Wellington on a Plate: Pop-up Restaurant

You know your week is going to be good when it is kicked off by scoring tickets to a two-night only Wellington on a Plate festival event!  A pop-up restaurant in the heart of the city with the menu designed by Rex Morgan of Citron fame, no-less.

Rex Morgan's Citron restaurant won more awards than you can shake a stick at and is still mourned by Wellingtonians after closing down last year.  These days Rex can be found at Boulcott St Bistro, another Wellington favourite but on Sunday and Monday night he was found in the old Rialto building, doing his thing for a few lucky punters, including me!

The ground floor of the old Rialto building has lately been used as a showroom for the stalled Watermark apartment development but was transformed for the festival event.  White table cloths, candles and dozens of bunches of spring flowers set the scene for a fabulous dinner with service which would be expected of any fine-dining restaurant. 

The meal started with a tasting platter which produced a reverential hush punctuated with exclamations of "have you tried the...", "OMG that ... is to die for!", "mmmmmm, so gooood".  The highlight for me was the Venison carpaccio with horseradish cream... my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

For my main I had Roasted Groper with Marlborough mussels, clams and green pea stew.  Another winner, nothing beats Groper and the peas were just barely cooked making them so sweet and juicy.  In fact the broth from the pea stew, which looked to be about 80% butter, was so delicious that my friend asked for spoons so that we could get at every last drop!  Across the table the beef was just as popular.

I hate to gush but it just keeps on coming!  The dessert of Mojo coffee brulee and Whittakers chocolate mousse had me wanting to pick up my plate and lick it clean and still the goodness kept coming with complimentary Mojo coffee and Whittakers chocolate square!

All of this for the bargain basement price of $29!  Although we did get through a few bottles of Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc and finished the evening with a palate cleansing bottle of bubbles which was also fantastic... unfortunately checking the label was beyond me by then.

Thanks for a memorable evening Rex Morgan and Wellington on a Plate!  And thanks to Lee for getting the tickets!