Garlic Bread served on an Air New Zealand flight - Truly - no lies

 

Garlic bread from Air NZ

Somewhere over the ocean

 

 Urm - Yeah - the back story to this is as follows:

We celebrated our 40th Wedding anniversary earlier in the year and as part of that - I was promised a trip to the Holy Land - urm - paradise - *cough* -  our favorite place to chill out -- in the tropical Rarotonga!!

As part of that deal - and cause the $$$ difference for the 3.5 hour flight was minimal - we flew Premium Class - instead of the usual 'cattle' class!!  

WHAT A TREAT!!!

You get treated like Royalty!!! I could get used to this!! Surprisingly - the menu offered "from the Bakery" - a Garlic Bread (among other choices), and you can have as much as you would like!! 

Soooooooo Naturally - I just had to!!   (the 'coloring' reflects the cabin light at the time! ) 

 It duly arrived - still warm - smelling fresh and tasty!

 NO Napkin underneath!! lol - it's a cotton cloth on the table to catch any spills and preserves the airline table - no washing up etc . . . 

Now - I KNOW - I know - you are up 12 000 m and the air-con and air pressure plays havoc with your senses - taste and smell and all.  

Still - you could taste and smell the garlic and even the baked-in Herbs! I really should have asked for one more helping . . . . . 

 As for the price . . . . . 

 

 

Presentation	4 out of 5
Quantity	5 out of 5
Taste:	5 out of 5
Quality	4 out of 5
Overall score:	18 (out of poss 20)

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Garlic Bread from Spaghetti House Italian Restaurant - in the Cook Islands

Spaghetti House Italian Restaurant

1 Puaikura Drive, Arorangi, Cook Islands
Ara Tapu, Arorangi, Cook Islands

T: (+ 682) 25 441

www.edgewater.co.ck 

email:  dining@edgewater.co.ck

The Edgewater Resort & Spa is a well-known Cook Islands resort on the west coast of Rarotonga, and Edgewater's Spaghetti House Italian Restaurant is conveniently located at the Resort's entrance on the main road.

Open seven nights from 5.00pm to 9.30pm, the Spaghetti House Italian Restaurant has authentic Italian cuisine.

The Spaghetti House Italian Restaurant offers a selection of pizzas, pastas and other signature Italian dishes in air-conditioned comfort.

----------------------------------------------------

Here ends the blurb! 

Suffice to say - we recently went there - among other places, while celebrating our recent 40th Wedding anniversary!! Good times. . . . . 

The Garlic bread itself was advertised as: 

Garlic Bread $8.50 
Topped with garlic butter & Parmesan cheese. 

The first above image was from trip advisor's website (which may well have been the "official" Edgewater image (shrugs - who knows?) 

This image to the right, was what was delivered to our table - and was as expected - a crusty dry bread (over-baked?) with a sprinkling of tomato salsa and the cheese!  To its credit - there was also a decent 'Garlic" flavor present - (in the Salsa??) 

Surprisingly - it was easy to eat and did not leave you feeling bloated / full prior to the main dinner!! 

Luke warm to the touch - it never was hot enough to melt the cheese - which was always in danger of falling off as the slice traveled from plate to mouth!

At least - NO napkin under the bread . .  

The cynic in me thinks this is how the pizza's originated in the 1800's . . . . .  

Presentation	2 out of 5
Quantity	4 out of 5
Taste:	2 out of 5
Quality	1 out of 5
Overall score:	9 (out of poss 20)

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Garlic Bread From the Lucky Rooster Eatery/Cafe in Rarotonga

Located in: Avarua Shopping Centre

Address: Maire Nui Drive, Avarua, Cook Islands
 

Phone: +682 22 215  

Reservations: theluckyroostereatery.com  (via website online form)

Sometimes - you just have to be 'pro-active' or just damn lucky!!  

Of course there is yet another backstory!! The Roosters are a very prominent and VERY vocal feature in The Cook Islands!! The crow ALL and I do mean A L L night long!!!  :(  

In any case - someone decided to make a play on that and name their Cafe after the noisy Rooster's!! Having dropped some friends to the Airport we decided to treat ourselves for a lunch meal out!! Typical Cook Islands - they are open from 8.30am to 2pm!  So we sat down and perused the menu which did NOT list garlic bread - and cheeky me asked the waiter if they do one at all!! 

Yuss - we have a winner!!

The bread was surprisingly light to eat!! We both could easily have had one more slice each! The flavor was divine! It could  have had a sprinkling of herbs - and as all things in the Cook islands - they to would have to be shipped in . . .  so understandable. 

The only major detraction was the white napkin placed under the bread!! Bummer but for that It would have been a perfect rating!!  

Upon paying our bill - I spotted the Brick Pizza oven in the middle of the kitchen - and asked if they still use it for making their pizzas - alas - they use it to bake all of their home made breads only - fresh every day!! Nice!!

Presentation	4 out of 5
Quantity	5 out of 5
Taste:	5 out of 5
Quality	5 out of 5
Overall score:	19 (out of poss 20)

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Garlic Bread from Valentines in Hornby

Valentines Hornby 

7/11 Chalmers Street, 
Christchurch, New Zealand

Ph: 03-421 8926
Email: hornbyreception@valentines.co.nz

https://www.facebook.com/Valentineshornby

Ooooh Wadda-mistaka-I-maka . . . . . 

I forgot to take a picture - so had to hunt for it on their Facebook page - luckily for me - I found this!!

I think that is a bottle of  - urm - drink - and yeah - probably some seafood chowder!!

Anyhow - it was someone's not so special birthday and we had received this flier via letterbox - so felt tempted to drive across town and see/eat!! 

Now I KNOW - it is a Buffet style eatery place! These seem to have gone out of fashion in Christchurch, so not sure what to expect!! Well, this was nicely laid out and spacious and had its own special atmosphere . . .  

Naturally the warm food sits in special bain-marie - obviously - to keep the hordes of people from eating cold what should be warm! Even the Garlic Bread was under a metal cover!  I was really wondering what to expect!  Help yourselves to as many pieces as you may want!!

The picture above is probably as good and truthful as it is in real life! Definitely in previous life a french baguette and cut and buttered ON BOTH sides. Good flavor and the herbs looked attractive! The ' middle' bits still (luke) warm to the touch and soft -as was the outside crust! ( a function of the water-bath keeping warm method?!?!?!) 

Given it is a buffet style place where a bulk food is waiting for you - as opposed to made fresh to order - this was surprisingly a good offering! 

Given that myself made the arrangements on my plate - along with the other appetizer's  - I fail to 'rate' the presentation - and there is not a lot one can do with a small mountain inside the warming bowl . . . 

Thus - given all the limitations - not a bad score! Def could have been worse!! 

 

Presentation	1 out of 5
Quantity	5 out of 5
Taste:	4 out of 5
Quality	3 out of 5
Overall score:	13 (out of poss 20)

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PS - Just so you understand - 

this BLOG is most definitely  N O T  sponsored by the soft-drink on display . . .  

Garlic Bread from Saints - Cafe, Restaurant & Bar in Hanmer

Saints - Cafe, Restaurant & Bar 

6 Jacks Pass Road, 
Hanmer Springs 


Phone: 03-315-5262, 

Web: www.saintshanmer.co.nz/ 

 

    Golly - sometimes life gets in the way of living!!  It has been ages since we went out - let alone eating a garlic bread from a Cafe or such!! That said - occasionally we buy a ready made version from our normal super market, and - as they say - this is another story for another time !  

    This time however, we decided to have a romantic (translate NO cooking ) weekend away from home!  A real treat!! To this end we booked a place at Saints in Hanmer!! And yes - one does have to book as we found out, while eating there (and they do 2 seating's) as it was full for the 6pm seating!!! 

The menu had two options:

GARLIC LOAF 
Our celebrated garlic loaf accompanied by our basil pesto & sweet chilli dipping sauce.
$ 14.90 

and  

SAINTS FLAT BREAD 
Freshly rolled 8-inch Saints pizza base topped with fresh garlic, rosemary, mozzarella
& Parmesan cheese.
$ 16.90

    Now - you understand -a LOAF!! At times these were so large that they resembled a rugby ball!! For two people - you are sated before your mains arrives - not what we wanted! So we picked the Flat Bread - full well knowing it is not our preferential Garlic Bread-style!! At least we know what we were getting!! 

    It duly arrived - A F T E R -  the waiter brought out a tiny bowl of warm water with a slice of lemon in it!! Ignoramus that I am thus my darling wife educated me by saying: "it is NOT for drinking" - rather for a quick dip/wash of the fingers - should there be an excess of oil dripping . . . . - Nice touch!! 

    The Pizza base was fine - hot touch initially and had plenty of cheese flavor - which seemed to overpower / distract from the Garlic flavor!! Typical of Pizzas - they get a cut when fresh out of the oven - you can see the slices - and they kind of semi-rejoin by the time they get to the table so we had to break some gently of!! No artistic arrangements as sometimes is the case!! 

    On reflection - there was still plenty to eat - so maybe as a volume thing - it might rival the loaf????  Also - you could easily sell/advertise this as a 'garlic pizza' - given the two flavors / and two typical pizza cheese's as toppings . . . . 

Presentation	1 out of 5
Quantity	2 out of 5
Taste:	3 out of 5
Quality	3 out of 5
Overall score:	9 (out of poss 20)

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Garlic Bread from Dawsons Hotel in Reefton

 

 Dawsons Hotel

 74 Broadway, Reefton 7830,
   West Coast, New Zealand

Ph:  +64 3 732 8406

Email: stay@dawsonshotel.co.nz
www:  https://www.dawsonshotel.co.nz/

The Garlic Bread arrived in good time and was still "finger-touch" hot! Artistically? arranged (did not suffer from transport) and on a plain porcelain plate - no napkin underneath the bread - two big pluses!! 

A smattering of herbs - which does lead me to belief that an actual butter was used - BUT - as I could not see any of the tiny bits of Garlic - I was wondering if a garlic infused oil was used instead! Given that the menu lists the item as 'V' - meaning Vegetarian - oil most certainly was used! Dang

Crusty bread on outside and soft on the inside, while maybe a touch to dry bread to eat - certainly could have done with more butter to melt into the bread! 2 slices for each person - more then enough!

Presentation	5 out of 5
Quantity	3 out of 5
Taste:	1 out of 5
Quality	2 out of 5
Overall score:	11 (out of poss 20)

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Garlic Bread from Thatcher & Small - Hokitika

Thatcher & Small All Day Dining place

84 Revell Street,  Hokitika, NZ

www.thatcherandsmall.co.nz

Tel:  +6432809636

Email:  hello@thatcherandsmall.co.nz

 

Oddly enough - I was thinking of a different Thatcher (one ex UK) - which would have been just dandy as we took a certain UK gal' round a short round trip in NZ!

Their website says : You’ll discover vintage charm and contemporary elegance – an homage to Thatcher and Small’s mesmerizing performances.  - Have to be honest - NEVER heard of either of them . . . .

Thus to the bread - advertised as Housemade Garlic butter, sweet chilli and grilled cheese at $17.-

Not sure what type of Bread this originally was - it would seem certain to be a square initial bun type that was cut diagonally (to the delight of my lady).

Slightly crusty on the outside and then the garlic, smattering of herbs and - yes that baked cheese on top - then artistically arranged on the platter and then - drowned -  with a chilli sauce! 

Now if you a fan of that - by all  means great stuff.  This writer prefers the garlic bread to be - urm - naked for a better word! Naturally given the sauce was just spread over the top - some of it ended up on the plate - whence no napkin underneath - which is a plus - as was the plate itself! We split the bread between 3 of us - so almost left wanting a slice . . . .

 

Presentation	5 out of 5
Quantity	4 out of 5
Taste:	2 out of 5
Quality	3 out of 5
Overall score:	14 (out of poss 20)

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