6 May 2011

TAIRUA: 2ND NIGHT COROMANDEL CAFE CRAWL

Who would think that in a tiny town of about 1200 people I would find as sophisticated dish as that pictured here?

Tairua is a holiday destination and for visitors just a whistle stop on the touring route around the Coromandel peninsula. But there are couple of very good places to dine, so it's worth staying a night at Pacific Harbour Lodge (ask for a chalet on the waterfront) and taking the time to dine.

Our cafe crawl meal started at Manaia Cafe in the main thoroughfare. A stunning frozen mojito made with local persimmon, orange, rosehip and vodka was garnished with a star fashioned form the centre of a persimmon and some incredibly edible coloured sugar crystals that loked like a cross between sand and crushed local gems. We then ate that quail pictured above; boned and stuffed deepfired leg, pan fed breast and balsamic lentils and Brussels Sprouts salad. The amazing touch of blue moimoi potatoes whisked in to blue foam gave the dish its cutting edge. Take a bow, Chef Oliver Rimpler!

It was then into the bus and off to The Cyprus Tree for lovely flounder fillets on a lime and lemon risotto with tempura whitebait and seaweed caviar. That little restaurant is one of the treasures of New Zealand, sitting out on the water overlooking the Tairua inlet. There's a corner table that I will be demanding if I return next summer when the restaurant re-opens for the season.

And we finished our crawl at The Old Mill with a lovely local apple baked in feijoa nectar and stuffed with dates, mascarpone and Whenuakite walnuts. Great use of local produce again.