The Tasting Shed

On the deck, winery behind.

With summer here, we are getting out and about more,  finding new places to go for lunch and lazy afternoons in the sun.   On the whole, I think that lunch out  is better than dinner out, now.  I guess it's an "age" thing,  but at lunch everything just seems more relaxed, more of a "sneaking out of school", occasion and, what is more, I am more likely to be awake to enjoy it!  I hasten to add that I am talking here about lunches that continue till about 5 to 5.30 after several hours of eatin g, drinking and talking at length.  Conversations  with the owner, with the people at adjacent  tables,  indeed with anyone who comes within chatting distance are part of the deal and all add to the great feeling of playing hooky.  The whole effect is enhanced if it takes place on a weekday while all the poor souls who are still tied to the wheel,  are sweating it out in a office somewhere.  Man - it just feels great!

Inside The Tasting Shed

The best find for us so far this year, is quite close by, in Kumeu, a small town in the countryside just north of Auckland.   The restaurant is named to reflect its intention - The Tasting Shed and it is situated at the gateway of Cooper'sCreek Vineyard, on Highway 16.  Needless to say, the tasting is of wine as well as food and the owners, Jo and Ganesh Raj, are dedicated to the matching of the two.  And indeed, their by-line  "Where Wine Craves Food", says it all.

This most interesting and friendly couple, are from Australia and Singapore respectively,  have now settled in NZ and have, only in the past few months, opened this very cool place. 

The Bar

From the first moment we arrived, we were made to feel like old customers, which is, of course, very flattering as anyone who is in the business knows.  Nothing false about it though.  Jo, our hostess wanted to make us understand the plan for ordering the "tasting menu" and was an enthusiastic advocate for all of the extremely interesting dishes on offer.  We were able to taste recommended wines to help in our choice, which we felt was really impressive, especially as we bowed out and  chose an old tried and true "sav" at the behest of one of our friends! Good thing too, as it was delicious.

Goats' Cheese Parmesan

We started with the most beautiful bread ever, which is the one item which is not cooked on the premises. This was accompanied by a very rounded olive oil, marinated olives,  and some paper-thin slices of goats- milk parmesan.  I have to say, I loathe goats' cheese as a rule, but this was relatively palatable and all the others raved.

Pig's head and Belly Pork

We were advised to order 6-8 dishes for the 4 of us, depending on our level of hunger.  We chose 8 because I shouted loudest!

Fabulous Duck Breast

Our selections were, pig' s head, which was braised and rolled and presented with pickled onion puree, carrot and cumin, mushrooms, 3 x times fried potatoes with garlic and rosemary, southern clams, bouillabaisse, crispy-skinned snapper, duck, and pork belly were our choices and they ranged from just OK (the clams) to fabulous (the duck and the pork belly) 

Thrice Fried Potatoes, Clams, Bouillabaise.

Both were cooked to perfection and presented beautifully.  I would be keen to have either as a full main course - sharing be damned!

Crispy-skinned Snapper

Desserts sounded fascinating, and we were 'on the town', so to speak, so we ordered one of each and  indulged in a citrus -cinnamon rice pudding brulee,  a portion of churros with chocolate sauce and brioche French toast, with fig and honey ice-cream and Bethells' honey.  The rice-pudding took away the prize here, creamy and flavourful, the tang of the citrus combining well with the sweetness of the brulee topping.  Having said that, the honey and fig ice-cream was very special and it was fun to see that ice-cream in cones was an option.  Great for children and our 34-year old son!

Fried Mushrooms with Crispy Garlic.

To sum up, the food was lovely, the wine was great, but the out-standing feature of The Tasting Shed, for me, was the ability of Jo and Ganesh to spend time chatting at each table as though they had nothing better in the world to do. Their complete attention was on the customers to whom they were talking and even better, they kept returning to chat throughout the afternoon, making each table feel as though they were 'the ones'.  Just the perfect hosts for this type of establishment. 

Thank you, Jo and Ganesh, for showing how it should be done and for one of the best afternoons ever!