Logan Brown Restaurant – Wellington – New Zealand – October 2016

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Fine Dining, Logan Brown Restaurant, New Zealand, Wellington

Dinner at a refurbished bank in Wellington

Logan Brown restaurant opened in 1996 and is located in the former Bank of New Zealand building on Cuba street.  It’s a grand restaurant where my friend Jane and I had a truly lovely evening.

It’s a pretty small restaurant really with a lovely bar area, huge columns, ornate ceilings and dark wooden floorboards that add to the ambience of this lovely place.

We had made a reservation as knew it was required due to it’s popularity and when we arrived, we were seated at an intimate table and whilst I took a walk around to take some photos, Jane ordered us a glass of wine.

The waitress was particularly helpful with my request to have vegetarian dishes without cheese and in the end I ordered a side dish as an entree which was the Logan Brown fried cauliflower with spiced yoghurt.  Very tasty!!  Jane ordered the Ceviche fish dish with lemon cream, citrus, palm sugar and coriander.  Also delicious.

The food at this restaurant is sourced from sustainable ingredients and we were told that whenever possible ingredients are local, seasonal, organic and Fairtrade.

For our main courses Jane ordered the venison with braised osso bucco, malted parsnip and apple and I ordered the risotto bianco which had summer broad beans and truffled peas.  I love risotto and this was very good.

And…of course the obligatory chips (which I must say Jane didn’t eat-so I did!!)

And lastly a cup of coffee and a peppermint tea…a wonderful night with a good friend; great atmosphere and lovely food.

Nine Dragon Screen & White Pagoda – Beihai Park – Beijing – PRC – July 2010

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Beihai Park, beijing, Nine Dragon Screen, PRC China, White Pagoda

 Two Large Structures in Beihai Park

One of Beiing’s largest public parks is Beihai (which means northern sea) and used to be an imperial garden.  It is now used by thousands of Chinese, expats and foreigners to stroll around, take boat rides or eat snacks from local vendors.

Beihai is also home to wonderfully ornate pavilions, canals, a large lake and several large structures.

 

One of the main structures is the White Pagoda which is a 40-metre high stupa, located on the highest point on Jade Flower Island and built to honour the visit of the 5th Dalai Lama in 1651.

Its body is made of white stone and there are sun, moon and flame engravings on the surface of the tower. It was destroyed in 1679 by an earthquake and rebuilt the following year, and restored again in 1976 because of the Tangshan earthquake near Beijing.

There are also beautiful buildings around the park with the usual large gorgeous Chinese lanterns.

A Five Dragon Pavilion which comprises five connected pavilions with spires and pointed upswept eaves and built in the Ming dynasty is also located within the park along the waters edge.

And to the south of the Five-Dragon Pavilion lies the Nine Dragon Wall.

It was built in 1402 and is one of three walls of its kind in China. I saw another one during my travels to Datong in Shangxi Province and also the third but cannot recall where I saw it.  This one is very similar to the one I saw in Datong, made of seven coloured glazed bricks with nine complete dragons playing in the clouds and these  decorate both sides of the wall.

Beihai is definitely worth a visit; it’s a wonderful day out, walking, riding or rowing, and even if you are not culturally minded, the colourful buildings and vibrant trees and shrubs around the park in summer and spring are just lovely.

Copper Chimney Restaurant – Canberra – ACT – Australia – November 2016

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ACT, Australia, canberra, Copper Chimney Restaurant, Indian cuisine

Another new restaurant in Canberra!!

A friend was visiting from Beijing and we wanted to catch up over dinner; I didn’t want to take him to a Chinese restaurant as I knew he had eaten Chinese food probably every day for the past three years. So I decided on an Indian restaurant in the centre of Canberra and that is where we went along with two other friends.

When I walked into the restaurant, I loved the feel of the place, especially the bright and colourful cupboards along the wall displaying lovely Indian ornaments.

We shared entrees so ordered the onion bhaji (spiced onion fritters served with a mint and tamarind chutney), palak papdi chaat (spinach leaves in a spicy lentil batter, topped with a yoghurt, mint, chilli and tamarind chutney) and my friends shared the chicken tikka.

None of us had tried the palak papdi chaat before and each of us said how delicious it was.

For my main course I ordered the dal masala (yellow lentils tempered with cumin and garlic) with basmati rice, whilst my friends shared a butter chicken dish, the lamb roganjosh and also a madras beef dish.

Food was fresh and delicious – a great night with a friend I had not seen for a while; lots of conversation about China and a little on how bad the pollution is.

I think when most people eat at an Indian restaurant they order the delicious bread and we definitely did that on this occasion.  We ordered the mixed bread basket comprising naan, garlic naan and roti.  I think roti is much more healthy than the naan, so I enjoyed a couple of pieces of that!!

And a pot of peppermint tea to finish off the night…

Te Papa Museum & Fidels Cafe – Wellington – New Zealand -October 2016

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New Zealand, Te Papa Museum, Wellington

Final day of our long weekend in Wellington

On our final day in Wellington, my friend Jane and I decided to visit the national museum as so many people had told us before we left Canberra, that we ‘just had to visit’ the Te Papa Museum.  And as you know sometimes you take travel advice and other times you just don’t have time or the inclination; this time we did and we were so glad!!

We walked from our hotel and reached the marina where the museum is located.  It’s really beautiful walking along the water front and we spent a bit of time just looking at some of the structures and waterfront apartments.

At the museum, which like most museums is free to enter, the first exhibition we visited was Gallipoli: The scale of our war.  As the museum’s website says…’this ground-breaking exhibition tells the story of the Gallipoli campaign in World War I through the eyes and words of eight ordinary New Zealanders who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances’.

‘Each person is captured frozen in a moment of time on a monumental scale – 2.4 times human size. The large-scale sculptures took 24,000 hours to create, and countless hours were spent researching their histories’.  They were absolutely amazing, every wrinkle, frown and muscle accounted for!!

It was a magnificent exhibition as these ‘people’ were so life like and so life like; their stories so sad as over 2,500 New Zealanders lost their lives on Gallipoli.

Being Australian, Gallipoli has huge significance not just for the New Zealanders but for us Aussies too, as it was on Gallipoli shores on 25 April 1914 that Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACS) fought their first military action, during the First World War and over 8,500 Aussies lost their lives.  The pride the soldiers took in that name ANZAC endures to this day and 25 April is remembered every year with a Dawn Service both in New Zealand and Australia.

After this sombre visit we walked through the rest of the museum and enjoyed a history lesson on the New Zealand indigenous people (Maori) as well as some other exhibitions.  Six floors of amazing historical and contemporary exhibitions.

Before we left we went up to the roof of the museum and had spectacular views across the water.

We then did a walk around the city of Wellington (my feet killing me as I had worn shoes that caused blisters) but I soldiered on!!  We did stop off at the famous Cuba Street which is known for its bars, cafes and restaurants and funky clothing stores.

We found Fidel’s Cafe that Jane had read about and popped in for a cool drink.  But it smelt of old fat used for deep-frying so we didn’t even finish our drinks and left.  It was a bit funky inside but the smell was too much for us to stay and look at all the revolutionary posters and photos on the walls.

Then it was time to go back to our hotel (by taxi due to my painful feet) and get ready to take our shuttle to the airport to return to Canberra.

Must say… I loved Wellington and am looking forward to returning to New Zealand some time soon; perhaps next time to the south island.

 

Benchmark Restaurant – Canberra – ACT – Australia – December 2016

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ACT, Australia, Benchmark, canberra, Fine Dining, Wine Bar & Restauarant

Dinner at My Favourite Wine Bar and Restaurant

A couple of weeks before christmas my friend Jane said to me she wanted to try the dishes at the wine bar/restaurant where I held my birthday party last year.  She enjoyed the tapas served at my birthday so much that she wanted to try the main dishes.  I made a booking and with my other two good friends we went mid-week.

Benchmark Wine Bar & Restaurant is in the centre of Canberra city and I love it.  Not that many years ago, it was difficult to find a good wine bar in Canberra then along came Benchmark.  Yay…it’s great for a quality glass of wine and tapas or a three course dinner, or as I have experienced a large special event.

The owner Tass is so lovely and I came to know the bar well, as it was across the road from my old office, so my friends and I would visit often for a glass of wine before heading home on a Friday afternoon.  It has an extensive wine list so it was always difficult to choose but as Tass knew me and my friends so well, he would pour us a glass of wonderful Aussie or New Zealand Sav Blanc.  Great champagne too!!

On the occasion just before christmas, my friends ordered some of the home made ciabatta bread with cafe paris butter…bread was toasted and delicious.

I wasn’t that hungry so didn’t have any entree/starter but my friends ordered the fresh shucked oysters with finger lime and martin millers gin granita…

For our main courses I asked Tass if the chef could make me a salad as again still not that hungry; which the chef did and was lovely and light.

Jane ordered the twice cooked pork belly, scallops, cauliflower puree, morcilla sausage flakes with caramelised fennel…she said this was absolutely delicious!!

 

Ray ordered the market fish of the day [but I can’t recall what it was] but as you can see it came on a risotto base with greens and caramelised sweet onions and Natalie ordered the angel hair pasta with air dried tomatoes, basil, aged reggiano with white truffle oil.  Like Jane, both loved their dishes.

Of course the obligatory fries were ordered and eaten….these came with oregano and sea salt…

No dessert for any of us, as we were too full…another great night I must say and as I mentioned I do love this place and it’s lovely to go to a bar or restaurant where you are known…I think it’s a lovely feeling.

When I held my birthday here, I had about fifty of my friends come along and I ordered a birthday cake which was raspberry and white chocolate and cream frosting with lovely sugar flowers cascading from the top of the cake to the bottom.

What I didn’t know was that Tass had arranged for the chef to make me a wonderful (and delicious) croqueembouce…such a wonderful surprise along with a fabulous night!!

Doorways of China (2) – PRC – 2010-2014

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china, Doorways, prc

More of my favourite things!!

As I took so many photos of doors in China, I thought I would post another few of my favourite…so here goes…

Historic doorways at the Temple of Heaven and The Forbidden City…

Rather old doors…

Doors that are not really doors…

Brand new red door down a corridor…

Green doors…(isn’t there a song about ‘green doors’…yep just looked it up ‘Shakin Stevens’ sang it)

Doors and doorways at an old Chinese provincial town…

Open doorways with a view into daily life…

Doorways to restaurants…

Door to the communal washrooms…

Doors leading to different areas…

And doors at the Demilitarized Zone on the North Korean side…

I love them all…