This won’t be of interest to too many, but for NZ foodies …
We were beginning to lose hope. The quality of ingredients available here in NZ can be amazing: even our local New World supermarket (think Tesco’s) has local cheese and fish of just stunning quality (and some of the best steak we’ve ever tasted). The local farmers’ markets have more wonderful cheeses, home-cured bacon and the like. So why, we were wondering, are the local restaurants so very, very average (or, mostly, worse)? But we’ve now had two terrific meals in three days.
In Wellington we dined on the waterfront at Shed 5 (wonderful fish, great ambience and service); in Auckland we dined, out on Princes Wharf, at White (even better fish, upscale but still very comfortable ambience, and almost ludicrously attentive and charming service). Both ridiculously cheap by UK standards. Vaut le voyage as Michelin would say.
Lunch the next day at Soul wasn’t at all bad either, and once again looking over the waterfront on a beautifully sunny day — as in the photo. This is the life …