The French Cafe experience

I had to make a trip up to Auckland to interview for my visa and I just had to try one of the restaurants up here. I was tossing up between Meredith's, The French Cafe, and Cocoro. After ummm and arrrr-ing for a while I decided to try The French Cafe (mostly for the location, less so because I thought it stood out of the three). Little more ummm and arrrr-ing because I didn't have anyone to go with and my bank account wasn't looking particularly great after KCs binge. But like my buddy Iain said, #YOLO. 

Before I headed to The French Cafe (TFC from now on), there was another place I wanted to check out. The Depot. It was a chic looking little place, reminded me little bit of bars and eateries in Brooklyn I saw on my last visit. I sat at the bar, the menu is a A3 size piece of paper which has all the food and glass pours listed. I had to ask for a beer list and stuck with trusty old croucher's. This was a pre-game warm up session so just got a few things from the raw bar. 

3 each of Tio Point oysters, diamond clams and Tua tua's. Tio point oysters were delicious as ever, although not a big and plump as I've had previously. The clams were wonderfully briny. But it was the humble Tua Tua's that took me by surprise! My only experience with them were throwing them on the rocks and feeding them to seagulls. Damn seagulls, they have good taste. They were salty at the start and finished with such delightful sweetness with all the briny juices down my throat oh! and the texture.......eh hem, I am still talking about the shellfish of course. 

Foodgasm. I was having one. 

6pm comes around, it was time for me to head to TFC. Got there and it's located in a very unassuming area for a fine dining restaurant, like a cafe more than a restaurant. Once you walk in to the dining space though you don't notice the street at all and is very elegant I thought. 

Everything you would expect from a fine dining restaurant was there - crisp linen, nice glassware, suited up FOH and the cabbage candle thing. 

They brought me the aperitif list first. The list didn't have any prices on it, which I thought was quite clever and also the fact that they had a separate list was very cool. I ordered a glass of Rinquinquin. The kind French waiter pronounced if for me and turns out I need to build up heeeeaaaappps of flem before I would be able to say it right. You know, the French hhhgrrghghgrgghgg sound? Yea. 

Out comes the drink then the menu. I already knew I would do the degustation menu but I look at it anyways. I don't know if it's a French thing but, on their ala carte menu, they divided the savoury courses to 3 - appetisers, entrees and mains. Again, not sure if that's a French thing but again, I thought it was a clever idea. Really liked the font, the paper and the menu cover too. Yes, I notice these things because I'm weird. 

This post is getting really long..so lets get into the foods. 

Amuse bouche. Cheese wrapped in filo & pumpkin soup. Normally not a fan of pumpkin but that was so creamy, sweet and tasty. Super crunchy and cheese for the other thing. 

Thyme butter (left) & smoked butter (right) 

I love all things smoked so I was happy. 

First course, 'fruits of the sea'. Clam, cured tuna, poached scallop, rock oyster, seaweed, dashi jelly, ginger, wasabi cream (might have been langoustine there as well). I loved this dish. Kind of like deconstructed sushi I guess. There was puffed rice which gave nice crunchy texture. No wine with this one. 

Akaroa salmon, verjus, creme fraiche, watercress, apple and caviar. Yea, caviar. Like 12 of them. I lol'd. It was good but least favourite dish of the night. Just felt that the beautiful salmon got over powered by apple and watercress. The 3rd man Riesling for the match. Apples, herbs, I could see where they were going with it but apple lived and salmon died with the wine. 

Champion of the night! Caramelised pork belly, langoustine, carrots, almonds & ginger bread. Whoa. What a dish. Langoustine was cooked beautifully and so sweet. Pork belly, just melts in the mouth, carrots nice and sweet. The only thing was that the belly was missing the crackling. Foodgasm no. 2 was had at this point. Alsatian Gewurtztraminer to match and was a faultless match. 

Egg york ravioli, smoked potato, peas, asparagus, Parmesan, iberico ham. It was like Sunday breakfast reconstructed fine dining style. At this point I had the wines poured blind just for extra fun points and I was so confident that the matching wine was lightly oaked Chardonnay. Nope. DENIED! It was Paritua Grace Sauvignon Blanc. Had another taste after being told what it was and still didn't get sauv. Wine witchery at play, mind fuck was had. 

Roasted quail. It was good. 

Duck with mandarin & kumara. It was so very similar to the duck dish at work I just kind of laughed. I guess duck and mandarin goes well together and mandarin and kumara are a good combo as well. Those who work at The White House will know. 

Chocolate. Lots of chocolate. And mandarin. Very rich. It was matched with something I've never heard of before. French fortified wine and it was the best match of the night. That little bit of mandarin just made the match perfect. 

All and all it was awesome. I was very impressed. The service was formal and impeccable. The French waiter was NOT arrogant. In fact, he was quite friendly and professional. Every time I went to the bathroom it was cleaned and tidied. Yes, I notice these things because I'm weird. 

These guys are good. I can't comment whether it deserves to be awarded as the best in NZ simply because I haven't eaten at enough places. In saying that though, they certainly have set the bar very, very high. Deep down, I wanted to be able to critique it but there was nothing to do so with. 

Well done The French Cafe team. 

Well done. 

Pigs Hoof Noms, DRINKING, and Buckets

First of all, sorry for the late post. As you will see, I have been very busy with all my social butterflyness.

Wednesday (21st) saw me at the usual Korean lessons in Bundang. This time one of the girls in my conversation group was leaving so we took the conversation to a restaurant. We had planned on getting chicken and beer but it was an unusually busy Wednesday night so we ended up at a pig trotter restaurant. I was hesitant however plunged in with all I had to try something new. My first bite had a big chuck of gristle...not the greatest start. I boldly went back and selected my next bite more carefully and discovered that it was really good!

Thursday was casual coffee at the local lemon tree cafe near my house with Eric, Lisa and Hanneke. Lisa and Hanneke are fellow teachers but at a different school. They both teach elementary. Lisa is from the UK and Hanneke is from South Africa. Lisa is an EPIC KPop fan. Hanneke is pronounced "Hanna-ka".

Friday was the usual foreigner drinks at the self serve bar in Gwangju. We all went to leave at 3am, but got distracted by beer at the dairy so stayed there a little longer. Hanneke and I finally started walking home at about 5:30 and ended up meeting her ex-boyfriend's brother outside another dairy who also asked us to stay for some beer. It was light by this point. Always a sign you've had a good night. Unlike New Zealand, when the birds start chirping in the morning, Korea doesn't seem to have that..

Saturday was hungover. VERY hungover. But in true kiwi spirit, I soldiered on into Seoul with Fiona and Hanneke to Bunker in Apgujeong. Bunker was a lot of fun! It's about 50/50 foreigners and Koreans. Enjoyed me some buckets (see photo) and dancing. I'm getting pretty good at this meeting people thing because we met a whole bunch of awesome people getting their dance on. Oddly, Sunday was not so hungover....just tired. Probably a good thing.

Quick KGB before hitting Bunker!

Bucket and bunny ears time!

Crazy mask floating around at the bar

Tuesday was a regular day at school but I finally got to go out and have dinner with my fellow Korean teachers which was fun. It's nice to learn a little more about the people you work with and get to know them a bit better. Had some really good Italian food at a little restaurant in Gwangju. They had "bugger sets" as meals at this restaurant, clearly some bad translation.

Wednesday was the speech contest at school!! It was lots of fun listening to the speaking and as a foreign teacher, I was one of the judges with the other two foreign teachers. The kids were cute and some of them were REALLY good!!

Thursday We made burgers at school with the kids. The kids didn't need to cook anything but they had these adorable outfits to do their 'cooking'.

Elin's Mum (one of my students) dropped off some snacks at the end of this day for the kids and also gave me and Hannah a mini chocolate cake each. The Korean parents are crazy about some weird things but every no and then they make up for it with awesome gifts. Today, Elin's mum dropped of pizza for all the staff. 

Later that night, I had my language exchange with Eric and then went to Bundang for a comedy night at Pub210. We had dinner in Bundang at the BEST friend chicken place I've ever been to before. It was incredible. I don't usually like chicken on the bone but I was eating this like a fat kid with cake.

Eric surprised me when towards the end of the night he got up and did some stand up. He started off well...but I think he got a little nervous and it didn't end so well. He did say he had a lot of fun though which I guess was all that mattered.

Friday I had dinner with Jess and Eric at one of the local Galbi places. I'm thinking that Korean BBQ is fast becoming my favourite food in Korea. We also went to a Japanese bar before heading to the self-serve and drank some really good Saki! After Saki we went to the self-serve bar to meet up with everyone else. I was good this time and was home by 11:30 knowing that I would need to head into Seoul the next day early.

Jess and Eric at the Sake bar

Saturday I headed to Seoul to meet up with my friend Jeremy. He helped me with some translation at a tattoo studio where I discussed my next tattoo. We had lunch and walked around for a bit while catching up about what had been going on. Headed to the new Grill5Taco in Chong-dam for the restaurant opening. Donghae from Super Junior (KPop idol) bought one of the franchises and opened it in Seoul. There was a bunch of fangirls hanging around and unfortunately he couldn't come because of that. They had the official opening on Monday where SM Entertainment brought a bunch of people to help celebrate. I was gutted that I had to be working :(

After the opening I headed to Gangnam for another foreigner party and met up with my friends. I'm enjoying the all you can drink for 20000 won parties! I've also decided that Korea is great for my self-esteem. I had one guy come and talk to me and he asked if there was a line to talk to me because I looked so popular. Gold. After the party we headed to Itaewon. This was fairly average to be honest. I never thought I would say this but there was too many foreigners lol. I stayed in Seoul with my friend at another love motel. This time it wasn't as interesting and nothing was strange about it so still no photos....sorry.

I woke up to a text from Lisa on Sunday morning asking if I wanted to go to the G Dragon concert. Concerts here are strange because you usually are seated and more often than not aren't allowed to stand up. Thankfully the G Dragon concert wasn't that strict but we weren't allowed to leave our seats, only standing. I'm not the hugest KPop fan but I do like G Dragon and his band Big Bang. Big Bang reunited for the first time in a long time at the concert and performed some of their songs together. See pictures below. TOP is my fav....drool. I finally went home about 11:30pm.

G Dragon

TOP on the left and G Dragon on the right.

Outside the venue

We were actually quite close to the stage as the venue was relatively small.

G Dragon being adorable

The closest we got he was about 10 metres away from us!! 

G Dragon impersonator outside the venue

Yesterday I headed to Bundang for my Korean lessons and we went for a few drinks afterwards as it was one of my classmates final lessons. Things got a little messy and school was not great today because of it... :(

Bucket of Long Island Iced Tea.

I'll know better next time....hopefully. Probably not.

Miss you all loads xx

Much Love!
Ally