Everybody, I was in food mourning when I woke up today. Before leaving Kaikoura I drove up and down the beach looking for a BBQ crayfish hut that I KNEW should be there but I just could not find it. They weren't at the festival. Were they parked just outside the festival grounds? Were they closed until summer? I'll never know! What I do know is that you can really pay through the nose at a restaurant in Aukland for these lovely crustaceans which is why I wanted to find the seaside hut where you pay far less. It's like going to a lobster pound in Maine rather than having an expensive entree at a restaurant. Alas. No cray stand.
BOOOOOO
We left town yesterday and I figured that I should be able to find a place that serves them in Blenheim or somewhere else on the northern side of the south island. Looking on the internet this morning...nope...nowhere. I was so upset.
Until...
Hans did some research in the local AA guide and found a highly-recommended place in nearby town Havelock for green-lipped mussels, another New Zealand delicacy and also on my food hit-list. Hooray!!
Thirty minutes later we were seated inside the cozy restaurant and we ordered the mussel platter for two, which for a very reasonable price included:
Fried mussels
Steamed mussels in thai curry coconut sauce
Mussels marinaded in rice vinegar
Smoked mussels
Grilled mussels three ways: garlic butter, sweet chili sauce, and bacon with cheese
Mussels chowder
Am I forgetting anything? Okay, and their house sauv blanc (Hans had a very nice local hefeweizen).
Wow!
These bad boys here huge
Before going back to Blenheim I got a latte at the most adorable cafe I've ever seen. It's so adorable they had a miniature replica of the cafe just to show EVEN MORE how freakin' adorable it is.
Havelock marina, green mussel shells were all over the ground.
The mussels are farmed in over 400 beds along Pelorus Sound
It was mid-afternoon by now so we only had time to stop in at two wine tasting rooms (called "cellar doors" here). We began at a very small production one called Gibson Bridge, which had a very fine pinot gris that has been noticed internationally and is served to Virgin Airlines premium class passengers. The winery is run by a husband and wife. The fella does all the fruit growing and the lady does all of the cellar door serving and was just sweet as can be. We picked up two bottles from there for the road but we'll see how long they last.
Next we went to Whitehaven where we felt very silly for never having heard of them because they were just listed in Forbes Magazine as one of the best value wine producers in New Zealand and they are one of the most exported wineries for the country. Not bad for another husband-and-wife started operation that's been going for over twenty years. The lady who did the pouring was really informative and I liked her "no snobbery" approach to wine tasting in general. This is definitely a region that deserves it's international recognition. If you're looking to try NZ wine in the States, Whitehaven's Sauvignon Blanc is a solid one and extremely accessible.
That's basically it for the day. Good food and good wine. For tomorrow we're keeping our fingers crossed for some good weather.
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