Iguacu Restaurant

I am back in Auckland for a 2 week trip. It's the only week-end in Auckland this trip. Today being a Saturday would normally be a day of relaxation but work has been hectic so my colleague and I have spent the entire day at work.

The weather has been grey, wet and windy. We felt it would be nice to have a warm and hearty meal for dinner. We so deserved it after a hard day's work on a non working day. We browsed the internet and checked out a few restaurants and chose to go to Iguacu. Iguacu is located in the suburb of Parnell. Parnell is known for its charming village atmosphere. There are lots of boutiques and trendy shops located in Parnell. So we rocked up to Iguacu (we called half an hour before to check if there was room for two and booked at the last minute).

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner. The service was good and the meal was very good. We ordered Artisan bread as a shared entree. It was a hand made cob loaf served with extra virgin olive oil, herb butter and sea salt. The bread was warm and tasted freshly baked. I liked the flavour of the herb butter. Unfortunately the image I took wasn't too great but here it is.

Artisan bread

For mains I ordered Aged Eye Fillet cooked medium rare and served with maple whipped kumara, braised field musrooms and quince jus. It was delicious, the kumara tasted sweet and had a lovely smooth texture. The mushrooms were delicious and I throroughly enjoyed the eye fillet. It was perfectly cooked and so tender. My friend DD ordered the chef's special. It was beef cheeks braised with Guinness beer and served with Irish style potato mash. He enjoyed his meal too. He could not believe how tender the meat was.

Aged eye fillet

Guinness braised beef cheeks

We had planned to order dessert but we were so full from the bread and the main. So the dessert plans had to be postponed for the next visit. We were eyeing the fig steamed pudding. That will have to be for another day.

The white wine I ordered was the Mt Difficulty Pinot Gris. I had the taster. It was quite nice, not too dry and it had quite a round flavour for a pinot gris. I know a white should not go with a red meat but I am a white wine drinker so it didn't bother me. DD ordered a glass of the Jim Barry 'Lodge Hill' shiraz and his comment was 'this is a good shiraz, very nice!'.

I would definitely recommend Iguacu to anyone who would like a nice meal out in Auckland.

Iguacu
269 Parnell Road,
Parnell, Auckland
Website: http://www.iguacu.co.nz/

Try It Out Vietnamese Restaurant, Auckland

This is another retrospective post when I was last in Auckland. We decided to try out a Vietnamese restaurant that has the reputation of being one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in Auckland. It is also very affordable.

The restaurant is located in the suburb of Otahuhu and we ventured there one Saturday night. The suburb of Otahuhu seems to have a eclectic mix of Pacific Islanders,Vietnamese, Indian, Middle Eastern and Sri Lankan stores. I felt I was somewhere else and not in Auckland. Interesting....

Believe it or not, the Vietnamese restaurant we were recommended was called Try It Out. The name was intriguing and it did catch my attention.

Bright signs

Entree - Pork Rolls

Entree - Prawn and Pork Fresh Spring Rolls

Grilled pork chops with tomato rice

Vermicelli with grilled pork and spring rolls

This may be the best Vietnamese restaurant in Auckland but I personally cannot verify that as I have yet to try out more Vietnamese restaurants in the Auckland area. However I do feel that we have better quality Vietnamese restaurants in Australia. The food was alright but certainly not the best that I have had.

If you happen to be in Auckland, you should 'try it out'!

Try It Out Restaurant
79 Atkinson Ave
Otahuhu
Auckland

Mondial

Mondial is a Spanish tapas bar located in the suburb of Grey Lynn. This was an exciting find as we did want to try out hip restaurants with good food at affordable prices. My friend (DD) checked out some blogs and we decided to try Mondial out. There is a no booking policy so it was sheer luck that we did not have to wait to get a couple of seats at the bar.

The restaurant was full and had a very hip buzz. The bartender was constantly busy serving drinks. I really liked the vibe.

We decided to have our meal at the bar as it would take a while to wait for a seated table. Our selection was Chicken liver parfait with Crostini, Prawns with garlic and chilli, Grilled Chorizo with onion jam and the special of the day Poisson Cru with Snapper.

Chicken liver parfait with Crostini

Poisson Cru with Snapper

Grilled Chorizo and onion jam

Prawns with garlic and chilli

I have to say the favourite dish was the special of the day. The Poisson Cru was delicious, there were subtle flavours of the milk and crunchy cucumbers with tender snapper infused with the milk. The second favourite was the chicken liver parfait. The crostinis worked really well with the liver parfait. The chorizo tasted like the authentic chorizos from Spain, not the version that we typically see at the supermarkets and most delis. The garlic prawns were a little disappointing, the garlic flavour was not strong enough.

In general, I really enjoyed the meal and I will definitely return if given the opportunity.

Mondial
549 Great North Road
Grey Lynn
Auckland
New Zealand
www.mondialbar.co.nz

A day in downtown Auckland

This is my second downtown trip to the heart of Auckland city. I decided to take the ferry in from Devonport. This was the morning after the largest ever earthquake hit Japan and the corresponding 10m tsunami that ensued. What a horrific event, my heart goes out to those impacted by the natural disaster.

On the Saturday morning, the tsunami threat for NZ was downsized and eventually removed so I decided to hit the ferry instead of driving into downtown. Parking there is not as cheap as you would think.

I strolled up Queen Street and browsed any shops which perked my interest. I stopped by the Britomart Farmer's Markets. There are about 20 stalls selling fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, relishes, cheese, Italian and French pastries and there was even a live band singing popular music. Because it was a lovely and sunny day, there were quite a few city dwellers browsing and shopping at the markets.

     

Britomart Farmers Market

A bicycle with two shopping baskets.

Lunch was at Elliot Stables. I ordered a Berlin Bratwurst topped with caramelised onions and curried tomato sauce. I bought it from Frankies Wurstbude in Elliot Stables.

 

I did struggle to finish the German sausage roll. As you can see the bread roll was rather large. I must say that I did enjoy it and the curried tomato sauce was really quite nice.

As I headed back to the ferries I got caught up with the St. Patrick's parade. There are quite a few Irish living in Auckland. There were many people dressed in greens, some wearing green hats and/or green badges. That was a nice touch to a pleasant afternoon in the city.