Slice Of Heaven

Dave Dobbyn keeps on banging on about how some girls love is a ‘slice of heaven’ – but I don’t think he’s ever been to Heaven Pizza…

Round 2 of ‘Parents pay for all my meals’ commenced last Saturday night. They had already taken us out for a wicked lunch at Karaka Cafe (link to that blog post is here ), and even though we were feeling as stuffed as a turkey on Christmas after that feast – the offer of them taking us out for dinner AS WELL was a rarity, and one too good to decline.

My parents left it down to me to decide where to wine and dine – I don’t know why, its like they think I run a food blog or something?? Even with my knowledge of restaurants, it still turned out to be a stressful and intricate operation. After dinner we were going to watch my sister in a play called ‘Almost Sober’ at club 121 – which was actually the dopest play I’ve ever seen (you’ll agree if you watched it too!) – so it had to be somewhere close so we could scoff the food, down the drinks and get to the play on time. After much deliberation with the family (having so many siblings makes it 10000000x harder), I set my sights on Heaven Woodfire Pizza – a place I had never been to before, but every time I walked past I made sure to eye up everybody’s mouthwatering meals – which was now going to be my destiny! Having a table for 10 sure made it snug, but the ambiance of this place and the family-oriented nature of Italian pizza culture made it super fun, energetic and homely!

After all the reunions and small talk – it was time to hit the booze (anybody else crave alcohol when with their family? Just me? Cool. Carry on.), so I started off with a crisp apple cider – which throughout the meal became 2 crisp apple ciders! Then came the best and worst part – choosing which pizza I was going to stuff my face with. After having a cheeky geez at other peoples pizza, we decided the old 1-between-2 method was going to be juuuuust fine – and I even let my boyfriend choose the pizza toppings (girlfriend of the year or WHAT)! In the end, he chose the jam-packed veggie pizza, and man when that bad-boy was laid down in front of us, I knew he had picked the right one. When cooking, I’m all about using a few ingredients and making them shine, however when it comes to vegetarian pizza, I want ALL THE TOPPINGS – and this puppy more than delivered. The combination of Aubergine, Capsicum, Olives, Mushroom, Sun-dried Tomato, Onion, Mozzarella, Pine Nuts, Oregano, all scattered over a crispy woodfired pizza made my tongue tingle, my heart warm, and my stomach sing! I also have to give a cheeky shout-out to the halloumi pizza – that one bit of added cheese took that pizza to an 11/10!

You can imagine after everything I’ve said about Heaven Pizza that I’m going to give them a hefty rating – and you’re not wrong! The pizza is some of the best I’ve ever had, the drinks got me VERY merry, and the people were super chill and onto it with their service. So naturally, I’m going to give them a bloody solid 9/10! I also love how this place has pretty much unlimited options for toppings – there is literally a pizza for everyone AND they’re at a super good price too! If you are feigning a pizza, definitely don’t overlook Heaven Woodfired Pizza for a more ‘Prestigious’ and ‘authentic’ restaurant, as Heaven can deffo hook you up with a feed that satisfies that craving.

Karacking Food With The Fam

Every student knows that the best feeling isn’t when you get an A, or when you smash that Kendrick rap verse – It’s when your parents come up for the weekend and pay for ya food. This weekend I was blessed with the parents visiting, and I had free reign of deciding where to go for lunch, dinner and brunch (F*ck yes.). Let’s start off with Saturday lunch eh? After having to grab an Uber from the airport for my parents because they refuse to download the app themselves (classic gen Y iPhone users), they treated us to a beautiful lunch at Karaka Café – which I guess you could say makes up for the whole Uber kerfuffle.

Karaka café is famous in wellington for being the peak summer location to sit back on a bean bag, drink in hand, soaking up the sun and beautiful surroundings. In winter this place can become a little sparse as it is mainly associated with the whole outdoor seating situation, but lemme tell you – they do not let the lull in customers or the slightly depressing wellington winter weather affect the quality of their food. No way hosé. This place is perfect for large groups as they have heaps of massive tables both inside and outside to park yourself at – which was lucky for us because our family is quite literally a small army. After being seated, we were tended to straight away. My drinks order was straightforward – coffee no.2 of the day to try and finally beat the overbearing hangover and shame from the night before (I’m sorry mum, I got a little too white girl wasted), however the food orders was a bloody ordeal and a half. They serve their brunch until 3pm which is dope as eggs is the hangover saviour, but their lunch mains also sounded like my migraine lord and saviour – so you can imagine I was in quite a pickle. In the end, the inner brit took over and I ordered their fish of the day serves with slaw, tartare sauce, and a MOUNTAIN of chips (again, F*ck yes.).

when the mains started coming out, food envy anxiety took over as my boyfriend had ordered the seafood chowder, and If you know me, you know seafood chowder is my weakness – no matter how fishy my breath will smell afterwards. But when my mass of a meal was placed in front of me, all envy was washed away, and I was one smug somebody indeed. The fish was lightly battered and crispy (yas), the chips copious and crunchy (yaaaassss!), the slaw fresh and flavourful (YASSS!), and the homemade tartare sauce tangy and tart (YAAAASSSS QUEEN!!!). Overall – a bloody brilliant plate of fish and chips that tickled my taste buds, stuffed my stomach, and put a smile on my dial. The rest of the food was equally as beautiful and yummy – seafood chowder, chicken pizza, chicken burger, calamari – everything was SUBLIME.

For my first time properly dining at Karaka and not just getting slowly sloshed outside on their beanbags, I am super-duper impressed. So, I think I would be an idiot to give them anything less than an 8.5/10 on the CCL scale. Their food was super yum and had heaps of variety, their service was tip top, location on point, and the cherry on the cake was that their menu followed their homage to Maori culture, with everything being in Maori with English translations – something that I feel many more cafes and public places should get on the bandwagon for! If you are looking to get your food fix with a big group of mates, or even if it’s just the two of you, definitely don’t overlook Karaka Café, as it may just have the perfect plate to fix your hunger cravings.

Cuisine Française à Gisborne?

Gisborne doing cuisine other than all sauces? I am shocked to say that it turns out Gisborne does have a little international culture! My little tiki tour trip to Gizzy happened to coincide with the famous French Bastille day – which I’ve never personally celebrated before, but apparently the people from Gisborne are all for it! The Marina Restaurant is Gisborne’s only French restaurant, and every year they hold a HUGE degustation dinner full of famous French dishes to celebrate Bastille day. My bf’s parents ended up buying us tickets – and who would turn down an opportunity to drink and taste some of the best French food, whilst also in French dress-up? Certainly not me, that’s for sure! So, we donned our berets and off we went to have a super dope degustation dinner.

As we walked in to the beautiful Marina restaurant, my eyes were instantly drawn to the MASSIVE croquembouche in the middle of the room, and I could tell this was going to be one hella good foodie night. The set menu was laid out on the table, with drink suggestions paired with each dish. A few of us on the table were vegetarian or vegan, and it was awesome to see that the chefs had created special versions of the set menu just for our dietary requirements.

After buying a few bottles of fancy French wine (which my bf and I probably drank waaay to much of), we were presented with our first course: escargot. I have never tried snails before, and the idea of trying it is a little off-putting, however these were paired with a super good basil pesto and toasted bruschetta which made them taste fabulous! The next course was a delicious French onion soup (very fitting) with toasted cheesy croutons which made the dish go from a 10 to a solid 11/10. After that we had a few more bottles of wine – which were also downed very fast by my boyfriend and I – and a cheeky little palette cleanser of a gin and quince sorbet which was superbly refreshing and tasty, and prepared our taste buds for the main course event. The set menu had duck confit as their main, however my boyfriend and I are pescatarian, so they whipped up a lush poached fish dish that was to die for – the fish was perfectly flaky, paired with a tangy lemon sauce and crunchy seasonal veg, you can’t fault it! For the dessert they served up a little buffet with apple Tarte Tatin, opera cake, and of course the prized Croquembouche. The Tatin was fruity and sweet, the Opera cake rich and moreish, and the Choux buns from the Croquembouche crunchy on the outside and filled with a delicious crème patisserie – each dish executed perfectly.

The evening was definitely one that I won’t forget – and I’m kind of surprised I still remember it after all the wine I had! Both the chefs and the FOH at the Marina really put on a show for bastille day, and because of their fantastical food, perfectly paired drinks and the pièce de résistance croquembouche – I have to award them an 8/10 on the CCL scale. I experienced this place when they were all putting on their best fare, however I am sure that on any normal day or evening the food, service and ambience would still boast that true classic continental charm.

Hula at The Lula

I don’t know if you heard, but Ed Sheeran arrived in New Zealand a few weeks ago to conclude his ‘Divide’ tour, and as proud fans of this ginger guitar guru my Mum, my sister and I all flew up to the big smoke, Auckland, to admire his craft in the flesh. Of course, when you travel to a new city, there are three main must-do’s; explore the area, drop tonnes of money on shopping, and most importantly check out their food scene. Auckland has an incredible number of cafes, restaurants and bars that are all influenced by a variety of different cultures and cuisines – which made choosing a place to wine and dine for our Friday night dinner immensely difficult! After about an hour of trawling Zomato and other foodie platforms, we all came to an agreement to check out one of Auckland harbours hot-spots; The Lula Inn.

We didn’t really know what to expect with this place, after a few scrolls through their menu, gallery and tags on Instagram we managed to gage a vague idea of the vibe at The Lula Inn, however we completely underestimated the sheer buzz of this place. The restaurant is split into various little sections; with a dance floor and stage as you enter, an epic bar stacked with various alcohol, and then their dining area with indoor and outdoor tables. During the day I could imagine this place is a hip little lunch spot, but at night it transforms into a bustling social scene. This place gives off a South-Pacific style ambience with its botanical décor, dim mood lighting, and loud hip music; it’s a tropical dining paradise!

Since it was a girl’s night out (and mum was paying), cocktails were a must. Every time I have a cocktail, I like to try new flavours and combinations that I wouldn’t usually go for – however the possibility of getting a cocktail that I don’t like frightens me a little! All concerns aside, I crossed my fingers and ordered their ‘Golden Ivy’ rum-based tropical cocktail. A massive weight was lifted off my shoulders as I sipped this concoction, as it was mind-blowingly delicious and punchy, with a perfect mix of sweet passionfruit and sour limes – all topped off with a warm touch of white rum. Deciding on my dinner was less risky due to all the options sounding delectable, and as we had done so much pre-dining research I already had an idea of what my tummy was craving – their prawn and scampi spaghetti. I will always choose seafood above anything else on a menu, and the chef at The Lula Inn certainly did not disappoint my fishy taste buds by serving perfectly Aldante pasta smothered in a rich garlic burnt butter sauce that was laced with beautiful freshly caught prawns and scampi. This dish made my tummy and tongue want to sing ‘under the sea’ with how utterly gorgeous it tasted!

The first night in the big city with my mother and sister was made perfect by coming to this harbour-side haven. The ambiance was vibrant and loud which created the perfect environment to enjoy punchy cocktails and drool-worthy dinners. Putting my criteria to the test, I can confidently rate The Lula Inn a solid 8.8/10. With an endless drinks menu, tantalizing food menu, and a live DJ followed by a local band performing, this place created not only a cheerful and poppy atmosphere, but some exceptional dining memories. I had high hopes for the hospitality industry of Auckland from reading fellow foodie blog posts and social media updates – and my expectations were more than exceeded with the service I was given at The Lula Inn.