Return of the dragon yum cha and beer tasting

One Welly on a Plate event I hoped would return after an epic event two years ago was an evening of yum cha and beer tasting. Although most people wouldn't see these as a natural pairing, I was really excited to see Return of the Dragon in the festival events programme. On Friday night, Dragons Restaurant and Garage Project had a full house serving four courses of delicious regional yum cha dishes with matching locally made beer.

A lot has changed in two years and this is now a well organised event. Each course was made up of 3-4 regional dishes and served with a matching beer. There were top ups available, which Mr Weka enjoyed, and entertainment provided by some very cute dragon-style Chinese lions.

Onto the food. The first course was Sichuan themed and waiting on arrival. Here's what we ate from left to right in each photo and the Garage Project beer match. My favourite for each course is marked with an asterisk (*).

• Hot and spicy shredded chicken salad
• Chinese style canape with beef, Chinese sausage and vegetables
• Mixed nuts with spinach *
• Beer match: Hazy IPA with Mosaic and Motueka 7.2% (not bad for an IPA)

Spicy Sichuan starters

The second course was Cantonese-style dumplings and a delicious mushroom and pork mince bun.

• Mushroom and pork mince bun
• Prawn dumpling with golden garlic sand *
• Pork and peanut dumpling with squid ink
• Cumin chicken dumpling
• Beer match: Shaolin Sour dragon pearl jasmine aged sour 6% (pleasant at first but tasted more like vinegar with each sip)

Cantonese dumplings

The third course featured Beijing style food.

• Crispy jumbo prawn and cuttlefish ball
• Shredded duck bean curd roll
• Sweet as BBQ pork bun
• Crispy prawn beetroot rice rolls *
• Beer match: Spezial K Kellerbier, unfiltered lager 5.1% (heavy bitter malt flavour - no thanks)

Beijing third course

Finally, dessert. I saved the best for last; the warm sweet cocoa bun was heavenly and the beer match sublime. I also regretted being the sober driver (yes, I literally just sipped each beer twice to sample it) as I could have easily finished off a glass of the 12.5% Super Deluxe beer. It which was rich and warming - the highlight of tonight's beer tasting.

• Walnut and white chocolate cocoa bun *
• Sweet-scented osmanthus and coconut jelly (we had to Google osmanthus)
• Beer match: Super Deluxe bourbon barrel aged dessert stout infused with organic bananas 12.5% (tasted like a rich porter or even a glass of port)

Hong Kong dessert

A great evening of food and beer enjoyed with friends. We'll definitely be back next time.

Wellington Wine, Food and Craft Beer Festival

The third Wellington Wine, Food and Craft Beer Festival was held last weekend. This year, the festival moved venues and expanded to include a focus on locally produced craft beer. Waitangi Park is better suited for this festival than last year's Frank Kitts Park, offering a more space and a less cluttered layout. A calendar shift from autumn to summer also made for more pleasant weather. Inside, there were fewer food vendors but more space at each stand. More seating, sheltered tents, picnic blankets and bar areas made it more comfortable to come and go in between snacks and drinks.

We arrived for the Saturday evening session and joined the long queue for entry. Although everyone had already purchased tickets, it took a full 15 minutes of waiting until an organiser finally opened all four entry points to speed up the process, rather than insisting on everyone waiting to shuffle into just one lane. Apart from this slow start, this year's festival was far better organised and more streamlined than last year's event.

As Round the Bays was a mere twelve hours away, I chose Doris plum cider from Good George Brewing for my one and only drink. It was a great choice and I've found a new cider to enjoy.

So, onto the food. It was great to have each vendor's menus and prices printed on an A5 leaflet, meaning time spent in queues was for ordering and collecting food rather than deciding what to purchase.We started with Moroccan spiced calamari and a Rattle Ya Daggs lamb rump burger with beetroot chutney and feta and rocket pesto from The Crab Shack. Both were excellent and well worth the wait. The venison kofta pita with tabouleh and cucumber mint yoghurt from Foxglove was also very good, especially when topped with their house made barbeque sauce. Preventing tabouleh from escaping out of a pita pocket proved to be quite challenging; it's not a first date food. The bao burgers on soft steamed buns from Arborist Rooftop Bar were in hot demand. The chicken, chilli and garlic burgers had sold out by the time we ordered so we tried pulled pork, honey and ginger instead.

For dessert, we had a salted caramel rum cookie (gluten free, so it must be good for you) from Sweet Release Cakes and Treats, then finished with an incredibly decadent white chocolate buttercream doughnut muffin (vegan, so it must be even better for you). Who knew doughnut muffins were a) a thing and b) so good? Oh my!

A big huge MASSIVE thank you to Sweet Release for the tickets to this event. It's good to see the festival getting better each year. I'm looking forward to seeing how it evolves in 2017.

Wellington Wine and Food Festival

The Wellington Wine and Food Festival hit town this weekend. Frank Kitts Park was the venue for this newly revamped event, a huge step up from similar events held at the soulless Westpac Stadium years ago.

Everything we ate last night was delicious - and that's not something I say very often. Or maybe I was just really good at picking the best stuff? I'll admit it wasn't easy with so much on offer. My strategy was to try things outside of the usual market offerings and seeking out vendors I'd not been to before. It paid off.

Here is our main course menu for the evening. We divided each serving in two so we could try as many dishes as possible before getting too full - and avoid arguments over who had taken a bigger bite.

• Tom Khem, (caramelised braised pork belly with cripsy rice balls), steamed pork buns and beef meatballs with sweet sticky sauce from Taste Lao (Dai and Dal). So yummy! Pork buns are my new food obsession.
• Beer battered warehou with chips and tartare sauce from The Chippery. Absolutely delicious! (This is high praise from someone who doesn't eat fish and chips.)
• GChả Gio` from Nam D, which is crispy ground pork and glass noodle spring rolls, served with tangy dipping sauce. We'd already tried these before at City Market so knew how good they were.
• Whitebait fritter sandwich in white bread with tartare sauce from The Tasting Room. Oh my! Actual whitebait inside and not too much egg. Divine.
• Pulled pork long dog with hot siracha sauce from Zibibbo with really tender pork. Nom!

Dinner was washed down with Tuatara Hefe and Black Dog Chomp. (Good to keep the whānau gainfully employed, lol.) I think there was also a glass of sav somewhere along the way.

We tried some samples of Heavenly Fudge but were too full for dessert. Instead, I got a takeaway box from Sweet Release Cakes and Treats to waddle home with. Here is their salted caramel rum cookie and Kit Kat brownie, an idea I might try baking myself.

Salted caramel rum cookie and Kit Kat brownie

Overall, I'm not sure how I feel about the event itself, more specifically, the $39 entry fee. I am really lucky to have won free tickets, which was the difference for me between going or not. Although I'm a foodie who is always keen to support local producers and vendors, I didn't see much bang for buck on entry. I wasn't alone; friends I bumped into made similar remarks. Given the number of giveaways from vendors and last minute $29 discount deals, it looks like numbers of paying punters were low.

We spent quite a bit of money buying food and drinks, which I am really happy to do in support of local businesses. Sure, we may have spent a similar amount at a restaurant, but a restaurant or bar wouldn't have charged almost $80 for two of us to walk in the door, even one with a band. Once inside, we faced many of the usual suspects that we would find at City Market each Sunday and other free events and fairs around town. I understand that events like this need organisation and promotion and that there are expenses involved, but I wouldn't have been in a position to go if I had to pay the expensive entry fee.

A huge thank you to New World Thorndon for the complimentary tickets. We had a fantastic time and have made lots of food discoveries to follow up next time we go to the markets.

WOAP lunch: Fork & Brewer

Another day, another wonderful Wellington on a Plate lunch. Today, a group from work went to Fork & Brewer on Bond Street. The Fork's bar is a gigantic keg with awesome tap handles all around the edges. The place has had a makeover recently and the restaurant section revamped.

The $25 two course set menu is accompanied by a house beer brewed on site and the options for each course makes it really hard to choose. An entree and a main? A main and a dessert? An entree and a dessert? Our group had various combinations of each while some went with the Burger Wellington option. I settled on a main and dessert with a glass of bronze medal award winning Storm Chaser, a deliciously smooth, dark wheat beer.

The penne pasta tossed with Randwick bacon, leeks and Wairarapa olives, topped with (a teeny tiny bit of) Kapiti parmesan cheese made for a good main with flavours that went well together.

Pasta topped with bacon, leeks and olives

I finished lunch in the best possible way with the Whittaker's bitter chocolate and stout pot with chocolate shavings and Chantilly cream. Oh so smooth and creamy rich, it went well with the last of my beer. *contented sigh*

Heaven in a cup

A long, leisurely lunch resulted in a slightly less-than-productive afternoon for our group but a very happy office. :-)

New Zealand craft beer tasting

Among other things, Wellington is known for being the craft beer capital. There is a craft beer trail that enthusiasts can follow and a growing number of microbreweries popping up around the city. It's not surprising considering this city's foodie culture. Just look at how popular events such as Wellington on a Plate are becoming, which Beervana was a part of this weekend.

A few weeks ago, we went to a tasting of New Zealand beers at Wellington's brew pub, Fork & Brewer. After learning more trivia than we imagined possible (or plausible) at another beer tasting last year, I was keen to add some new brews to my tiny but growing beer palette. We sampled four beers and made some interesting discoveries about creative flavour combinations. Apparently, if you can imagine it, you can (sometimes) make it happen!

Here are my beginner's beer sampling impressions:

• We started with a kiwi pilsner from Dunedin brewery Emerson's. Even though it boasted an overly citrus flavour (which I usually love), it was far too hoppy for me.
• Our next beer came from Croucher Brewing in Rotorua. The pale ale had a toasted caramel colour and heavy grain flavour. I found it less bitter than the pilsner but wasn't keen on the aftertaste, even though this is supposed to be one of its best features.
• Our most unusual beer was from Mata Beer in Kawerau: hangi flavoured beer. Everything about the tasting notes sounds wrong: spicy pumpkin, smoky bacon and 7.4% alcohol are more like something you would take an hour to eat, but it worked surprisingly well in a glass with a lingering aftertaste. It even warranted buying a second glass to have with dinner.
• We finished our tasting with another offering from Croucher's: coffee stout. It (obviously) had a strong coffee scent but the flavour was not too overpowering. At 5.6% alcohol, it packs a reasonable punch but the finish was surprisingly pleasant.

Beer 101

I'm not much of a drinker, even though I can sometimes be partial to French champagne or an occasional wine trail. My brother is a professional beer brewer; I am a competition junkie. Last week, our interests converged when I won an evening of beer tasting at The Malthouse. My partner and I were two of the first graduates of Beervarsity, having 'passed' Beer 101.

The evening was hosted by beer writer and judge, Neil Miller. Neil's a talker, that's for sure. I'd imagine many a tall beer tale has flowed from his lips (or pen) over the years. In fact, the way Neil tells it, beer is largely responsible for civilisation as we know it. In the past, beer was traditionally brewed by the women of the house for their families as it was safer to drink than water. Now brewed on every continent, beer is apparently the third most widely consumed beverage, following only water and tea for the #3 spot. Yes, more beer is drunk around the world than wine or coffee. *gasp*

So, on to the tasting. We got to sample five beers, including a surprise from Neil's own cellar.

• Tuatara Hefe. This yeast beer was my pick of the evening. Cloudy in appearance, the hefe is sweet and creamy with distinct traces of banana and without a bitter aftertaste.
• West Coast Marzen. All the way from Westport, this is a German style beer traditionally brewed in March (leading into summer in the northern hemisphere). It has a rich, dark caramel colour and a bitterness resulting from the type of hops used. This is probably an acquired taste.
• Epic Pale Ale. Epic by name, epic by nature, or so Epic Beer on Twitter would have you believe. This fruity (grapefruit) American pale ale has a pungent smell and lingering bitterness.
• Tuatara Porter. This dark beer is poured flat (not fizzy) from an English hand pump and its texture thickens as it warms. Gushing with a rich malt flavour, I couldn't honestly taste the promised chocolate - and if anyone is going to hunt out and find chocolate, it's me! Not a beer I'd choose to drink.
• Neil's special surprise - a chimay brewed by monks in one of just seven Trappist breweries worldwide, vintage circa 2003. This beer had a rich aroma of figs and raisins and tasted more like wine than beer. Magnificent!