Coffee, Olives, Cheese, Food & Wine in the Hunter Valley

We started the day with a coffee and loaf at the Bliss Coffee Roasters in the Hunter Valley Gardens.  One thing I continually forget is that skinny lattes (as they’re known here as opposed to trim lattes in NZ) are usually a single shot of coffee and not the double shot I have been accustomed to in Auckland.

The Hunter Olive Centre was packed with people when we arrived, and for good reason, since they have an excellent range of oils, tapenades, vinegars and jams to taste.

Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese (yes, that’s its official name) was our next stop.  This is located in a magnificent complex with Tempus Two and another winery or two.  Here, we enjoyed some more excellent cheeses.

Tempus Two has a very upmarket cellar door presence and some lovely wines to taste.  I particularly enjoyed the Pinot Gris which had a nice passionfruit flavour.  The Chardonnay (50% Hunter Valley Grapes) is big and oaky and whilst it is quite drinkable now I fear it will become too oaky over time for my palate.  Their Shiraz is a very light style that I can imagine being a nice and easy drink on a hot summers day.

We popped into Adina Olives and tasted their small selection on offer.  The Green Olive tapenade was my pick before I was also tempted to taste some of their wines.  Of Adina Vineyard’s wines, I particularly liked their light and crisp Semillon, and found the Verdelho to be nice and dry with lots of flavour.  Jane’s pick was the Dessert Semillon (an ice wine)  that she found was more viscous than a table wine but not as sticky as many dessert wines.

Leaves & Fishes is a beautiful restaurant located nestled back into the trees on Lovedale Road overlooking their pond.  It is a lovely setting, has nice ambience and great service.  I had a beautiful sesame-crusted fish fillet that was done in a Thai style with coriander, fish sauce and a very light chilli, and micro-greens.  Jane had crispy pork belly with a magnificent side salad comprising caper-berries, gherkins, olives, sweet garlic, feta, fennel, pea sprouts, coriander and various lettuces.  We would happily return although the prices are certainly premium.

The Hunter Valley Chocolate Factory was our next stop, and we tasted a number of lovely chocolates and fudges.  Great friendly service.

After a detour via a geocache we had a cheese tasting at Benorrie Dairy.  The Herb & Garlic Fromage Frais is lovely.  I enjoyed the Valencay (white mould goat cheese), although this was too strong for Jane.  The Marinated Fetta Gold Medal was exquisite and very smooth.  The Labna had a nice garlic/rosemary flavour and lots of exciting complexity.  The Brie was a bit mild for me, but the Washed Rind was more to my liking.  The Duetto is a dessert style cheese that they do and I quite enjoyed the sweeter flavour however Jane was not keen on this one (which is not surprising given that it contained gorgonzola).  The Apple & Rosemary paste was also really good.  We were also appreciative of the friendly service of the woman in the store.

In the same complex as the Benorrie Dairy is Arrowfield Estate.  Once I finally got some service I decided to try their Riesling.  This is a citrus-dominated Riesling that is enjoyable.  I also enjoyed their Cabernet Merlot.

Philippe's Chocolate & French Pastries (Auckland) have some decadent products

To our delight we discovered Philippe's Chocolate & French Pastries over the weekend.  We went to their store in Great North Road where they had a number of tasty delights that were begging for us to try.

We bought several cakes and a selection of chocolates and enjoyed them all (except for the chilli chocolate but I suspect we may have had a dud batch of them). The chocolates were flavoursome and they had a few different flavours (such as Earl Grey and Mint & Rosemary that were good for the novelty factor).

In terms of the cakes, the Maharaja was a silky smooth subtle white chocolate delectable finished with a dusting of chocolate powder. This was topped with a white chocolate cigar encased within a russian scroll.

The pear tartlet was packed with flavour and beautifully finished with almonds and a light glaze. We also accompanied this with a praline slice.

As for their packaging it is in alignment with their cost.

Donna Hay - Chocolate Stout Cake with Peanut butter frosting

I'm not generally a fan of chocolate cake. I typically find it too rich, too heavy, and too often, it's way too dry. But when I saw the slice of Chocolate Stout Cake in Donna Hay's 50th Issue Anniversary magazine, I got dragged by its moist, rich, dark, irresistible-ness! And funnily enough, along with not liking chocolate cake, I also usually don't bake - for the simple reason that if I bake it means there is baking in the house that we then eat - and we can do with out it. But this had to be tried! And I always have the option of taking baking in to work (which is where this is ultimately destined for as it happens).


Lo and behold: the Donna Hay, Chocolate Stout Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting.



The edges are a little crispy, as you can probably see in the sliced photo, I suspect this is due to me not having a loaf tin - so I used a glass meatloaf dish instead! It worked. :-)

This is a decidedly delicious cake - it's not too sweet and it is divinely moist. I have to say, the frosting is just a bit too much for my liking - both in quantity (if I made it again I'd halve the frosting recipe) and also in sweetness, but if you have a sweet tooth, and love decadently rich frostings, this is definitely one for you. We'll see what my colleagues make of it tomorrow.

For me, once was enough.