Hippopotamus
Where? Hippopotamus (Wellington CBD, Wellington, New Zealand) Map Menu
When? Saturday December 3, 2016
Who? Jordan, James, Navi, Rob, Joe, Damon
Food Style? French Fine Dining
Hippopotamus has always been one of those places that I've wanted to go to, but never got the chance because it is quite fancy, and to go often requires some kind of special occasion. Here we are celebrating the final Fine Dining Club event with me, and also a toast to the recent departures from PikPok for Jordan, Navi, Rob and myself. We've opted for the six course degustation, and a half wine match for myself, because I am bad at alcohol.
Amuse Bouche
Salmon cerviche, cauliflower puree, blueberry apple refresher
A light way to start the meal, as all good amuse bouches should do.
First Course
Seared wakame scallop: with Asian Salad, coriander, bacon foam, capsicum puree
Perfectly cooked scallops, interesting inclusion of the caramelised sugar. The greens add some freshness and the capsicum puree gives it a nice smokey edge. Very enjoyable.
Second Course
Beetroot Seven Ways
A crazy plate of incredibly weird but interesting textures and flavours. There's a mozzarella mousse, sorbet, gel, meringue and dried flake, among others I can't quite discern. It's odd but it's quite the experience. It's salty, sweet and savoury at the same time, and quite challenging for me.
Third Course
Yellowfin Tuna: with capsicum risotto, braised cabbage, asparagus
I love how meaty the tuna is - wow! It's like eating a beef steak. The creamy risotto and cabbage really adds some nice crunch to the dish.
Palette Cleanser
Earl grey sorbet with blackberry foam
It is what it is! The tea comes through quite nicely with some bitter notes in the aftertaste.
Fourth Course
Silver Farm Venison: with white bean coulis, berry reduction, broccoli, pikopiko
The meat is incredibly tender. I love the sweetness of the sauce, it's not too sickly, but it is rich and goes superbly with this course's wine match. The crunch of the broccoli and pikopiko (a native New Zealand fern) is really good - even the mushroom tastes good in this dish.
Fifth Course
Goat's Cheese: with aged red wine jelly, pickled cucumber, walnut, rock salt bread
The cheese and jelly counterbalance each other perfectly. That combination with the pickled onion and cucumber is absolutely divine - I love that savoury sour pairing. I wish there was more of the bread!
Sixth Course
Deconstructed Black Forest Cake: dark chocolate crumble and sponge, mixed berry ice cream, cherry gel, cherry crumble in whiskey
Beautiful dark and rich chocolate, with the presence of the whiskey coming through just nicely. The dessert has lots of different textures, but it has cohesion, which is important in a deconstructed dish. The dessert wine pairing is spot on for this one.
We're all pretty stuffed by the end of the meal, but we've had a very good time, and most importantly, I'm not smashed off my face from alcohol. I'll miss this gang of people!
Posted by Jeremy at 4:34pm on Friday February 24, 2017 :: 0 comments :: 