Feeling a little restless earlier in the year I decided to organise a holiday, tossing between Tasmania and New Zealand. In the end the only thing that tipped my hand was a Jetstar sale to Christchurch and I promptly bought my tickets and proceeded to forget about the holiday. Jump forward a few months later and the team was nominated for Nuffnang and going to Singapore! I was ecstatic, then disappointed (read crushed) upon realising that the dates for Singapore coincided exactly with my New Zealand trip.

After a bit of agonising I decided to go ahead with the New Zealand trip having already organised the majority of our routes and not wanting to let down my friends. After all, I’ve been to Singapore before and the only thing I knew about New Zealand was that:

• They have a lot of sheep (delicious, delicious sheep).
• Skiing is popular, snowboarding too.
• A small trilogy known as The Lord of the Rings was filmed there.
• Strange accents. I would soon learn that my pronunciation of ‘Six’ would instantly out me as an Australian.

In the end I didn’t regret going to New Zealand at all, it’s next to impossible to regret going on a holiday regardless of where you end up.

I also would have never have had the opportunity to eat an amazing dinner at Fleur’s Place in Moeraki, followed closely by an equally awesome breakfast the next day.

While doing my research on New Zealand eats the name Fleur’s Place had kept popping up consistently. I initially ruled it out as Moeraki was a good 3 hours out of the route we had originally intended on taking, but I finally succumbed to temptation, changed the route and booked accommodation for the night, only to email Fleur’s Place to find out that they were fully booked for the night! Undeterred and on the advice of our host we drove out to the restaurant at 5pm, the moment they opened to beg for a table.

Fleur’s Place is perched at the far end of Moeraki, and even the official website has the address as ‘At the Old Jetty’. In a car full of losties we ended up driving around Moeraki twice before realising that we’d been staring at the restaurant all along, which in the end is exactly what Fleur wanted to create, a restaurant that didn’t jar with its settings. The restaurant seems almost rustic at the end of the Jetty, walking inside we were greeted with the sight of a well stocked bar, high ceilings and the owner herself, Fleur. Fleur was gracious enough to squeeze us into a table on the condition that we were finished by 7, no problem!

Joining me on the holiday were 3 good friends, who shall be henceforth known as Astroboy (as last seen in Ikea), oldguy and rin, all of whom shared my enthusiasm for trying as many dishes as possible. Between the 4 of us we managed to order 5 mains and 4 desserts, perhaps slightly overkill as we found out as each main could have easily been shared between 2.

Seeing scallops on the menu I immediately reserved it as my choice and was not disappointed in the results. Despite the description of Sauteed, I had half expected the scallops to be seared with the speck and mushroom served separately. Visually it was the opposite of my expectations and resembled a stir-fry more than anything, a delicious buttery stir-fry that is.

This dish is probably a great example of Fleur’s attitude towards food with a big emphasis on the fresh ingredients and flavour, and was presented in a fantastically creamy sauce that we were mopping up with bread long after the scallops had been devoured. The sauce consisted of Pernod which is an alcoholic base I’d never heard of before, googling tells me Pernod is actually a successor of Absinthe!

Given the choice of a variety of fish for our Fish of the Day we took our server’s advice and went for the Trumpeter. The Trumpeter was lightly seared and cooked perfectly ensuring that the flesh slid easily when speared by our forks. The fish is also served with a choice of sauces and we try them all with gusto, the tartare is easily my favourite with it’s thick consistency and tanginess a perfect counter for the texture of the fish.

I’m intrigued when I read about the Titi on the menu immediately put it on the list of dishes to order, however texturely the Titi is probably the biggest disappointment of the night with a consistency similar to Quail. It is a group consensus that the Titi is a little too bone-y for our tastes with the majority of the time eating the titi spent picking out the numerous small bones. Perhaps all of the other dishes on the table have spoiled us, but the Titi is just a little bit too much work for a dish which pales a little in comparison to the seafood.

Our shellfish Hot Pot is a victim of our greed and the sheer amount of food that we are attacking prevents us from eating the Hot Pot right away. As a result the fish and clams are slightly overcooked by the time we turn our attention to the dish, something which is entirely our fault. The serving is generous to a fault with what seems like an entire fish and a dozen shellfish hiding away in the pot, but the shining point is definitely the Saffron broth which manages to retain the fishiness taste of its ingredients without being overwhelming. Even Rin a self-proclaimed fish-taste hater is a fan, and Astroboy is still stealing sips of the stock even as our plates are being cleared away.

There are a lot of sheep in New Zealand, in fact the lastest stats say there are 34 million sheep to 4.2 million people. That’s EIGHT sheep per person! Watching these woolly lambchops on the hills is a bit of a torment by the end of the day and I’m determined to get one on my dinner table (is that a little mercenary?). The lamb shanks are so soft and tender that the meat simply slides off the bone rendering the knife provided somewhat redundant. The mash is a great counter for the richness of the sauce and the plate is scraped clean.

Despite the sheer amount of food we’ve just consumed the only thought in my head at this moment is DESSERT. The desserts are listed on a chalkboard which has been in my view the entire meal and by the time our server comes around to take our order, I’ve got every single one of the desserts memorised. Because we obviously haven’t had enough to eat we order 4 desserts, just enough for sharing.

There’s something so comforting about Bread & Butter pudding so I’m thrilled when it’s the first dessert to hit the table. The pudding has been kept in the oven just long enough that the crusts have become slightly toasted all the while maintaining its gooey center and is a perfect first bite. The serving also arrives with a scoop of Vanilla ice-cream along with Chantily cream which give a great hot and cold mix, making this dessert my favourite of the night.

I’m a little confused when I see Blackboy on the board and for a moment wonder if it’s simply NZ shorthand for blackberries, one mouthful and I realise that the texture and taste are definitely peach which Blackboy is a variety of. The Treacle tart is wonderfully dense with a slightly sweet taste, pairing well with the cream and blackboy, it isn’t my favourite dessert but Rin claims it as her own.

Creme Brulee is a dish which I often find to be a little too sweet for my tastes, however the pairing of the slightly bitter Quince honey and Creme Brulee is inspired for my tastes. The Quince honey seems to be an acquired taste as oldguy disagrees that it adds anything to the dish, however the Creme Brulee is strong enough to stand on its own with a wonderfully creamy custard that leads oldguy to claim this dish as his favourite.

This unassuming little cup contains one of the smoothest Pannacottas that I’ve consumed in a long time, and I’ll admit the smooth texture took me back with surprise as the presentation of the plain white cup along with the cute but somewhat useless flower had me underestimating the dish a little. While the pannacotta shone, the accompanying Blackboy and Port Sorbet was a little disappointing with little to no port taste and only a vague berry taste was discernible. Astroboy is enamoured of the pannacotta and somehow Fleur has managed to make 4 desserts which have made 4 people with very different tastes happy.

We’ve somehow manage to consumed our entire dinner in only an hour and a half and roll out of the restaurant, noting that all the tables are packed out at this point. I can’t help but stop at gawk at some of the other dishes we didn’t get the chance to try, in particular is an Oyster pie which sounds bizarre in concept but looks delicious in real life. However at this point my stomach isn’t even liking the thought of eating more food and we reluctantly leave the restaurant very content.

We find it impossible to stay away and the next morning are back with stomachs ready for brunch! As it is labor day weekend in New Zealand the chef has decided to move onto the Lunch menu rather than breakfast, and we are more than happy to switch menus as the restaurant serves off the same menu for Lunch and Dinner.

While browsing through the menu we start off with a few Mochachinos, which are lovely with the perfect balance of strong coffee and chocolate. The size of the cups in the photo is truly misleading as the cup size is closer to that of a mug. The coffees are so satisfying we actually snag a 2nd round on our way out!

I’m much more accustomed to having batter fried whitebait and find myself a little disconcerted when I look down at the Omelette to see all the whitebait eyes looking up at me accusingly. I respond with a generous squeeze of lemon and a groan of happiness. No extra seasoning required, the more than generous portions of whitebait and egg soon ensure that my stomach is ruling over my guilty conscience.

The platter is more than generous and I think I felt my eyes gleaming when I saw it coming out. Consisting of sliced meats, pickles, devilled egg, variety of cheeses, beetroot, quinces and jams, marinated octopus and meats on sticks and even a spinach quiche! Even after finishing off the majority of the platter I couldn’t help but wonder if we should order another to take away for lunch, this thought was quickly squished by everyone else.

We had briefly contemplated ordering the Seafood Chowder for dinner the previous night but vetoed the choice in favor of all of our other dishes. No such hesitation today as even though the sun is shining down on us, the breeze is chilly and the warm soup a welcome distraction. The tomato version of the chowder is  welcome change as it brings out a lovely red/orange tinge to the soup and once again it’s as though a mini-ocean has been served in our bowl.

And as if we didn’t have enough on the table, one last dish of various breads and dips. The Dips were a mix of Olive oil, actual olives, a brittle nut mixture and what must be some of the freshest ricotta I’ve ever had. I’ll confess that I stole a lot of the bread simply to dip into the Chowder and to share out with the cold platter.

As we left the table to pay for the bill, what seemed like dozens of Seagulls swooped in all at once to attack the table and its remains. In the end I ended up settling the bill alone as the others remained to chase away the gulls! As we finally left the table they swooped in without fear, unfortunately for them too late as all of the plates had already been taken away.

The exterior of Fluer’s really does resemble a shack somewhat haphazardly put together, but it’s a type of haphazard that I find oddly charming. While there’s no doubting that a lot of tourists come to Fleur’s I think it’s a fantastic place for a group of friends to get together for a meal, dinner for the 4 of us barely tipped $50NZ a head and at current exchange rates ($39AU?!) is fantastic value. Rin and oldguy purchased copies of the Fluer cookbook as we left, and Fleur was kind enough to personalise and sign their copies.

Fleur’s Place is definitely worth the time to go and visit, Christchurch to Moeraki is only 2-3 hours drive depending on the route you take and reservations are recommended especially for dinner. In a way I’m slighty sad that I went to Fleur’s first, as it set an insanely high standard for the rest of my holiday!

Fleurs Place
At the Old Jetty
Moeraki, Otago
New Zealand
Ph:  +64 3 439 4480
Web: www.fleursplace.com