Kingfish Bliss

On a cold and rainy night we came together to celebrate Miss Sheena's Birthday. The restaurant is on the St peters end of King Street just around the corner from Alice Street, it's not a very big space, but plenty of room for a couple of larger parties.

There was a minor hiccup due to a menu mix up, in the end it was a brilliant night filled with wonderful people lots of laughter and amazing food. While we were waiting to be served I could see the most gorgeous looking food coming out from the kitchen, I wanted to try EVERYTHING!!!

There really is no other word to describe the food but AMAZING, everything that came out not only looked and smelled great, it all tasted divine too. We started off with some Sourdough, olive oil and marinated olives, so simple but so delicious. The olive oil was to die for and I don't often say that about something as commonplace as frikken olive oil!

I decided to try something I've never had before so I ordered scallops with a salad that had apples in it, very fancy indeed. Having never eaten scallops before I was a little concerned when they came out. I mean they looked beautiful but I wasn’t sure they were cooked properly, goes to show how little I know, Sheena soon pointed out they were perfectly cooked so I tucked in and they were so yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. And the salad was a nice surprise, I'm not a big fan of fruit being thrown into a savoury salad, but all it worked together brilliantly.

I was also lucky enough to try the spring rolls, which are possibly the best spring rolls I've ever had, EVER!!! A whole king prawn, gorgeously julienned vegies wrapped lovingly and lightly fried, and the dipping sauce, OMG the dipping sauce, SUBLIME! Oh and the seafood chowder was just bliss, I'm not really a fan of any kind of seafood soup but I had to try it and it's exactly what you need on a cold and rainy night. So rich and creamy and filled with prawns and mussels (I think) absolutely gorgeous.

For Main I ordered the Duck confit with a cherry glaze served with lentils and red cabbage. I've never had duck before and was worried I would embarrass myself by spitting it out or even worse making one of those faces kids make when they hate what they're eating but I needn't have been. The duck was perfectly cooked and tasted so good, the meat just melted in your mouth and combined with the red cabbage and lentils my tastebuds were dancing, and so I was I in my chair :-). I scraped the bones and plate clean that's how good it was!!

During the course of the meal a few desserts had come past the table and like Charlie and Sofia I was fascinated by the ice-cream pyramid, I had to have it, I just had to not even the chocolate mousse was enough to deter me. A layer each of mango and pineapple ice-cream topped with lemon sorbet served with a passionfruit coulis, it was utterly blissful and while the cheese plate and the mousse looked stunning I knew I had made the right choice. Such a light and refreshing way to end a superb meal.

I had the loveliest evening I've had in a really long time and I hope jess, Stella, Fabe, Gabby, Zuzka, Sheena, Charlie and Sofia felt the same way. I loved celebrating my good friends birthday with her and her closest family and friends, it feels amazing to be included in that group. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHEENA!!! I hope all your birthday wishes come true :-)

I've always known this challenge was a good idea but I never really knew if I could pull it off, and I am really trying to get out there more often, but I shouldn't have doubted myself. With friends like mine I’ll make it through, they are the most supportive group of people I've ever encountered and they are so supportive of this cockamamie idea I had, how do you not love people like that!

I love youse all