The Garden Cafe
It was a bit of a shock to the system to see endless cafes all proudly serving quality espresso and menus full of delicious sounding food. The south island is so beautiful, but didn’t have the variety and quality of food that we were spoiled by in San Francisco. Wellington has done it’s own thing when it comes to eating and drinking and, from our experiences, is doing it very well.
Our boss, Billie, put us up in a hotel until we found an apartment. Luckily it didn’t take us long. After some stressful searching that turned up either tiny studios or tattered larger places we found our spot. We had to up our budget, but with the inclusion of a parking spot and internet I doubt we ended up paying much more than we would’ve had we paid for those things separately. It is a two bedroom apartment, which has already come in handy for guests. It also just so happens that we are about a half block away from that very garden café also making us centrally located for anything you’d want to do in Wellington. We work in Miramar, a suburb that is home to all the film industry in the area, which is about a 15 minute drive from where we live.
Our first weekend in the city we met up with our friend, Tommy, at Scopa. I could write a lot about who Tommy is, how we know him, and all of the great things he and the people he works for do with food, but it would take up the whole blog. Lets just say Tommy came through Zach’s restaurant last year and now is our good friend here in Wellington. He instantly treated us like old friends and it’s made our experience of the city even more amazing.
Tommy and Zach
Last week Zach’s chef from A16, Liza, stayed with us for a week. It was the perfect chance to indulge in some of the restaurants we’ve heard so much about. She knew Tommy as well so we got treated to more dinners including a steak meal I will never forget. Tommy, Liza, Zach, Simon (one of the three owners of the restaurant), and I started the evening at Crazy Horse off with specialty cocktails. After we sat down a bottle of Quartz Reef sparkling wine accompanied our first course of heirloom tomatoes with basil, buffalo mozzarella, and grilled bread. We were then each served individual crab and corn omelets, with which we had a Marlborough pinot gris. The crispness of the pinot gris paired beautifully with the sweet corn and crab in the mini omelets. For our third course we shared the chicken liver parfait and the steak tartar topped with a raw egg yolk all of which was accompanied by a bright Hawks Bay syrah. Zach and I are well versed in chicken liver pate; I really enjoyed the way the parfait maintained that rich flavor, but had the lightness in texture of a mousse. Last and best of all came the steak feast. The five of us ate enough steak to easily feed ten. The wine Leonardo (another of the three owners) chose for us was a smoky, mushroomy, Waheike Island pinot noir and it was perfect for the chateaubriand, bone-in rib eye, and wagu. I wanted to melt into my seat with pleasure when I took a bite of steak with a bone marrow red wine sauce smeared on top. All of the side-dishes and sauces were fantastic as was every cut, piece and bite of the steaks. Zach and Liza happily chewed the rib eye bones while I got the honor of cleaning up the bone marrow. We ended our five hour feast with a couple glasses of digestif. It was amazing. I could write details about this meal alone and it would fill pages. One thing is for certain; I will hold onto the memory of that evening my entire life.
Our Feast!
There is something even more indulgent about enjoying the perfect meal with people you can talk to about food. Liza being here gave Zach and I the opportunity to talk about food endlessly with another person who understands what makes the art of a meal so amazing. That night at dinner the five of us talked endlessly about food, the business, and even coffee roasting. There are moments in the midst of those conversations where I can’t help but be reminded of why we do what we do.
Knowing Tommy has made us feel like we already have a group of friends here. Between the three restaurants there is a crew of fun and interesting people who we’ve had the chance to spend bits of time socializing with on random Sunday afternoons as well as some other occasions. We’ve also spent quite a bit of time on our own wandering the streets and exploring the suburbs. It is merely minutes in the car to stunning coastline and family-filled beaches. We’ve explored art galleries all along Cuba Street and walked along the waterfront. As often as possible we go the big farmers’ market and grab a slice of Tommy’s pizza, which he makes out of mobile pizza oven. It is some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. I’m already wondering how I’m going to deal with not having access to it when we are back in the states.
a beach near the city
As you can probably tell we are working normal working hours. It is strange. It’s been at least 5 years since I’ve worked a day job. Currently we are working from 8 am until around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Initially learning the art of high-end catering was a really difficult adjustment. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy learning a new side to the food industry, but I have very little experience chopping, pealing, mixing, slicing etc. We work in two trucks, but you’d be surprised in how much space we have. Billie designed the trucks herself; they are well organized and larger than many restaurant kitchens. We work very closely with our 7 co-workers. The trucks are permanently parked outside of a huge marquee where we feed the people of The Hobbit. After adjusting to cooking for the masses we are now in the rhythm of the job. When filming starts in a few weeks we will be serving breakfast as well which will have us starting work around 4:30 or 5 am. It will be another adjustment, but we are enjoying learning new skills and the people involved with the film are all incredibly friendly.
We’ve made some friends through work as well. Our co-workers have a wide variety of out-of-work interests making for constant opportunities for random adventures. Thursday night we went to a show put on by two of our co-workers that was unlike anything I’d ever been to. Nathan and his group performed their music improv while streaming a live video of dancers in Berlin. Then Nikki and Nathan took the stage for their indie / experimental group called Nancy and Norman. Sam, one of the guys who takes care of whatever is needed around the studio as well as makes coffees for anyone and everyone, has taken us out with his friends as well.
Zach and two of our co-workers, Nicola (Nikki) and Leona
All in all I would say we have more of a social life here than we ever did in San Francisco. I think it was difficult to find time off in SF that matched up with either each other or our friends. The kiwi way seems to be that of an ever-inviting attitude. One friend leads to many. Though we will be working a lot and will have much less time for socializing it is a breath of fresh air to feel like you have a community of friends. It helps as well that we work together. In San Francisco so often we were desperate to get time to just see one another. Now we spend every minute together and have nights and weekends off so making time for friends is so much easier.
This coming week I have a friend from back in my Santa Cruz days coming to visit. We are hoping to take advantage of our last couple weeks of freedom (before filming and early mornings) and the last bits of summer by exploring more of the area with her. We miss everyone back at home immensely. The waves of homesickness come without warning. But, a few more months and we’ll have had a life-changing experience making a new home across the world, which will also be a place full of many dear friends.
Lastly I wanted to make a note about the tragedy in Christchurch. One of our co-workers, Rachel, lives there and has just been up here to help Billie out for the movie. She lost a relative and had family and friends that lost their homes. It devastated so many people. In a country this small nearly everyone had a friend or family member affected by the earthquake. It’s another reminder of why we need to live life to the fullest and love without hesitation.
Lots of love to you all!
Jessie and Zach
