Our next Wellington on a Plate adventure was a cold Thursday evening visit to Wellington institution, Ortega Fish Shack. This year, each venue participating in the Dine Wellington section of the festival, is giving a back story to the dish or venue. The story behind Ortega Fish Shack’s menu starts with a Martinborough World War II veteran, Smiley Sullivan. Sullivan bought a property on Marjoribanks Street, where the restaurant is situated, which allowed him and his mother to be close to his sister and husband. (who was a butcher at Jas Farley’s shop at 12 Majoribanks Street – Ortega Fish Shack is at number 16). However, he struggled to settle into city life, and became a conservator with the then New Zealand Forest Service, with a role of keeping wild deer populations in check around the greater Wellington Region. The festival dish devised for Wellington on a Plate is in memory of Sullivan.
We opted for the three course offering with paired wines. In a good place like this, we think it worth it as we get to not only taste things we might not opt for, the choices are always excellent. The first dish was a pork and rabbit terrine, with mushrooms and mustard greens paired with a Greenhough Riesling. The terrine was lovely, crumbling into goodness when cut. The warm mushrooms paired really well, as did the mild apple sauce. The wine went well with it too – not usually a fan of Riesling but this worked well (note – I always say I am not a fan of Riesling and am always pleasantly surprised).
The second course was the festival dish, which naturally featured venison – Awatoru Wildfood red deer with braised red cabbage, caramelised celeriac and Paddy Borthwick Winery Pinot Noir gravy. The wine was Loop Road Pinot Noir. This was perfect winter food – the richness of the meat counterbalanced by the tang of the cabbage and the smoothness of the celeriac. The wine was one we will keep our eyes open for in the future.
The dessert (yes we had dessert this time) was a stout and chocolate cake with maple ice cream and little bits of bacon sprinkled on the top for a crunchy and salty counter balance that worked really well. This was the dark chocolate cake you want when the winds are blowing outside. It was served with Mas Blanc Banyuls, a granache based fortified wine that tasted of cherries and chocolate. Oh and we did have our espresso after as is the norm.
All in all a gorgeous meal, excellent service and a wonderful way to spend that cold Thursday evening.
And am adding this post to the weekend coffee share hosted by Natalie the Explorer, who, by the way, has convinced me that Toronto should be on my list of places to travel (if and when we ever can again).
You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis. As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com
Thistles and Kiwis 
Now, I would never have thought of sprinkling bacon bits over a dessert!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me neither!
LikeLike
Bacon and chocolate! Inspired. And that venison dish looks and sounds amazing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The venison was good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great idea to have a back story in each restaurant, told through the food. As is usual, the dessert is my favourite, the stout and chocolate cake and maple syrup ice-cream, is for me!
A lovely way to spend an evening.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes it has been fun to read where inspiration for the dishes came from. It was a lovely evening and the dessert was very good – there is something about dark chocolate at the end of a meal.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes indeed dark chocolate is perfect!
LikeLike
Quite a feast! I am not a fan of Riesling. Always too sweet for me, an odd complaint as I have quite the sweet tooth and seldom is anything too sweet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I never drank Riesling – always associating it with sweet, German wines. Then I came here, and quite often it is featured in wine tastings, and I changed my mind. Not all Rieslings are too sweet. Similarly I went off Chardonnay after too many years of cheap Australian stuff when I lived in Europe. Tasting good Chardonnay turned me around again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This looks wonderful. I’ve never thought of putting bacon with a dessert! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
It certainly was a first for me!
LikeLike
Looks like gourmet food well done, whoever the chef was looks like they know what they doing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The meal looks divine and the back story is wonderful. I’m happy to hear you’d consider visiting Toronto when possible. Thank you for linking up with #weekendcoffeeshare.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maple ice cream with bacon bits! I have to try this. Your account of this meal was delightful. Thank you for sharing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It may seem odd, but I cannot imagine eating that much food in the course of a day. Looks beautiful, though!
LikeLike
What a delicious looking meal, complete with matching wines. The bacon bits with dessert threw me for a minute but your explanation made sense! #weekendcoffeeshare
LikeLiked by 1 person
I did wonder about the bacon bits when I saw the menu too…but it really worked.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That venison meal looks amazing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was!
LikeLike
Stout and chocolate cake sounds awesome!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, if that’s a ‘shack’ I can only imagine what a fine restaurant must look like. Seriously though, the name just doesn’t do the food justice. I’m sure it tasted as wonderful as it looks, and yes to bacon on ice cream!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The food was excellent and the bacon worked! Never thought about the name until you pointed it out!! 🙂
LikeLike
Hi T&K, This looks mouthwatering. Is maple syrup commonly available in NZ? In the US we pretty much look to our most northeastern states for all maple syrup. The trees used to produce it don’t grow just anywhere.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes you can buy maple syrup here.
LikeLike
Yum. That all looks so good. My daughter spent 2 1/2 weeks in NZ a few years ago and I just shot her a text to see if she had been to Wellington….they traveled from the North to the south and back up again. She loved it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad your daughter enjoyed her trip to New Zealand!
LikeLike