Peking duck skin wrapped with pancakes, cucumber, spring onions and hoisen sauce. 

 

Lobster

Braised lobster with yee mee noodles.  Admit it, most of you order the dish for the noodles.

Stir Fried Sliced Abalone with Snow Peas

Usually when I eat sliced abalone, it is cooked for a few seconds in broth.  I'm afraid stir frying it would make it overcooked and chewy but surprisingly, it's really tender and delicious!

Imperial Beef

Sauteed beef eye fillet in Szechuan sauce and macadamia nuts.

Kampong Chicken

Poached chicken served with a zesty ginger, garlic and spring onion sauce.  I love poached chickens because the skin tastes like 'jelly' and it's not as fatty as other variations.

Sauteed Seasonal Chinese Green Vegetables

Assorted Fresh Fruit Platter

 

Bottle Wrappers

Saw these cute little bottle wrappers when coming out of the restaurant. Aren't they adorable? :D

I'm off to China from 05/07-10/07 so bye bye social media *weeps* but you can still contact me via glorious Instagram @sugarpuffi yo~the only thing not blocked by the Great Firewall of China.

More trips of New Zealand next week peeps!

Jade Dragon

Location: Skycity Atrium, Level 1, Corner of Federal and Victoria Street, Auckland, New Zealand

Opening Hours: Monday - Saturday 11:30am - 2pm,  Daily 5:30pm - 9:30pm

Phone: +64 9 363 6000

Website: http://www.skycityauckland.co.nz/Restaurants/Jade-Dragon.html

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