Author: maireaddoyle

Bis Cucina

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>Foster Street, Sale, Victoria

There are two restaurants in Sale listed int he Good Food Guide – no, make it one. Marlay’s closed down recently.

We are left with Bis Cucina, in the modern Arts Centre building. From the outside it looks more like a casual cafe, but in the evening the ambience is inviting as you drive past the floor-to-ceiling windows.

I have eaten there twice, once alone and once with a colleague. On both occasions the service was outstanding: friendly, attentive, knowledgeable and discreet. Their home-made ravioli with a carrot, corn and parmesan sauce is to die for, but I bet you’ll never finish a full portion. No matter: the maitre d’ will happily package your leftovers for you to take home.

A lovely wine list full of local options too.

Almost worth a trip to Sale just to visit!

Walter’s Wine Bar

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>Southgate, Southbank, Melbourne
www.walterswinebar.com.au

A reunion with old friends back from Blighty saw us convene at Walter’s, the venerable old reliable on Southbank. A bottle of red on the balcony bathed in the heat of the heat lamps was a great start to the evening, as was the gossip and reminiscing with Robyn and Chris.

Dinner was warm and comforting – starting with a big bowl of onion soup. A beetroot prawn and chorizo risotto was divine, as was Orlando’s seafood pie. An amusing mistake was the jug of pepper sauce (as in what you put on your steak) that Orlando got when he looked for pepper (chilli) sauce. It didn’t stop him using it on the seafood pie…

Service unobtrusive and excellent. Food about the same. What a lovely night.

Cafe Barcelona

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>Another rainy night, another stupid decision. We were looking for somewhere cosy out of the chilly night air. Despite my previous assertion that I would not eat there again, we found ourselves back at Cafe Barcelona.

Sadly it was pretty empty (well it was a Monday night); despite this the waiter tried to place three of us at a table which was patently designed for two, and appeared a little put out when we asked to move. The front door would not close properly so we spent the evening shivering with our coats around us. They couldn’t get the door to stay shut for more than a few minutes.

The food was mostly good, I’ll grant you that. The tortilla was a bit ordinary, but the garlic mushrooms, meatballs, chilli prawns and everything else was lovely. Service (as before) was hit and miss. It took a few tries before we successfully scored more bread to mop up the delicious juices, and we had to defend the dishes stoutly in the meantime. I felt we were in the way to be honest.

The Spanish tempranillo (Vina Albali, one of my favourites) went down well, but we had to spike Shanna’s sangria with a slug from the bottle. It was mostly fruit juice.

Again, a disappointing evening all told. This time I will tattoo it on my forehead: don’t go back. The thing that annoys me is that Lola’s Tapas is only down the road. Why can I never remember to go there?

>Buena Vista Social Club

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>Buena Vista Social Club, 176 Cuba Street, Wellington
http://www.bvsc.co.nz/

We were enticed by the dark wood frontage of this new bar on Cuba Street. At five o’clock on a cool Wellington evening, one for the road seemed like a good idea. We had the place to ourselves. From a narrow entrance the venue runs back a long way with an almost-black wooden bar running the length of the room. The mirrored shelves of bottles reached the high ceiling. The lights were dimmed. It reminded me of our favourite bar in Havana, Los Tres Hermanos, or indeed the actual Havana Club Bar.

In memory of our Cuba trip I ordered a Havana Club 7 anos, and Orlando (naturally) a Mount Gay Extra Old. We sat and sipped in the quiet. I imagine this is a much livelier place at night. The barman showed us the downstairs bar where they play live music or host DJs. Apparently the place is getting a good reputation for the music, although his recommendation of that evening’s offering (German reggae) didn’t entice us. Maybe they shouuld stick to their Musica Cubana nights…

With the most extensive selection of rums we saw in Wellington, I would suspect this would be a favourite haunt of ours on any future trip to Wellington.

>Southern Cross Bar & Restaurant

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>Southern Cross Bar & Restaurant, 35 Abel Smith Street, Wellington

The Southern Cross has been around for years I am told. We went there for a low-key dinner on our second evening in NZ. The place has a huge outdoor section which would be great in the hot weather – we sat out there to accommodate the two smokers amongst us but it wasn’t too chilly.

The meat pie had been recommended to us, so three of us chose it. But they had sold out. The fish and chips was excellent – perfectly cooked fish and lots of it. Helen’s vegie risotto was fabulous, so much so that Claire and I helped her finish it. Orlando’s sausage and mash was pretty good – nice meaty sausages, tasty gravy and excellent creamy mash.

The bar staff were a bit vague – I was sent from one small outdoor bar to the indoor bar in search of Claire’s pink bubbly, and then the guy still didn’t know what I was asking for. He insisted they didn’t serve it until I explained we had just had one glass already.

The wait for the food was a bit long too, although I believe after they took our orders they started to tell people of the long wait when they were ordering.

The atmosphere was a bit low-key as the place was less than half-full. I expect it’s a lot more lively at other times. In fact I’m not sure how comfortable a place it would be to eat once the drinking crowd kick in. I suspect it turns into a bit of a meat market some nights.

>Roxy’s

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>Roxy’s, 203 Cuba Street, Wellington

Well this must be about the only place to eat in Cuba Street that doesn’t have a Cuba name. Roxy’s is the unofficial cafe of our hotel next door, where you can charge your bill back to your room. Serving breakfasts, and Eurpoean and Asian foos the rest of the day, it was quiet when we arrived mid-morning on New Year’s Eve.

My porridge was served with full-fat milk on the side and plenty of chopped fruit on top. It was well cooked and a generous serving. Orlando’s standard holiday breakfast of eggs, smoked salmon and bacon was done well. Nothing spectacular in either case, just good value tasty fare.