I know, I know – I’m super far behind on this one. I already posted about the road trip to retrieve Flash Mabel from her former “owner”, but I haven’t had a chance to talk about the food I ate! I’ll make it quick.
By the time we negotiated our deal, took Flash for a test drive, and moved some coins around, it was nearly 3pm – and I hadn’t had lunch. (And, for the record, because I had an early flight to Welly, I hadn’t really had much of a breakfast either.) Before I became Hangry Blonde, I needed to get some food in my belly. Fortunately, the guys at the dealership recommended a decent cafe a couple of blocks away. AND, I made it just in time (about 8 minutes before the kitchen closed for the day).
Welcome to Caffe L’affare! That gorgeous dish on the table, my lovelies, is a chickpea and quinoa salad with endive and grilled chicken, in a grainy mustard vinaigrette. (For good measure, I treated myself to an organic fizzy lemonade too!) What you can’t really see here is that I had SO MUCH FOOD that I saved the leftovers for dinner, which turned out to be a really good (i.e., prescient) idea. I snarfed down that deliciousness before heading back to the dealership before they closed for the day, and I was grateful for the recommendation.
On the left coast of the south island, I was looking for something away from the “strip” of central Hokitika. Sure, there were plenty of reasonably priced and decently reviewed places within walking distance of the hotel on the beach, but the best reviews were for some place called The Woodstock / The Royal Mail Hotel. It looked fairly close to me on the map (which of course meant that I had absolutely no idea where it was), so I jumped grabbed Flash Mabel and an offline map and away we went!
Turns out that on Sundays the hotel does a traditional Sunday roast with all the trimmings! The place was pretty crowded, given how far out of the way this place is. (Apparently I’m not the only person who reads TripAdvisor.) That seemed to bode well for me, but I ordered off the menu so that I could be a little more specific about my food needs. I had a fabulous steak with a llack peppercorn sauce, chunky chips, and a fresh salad. PLUS, she was nice enough to make me a ginger ale! Good stuff, my friends. Really good stuff.
And given the fancy dancy GPS nav with Flash, it was easy enough to get back to the hotel to crash out. After all, I had a lot more driving to do the next day.