Our annual trip with Darryl & Alistair to Taste of Auckland held at Victoria Park. Fortunately the rain held off for us today after the rain that greeted the crowds yesterday.
As always there were lots of fantastic dishes to sample - firstly razor back pig belly with apple, celery and toasted farro from Clooney restaurant.
Our favourite dish of the day was duck leg, penang custard, coconut, micro herbs, peanut and lychee from a new restaurant The Commons based in Takapuna - a must visit now.
Another interesting and tasty dish was wild deer, earth baked kowiniwini, fern curd, blackberry and malt soil from Kermadec Fine, normally famed for their fish dishes they can also do meat just as well.
There were some kiwi celebrity chefs around, including Josh Emett, a Masterchef New Zealand judge and Gordon Ramsey protege, who was doing a cooking presentation.
Alistair participated in a cocktail making masterclass, learning how to make mojitos, so we will be getting him to put his learnings into practice when we are away at New Year.
There were also several craft beer stalls there as this market grows ever bigger, Royston had to sample some to make sure they were up to scratch.
Today we headed over to Waiheke Island with Darryl and Alistair to help them celebrate their wedding anniversary. The ferry journey gave us great views of the city.
As we took the car we decided to take the route less travelled and explored the eastern and less populated side of the island. Most of the roads this side are unsealed and vey quiet. The road sides littered with vines.
First stop of the day was a walk to Stony Batter,a defence area built during WWII with tunnels to explore and the old gun emplacements still visible.
We then reached our first winery of the day - Man O War, a small tasting room well off the beaten track so nice and quiet and with stunning wines, so a couple of bottles came home with us.
The winery overlooks Man O War Bay - stunning location and one we will revisit next time we are on the island.
The drive around the east coast gave nice views down to the isolated bays.
Next stop another winery, this time Passage Rock, where we sat next to the vines for lunch.
And then our final stop at Saratoga winery for wine and beer tasting in a Californian/Mexican style building and interior decor. A great day out exploring some new places.
