Roots Restaurant: Fantastic Food – But where were the snarlers?
My wife and I had a small break in the South Island. The coldest spell of the year arrived a day or two before us. Snow and ice to sea level across most of the island. We had intended to go the Aoraki/Mt Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand, however the weather meant the roads may not have been open, so we opted to go to Hanmer Springs and Akaroa instead.
We started with a night in Christchurch. Roots Restaurant in Lyttleton has just been awarded Restaurant of Year by Cuisine magazine so we thought we should check this out. Roots is a small restaurant that aims use locally sourced seasonal produce to produce a menu that changes daily. It is an open restaurant where the kitchen can be observed from the dining room.
On the cold night we dined there were five groups eating. Roots offers a degustation menu. We had the eight courses with matching wines. The meal was simply the best restaurant meal we have experienced in a very, very long time.
The tableware changed with each course. Just as every course was different the plates, like the food, showed the hand of the maker. They complemented and added to this fantastic culinary experience.
My wife’s favourite course was the shitake and oyster mushrooms, with pearl barley and dried egg. Mine was the cauliflower gnocchi, or maybe the venison loin with beetroot, which I also thought was a very impressive dish. Each dish has additional extras to enhance and accompany the food. This added to the complexity on the palate and the enjoyment of the flavours.
These brief descriptions do not do justice to the food. If you want a superb meal you will have to check out Roots yourself.
I had just one question: Where was the course that included an exemplary snarler?
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