A seat at the table: Noble Rot Wine Bar

Yesterday in my Small Pleasures post, I briefly mentioned that last week we had dinner at Noble Rot Wine Bar. Tucked away down Swan Lane off Cuba Street, Noble Rot has one of the largest selections of wine in New Zealand. This award winning bar and restaurant is a real treat to visit. During the period of lockdown here in New Zealand, we started using their wine delivery service. Cases of six different wines are selected by the sommeliers, and once they get to know your preferences, help to build up some really interesting taste experiences. We have so enjoyed the cases of wine over the past few months. Santa Claus (for he is wise and all knowing) managed to get hold of a gift voucher for the restaurant as part of Karl’s Christmas present, so we headed over to eat some good food and drink some good wine.

I started with six North Island Pacific rock oysters as a wonderful treat. Karl had a charcuterie board served with cornichons and sour dough bread. We each enjoyed a glass of excellent Chardonnay from Columbia Crest Winery in Washington state. Below you can see both oysters and finished oysters.

I then had scallops served with prawn tortellini, pepperonata, black olives and basil. The scallops were cooked to perfection, and the tortellini were an excellent accompaniment and he pepperonata the finishing touch. I had a glass of De Morgenzon Maestro wine from South Africa. Karl had the Wakanui aged beef eye fillet with pommes Anna and oyster mushrooms with a glass of Croisille Silice Malbec. We shared a green salad on the side.

As usual, we had no room for dessert, just enjoying an espresso each. All in all some wonderful food and wine, and a very lovely way to spend a sunny summer evening.

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