Dr Silverstone's culinary travels

We would like to thank Chris Hagan head chef at Puretastes Restaurant and the wonderfull staff for a fabulous evening of great food, superb wine and attentive professional service

The enthusiasm from the kitchen downwards is contagious creating an ambience that would be difficult to better

Our entrees of scallops for Marilyn and cherve for me were innovative and startlingly successful

Main courses of carpaccio of beef (designed for Savour NZ workshop in May) and black lacquer duck were delicate and delicious

The Desserts complemented a fine meal

Thank you to everybody involved in making this a special evening and we hope to return ASAP

We had quite the opposite experience to Mr Calder's review in the Herald on Sunday on puretastes and we will spread the word like gospel!

Robert & Angela Winterbottom

England

9th February 2008

There were 2 sets of tasting menus available, four or five courses, the difference being the price and the added dish of the steamed crab roll.  I chose the 4 course menu as I was not sure I could finish them

While waiting for the food, I just spent all my time taking pictures with the menu, the glass, the water, the window, the plant etc. When the first dish arrived, the smiley lady proactively offered to take a picture for me.  This just showed that she was such an attentive waiter who wanted to make sure I would have a great time there!

Let’s talk about the food.  Take a look at the description below, I don’t know most of the ingredients but somehow I could feel that the chef really has ‘heart’ in his cooking!

• Seared tuna – blood oranges, sago ‘caviar’, micro herbs, calamari chips + green tea dressing
• Steamed crab roll – sauté mushroom, spiced mango, ‘popped’ mustard seeds + shellfish reduction
• Roast duck mille feuille – tamarind curry chutney, mung sprouts + persimmon pickle
• Quinoa crusted hapuka – smoked fish roll, steamed spinach, tempura prawns + miso buerre blanc
• Caramel, cashew & organic orange semifreddo – coconut wafer, grapefruit confit + julienne liquorice

 

1. The seared tuna is still the best I have ever had!  I definitely gave credit to the blood orange as well as rose petals which was a nice surprise to highlight the dish

2. The steamed crab roll is another surprise for me as you notice it should have been available in the 5 course menu.  The mixture of the mushroom and mango produced a fresh experience to me (sorry that I need to learn more words to describe tastes!!!)

3. Roast duck mille feuille has to be my favourite other than the dessert. It is a successful case of Asian fusion food that is able to capture and retain the original style of Chinese roast duck but make it less filling with the unknown (secret) ingredient!

4. The dessert is definitely heaven to me!  It was actually the biggest in serving size and it was the last course but I enjoyed it so much that I finished it all.  I always like cashew and it mixed nicely with caramel.  You need to save the grapefruit to the last as it was very fresh and helped digestion

For more information, check out
www.puretastes.co.nz.