black barn bistro hawkes bay

Chris and I drove down to Wellington to take Jacob to Massey University to start the next chapter of his life, Yay, how exciting for him.
Anyway we decided to stay a night in Hawkes Bay on the way back, and went to 'Black barn' for lunch.

It was a scorching hot day so it was perfect to be shaded by the beautiful grape vines under the pergola.

I know the pictures are n't that great but it was hard to get right with the dappled light and Chris becoming impatient and embaressed because I am taking pictures of our food.

This was Chris's 1st course, which the menu describes as
'Lemon Kingfish Ceviche' thinly sliced marinated in lime and lemoncello on pickled fennel with sesame snow and pea tendrils

This is what I had 'Waikanae crab gazpacho'  NZ paddle crab meat on an avocado and cucumber salsa with tomato gazpacho

For the main course I had 'Panfried Market fish' on black tiger prawn, red pepper and courgette, BB fusili pasta with chorizo tomato cream sauce.

Chris had 'Twice cooked free range pork belly' with chilli pineapple salsa, sesame bok choy, crackling, kumara and ginger mash in an Asian broth

and finally for dessert Chris had 'Valrhona chocolate and kahlua mousse' topped with fresh and freezed dried raspberries finished with vincotto and chocolate pearls.  We  also had a cheese board of Kapiti blue with praline and Arataki Kamahi honey.  I didn't take a picture as Chris tucked in to it too quickly.

All in all the food was pretty good, not amazing, but the surroundings certainly made up for it.  Would go again 7/10.

chile, kaffir lime leave beef with fat rice noodles

This was my lunch the other day.  I had some beef left over and I got a craving for rice noodles,
so without putting a lot of thought to it, this is what I came up with.

For the marinade I used

sliced fresh ginger
kaffir lime leaves
2 chilies
2 tablespoons brown sugar
sesame oil
tamari soy sauce
fish sauce

Sorry not good with the quantities as it just came out of the bottle.  Just taste it.

Let the beef marinade for a while,  1/2 an hour is good.
Then cook the beef in batches in a wok or a fry pan on high heat very quickly and then remove from the pan.
Meanwhile cook your noodles in boiling water for about 5-6 mins, check them though.
Add the noodles and beef back to the wok and pour over the marinade (with all of the bits in it) and add a bit more of any of the sauces if you want too.
I finished it up with the herbs from the garden, coriander, mint and basil and some chopped peanuts.
Actually there was some cabbage in there too, I must have cooked that after the beef.
The kaffir lime leaves are definitely the star of the dish.