It was my wife's birthday last week. We thought of going away from Auckland for the weekend but convincing people to scrap the two nights minimum stay rule and renting out their holiday homes has proven to be a difficult task. In the end, we settled for a 1/2 day trip to Kumeu.
Kumeu is a small town 25 kilometers Northwest of Auckland city. It was quite an easy drive on State highway 16. Took us less than 40 mins by car.
Kumeu is well known for the wineries. The one we went to is called Soljans winery. It is a family run business that has been around for ages,established in the 1930's i think. Their cafe is supposed to be one of the top 20 restaurants in Auckland. So i went there with certain expectations.
We started off with their freshly baked bread, which we have totally enjoyed. The bread was warm and soft. It went really well with the chef's daily spread that came with the bread.
Hui got a glass of Gewurtz which she thought was quite good. My empty stomach doesn't usually agree with any form of alcohol. So i decided to skip the wine and got a cup of coffee instead.
Sadly, my praises for the food end there. Hui got a Croatian seared Lignja. It was basically seared squid coated lightly with bread crumbs served with salad. We thought the squid should have been seared without the bread crumbs. Because it was pan-seared rather than deep fried, the crumbs soaked up quite a bit of moisture and have made the squid a bit too soft and chewy.
I got a Mushroom a la greque. I got it because i love hashcakes. But my hashcake was soggy. I couldn't figure what happened but i suspect it was left standing for too long before serving. The poor hashcake must have soaked up too much paprika oil or the moisture from their redwine infusion while left standing.
So, basically we were happy with half the food but the other half has left us a little disappointed. I must say the service was pretty good though. Will we go back there again? Probably not. Aucklanders are blessed because Matakana (North of Auckland) and Kumeu (Northwest) are all saturated with numerous quality wineries. There are always better choices and definitely better hashcakes!
Kumeu is a small town 25 kilometers Northwest of Auckland city. It was quite an easy drive on State highway 16. Took us less than 40 mins by car.
Kumeu is well known for the wineries. The one we went to is called Soljans winery. It is a family run business that has been around for ages,established in the 1930's i think. Their cafe is supposed to be one of the top 20 restaurants in Auckland. So i went there with certain expectations.
We started off with their freshly baked bread, which we have totally enjoyed. The bread was warm and soft. It went really well with the chef's daily spread that came with the bread.
Hui got a glass of Gewurtz which she thought was quite good. My empty stomach doesn't usually agree with any form of alcohol. So i decided to skip the wine and got a cup of coffee instead.
Sadly, my praises for the food end there. Hui got a Croatian seared Lignja. It was basically seared squid coated lightly with bread crumbs served with salad. We thought the squid should have been seared without the bread crumbs. Because it was pan-seared rather than deep fried, the crumbs soaked up quite a bit of moisture and have made the squid a bit too soft and chewy.
I got a Mushroom a la greque. I got it because i love hashcakes. But my hashcake was soggy. I couldn't figure what happened but i suspect it was left standing for too long before serving. The poor hashcake must have soaked up too much paprika oil or the moisture from their redwine infusion while left standing.
So, basically we were happy with half the food but the other half has left us a little disappointed. I must say the service was pretty good though. Will we go back there again? Probably not. Aucklanders are blessed because Matakana (North of Auckland) and Kumeu (Northwest) are all saturated with numerous quality wineries. There are always better choices and definitely better hashcakes!
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