Garlic Bread from Poco Loco

 

Poco Loco

15 Queen st 15 Queen Street,

Pukekohe

09 238 1607

http://www.pocoloco.co.nz/

 

The garlic bread arrived on a wooden platter.  It was a mini-mini French baguette – 3 bites and it was gone.  It came half cut with a nice solid flavor and plenty of green herbs on top.  It was solidly baked and yes sadly to the point of being burnt on the edges. This could have been a winner if the presentation and quality are looked after better.

Presentation	2 out of 5
Quantity	4 out of 5
Taste:	4 out of 5
Quality	2 out of 5
Overall score:	12 (out of poss 20)

Garlic Bread from Bistro Forty Seven

 

Bistro Forty seven

47 Queen St

Waiuku

Ph 09 235 2502

The garlic bread arrived in a timely fashion on a warm plate. The bread itself was nicely arranged, layered 2 tier high.  It had a nice garlic flavour with a cheese topping that was crusty – eg well baked.  Now I knew at ordering, that it would come with cheese, and I have to say I am not a fan of cheese toppings on garlic bread – mainly because: 

one: the cheese usually ends up leaving a oily residue (especially if Edam is used) and 

two: the texture and flavour of the cheese tends to hide the garlic on the bread.  However this garlic bread did not suffer from oily residue and there was sufficient garlic flavour left to enjoy. The greenery was purely for decoration and the smattering of herbs (usually parsley) was definitely missing in action.

Presentation	4 out of 5
Quantity	3 out of 5
Taste:	3 out of 5
Quality	3 out of 5
Overall score:	13 (out of poss 20)

Garlic Bread from Little Italy

Little Italy
119 Farrington Ave
Christchurch
Facebook -- Little-Italy
03 359 2930

We needed to go out for a meal after we shifted all our belongings so that Fletchers can come and do their bit inside our house and get it fixed after the earthquakes!  Anyhow we decided to give the local new eatery a whirl called 'Little Italy'.
Very nice - and they did do a garlic bread so naturally we had to sample that. In some ways it is similar to that from Harringtons  (garlic-bread-from-harringtons)
The loaf is a little smaller and just the right size for a couple that still wants to enjoy the rest of the meal without feeling full - before you even start the rest of the meal!   It comes as a whole loaf - freshly baked and very crusty! The serrated knife supplied will cut the loaf easily into whatever slice you may want too and then you have a choice of 3 condiments to add to your freshly cut loaf! (fresh soft garlic butter , tomato / capsicum pesto and a avocado pesto)  The bread was so hot that the soft butter had no trouble melting in and soaking the bread!  Yumm!!  Sadly no pictures.  If there there is any criticism the garlic butter had a teeny weeny lack of garlic flavor. 

Presentation	5 out of 5
Quantity	5 out of 5
Taste:	4 out of 5
Quality	5 out of 5
Overall score:	19 (out of poss 20)

Garlic Bread - from Harringtons

808 Main North Road
Belfast
Christchurch
New Zealand
http://harringtonsbreweries.co.nz


Re-visited on 12 June 2011

A group of us went out to celebrate a certain half century with instructions for no flowers and/or speeches. We went to what must be developing into our favorite watering hole.   This time I gave everyone a slip of paper and got them to "rate" the Garlic Bread - the  idea being that I get different perspectives and a consensus vote.  The Garlic bread itself has not changed since we first tasted it - it is still like a half loaf (imagine a soccer ball being cut vertically and you receive one of these half's)

The great Garlic Bread that looks like a football cut in half

The Garlic Bread Loaf arrives on a nice big white plate, and should have been steaming.  The two that landed on our table were slightly different.  Ours had still the un-melted raw butter inside whereas the other loaf while hot had to little garlic butter. There are still no herbs in any shape added. The garlic "flavor" was very faint indeed and could be described as 'missing in action', but then I prefer a more distinct flavor to some other people.  One comment that came back was saying it was to much to eat- and certainly should be shared between 3 or 4 people.

So without further ado - I have added up all the returned papers and averaged it out and post below - at first glance they seem to be on par or slightly more generous compared with previous ratings - indicating some consistency in the kitchen. Here is their rating

Presentation	4.3 out of 5
Quantity	3.5 out of 5
Taste:	3.8 out of 5
Quality	4.9 out of 5
Overall score:	16.5 (out of poss 20)

Garlic Bread from Corianders

Shop No 8, 70-76 Rolleston Drive,
Rolleston Square
Rolleston / Christchurch
Phone 03 347 2315

http://www.corianders.co.nz/ 

Went out with a group of Friends and we decided to give Indian a try.  Never been to an Indian restaurant before, so not sure what to expect.  The thing is - this was almost 6 weeks after the major earthquake in Christchurch and many places are still shut down, although I am sure this was not the only major contributer to the busyness of the place.
It's a curious mix of sit down restaurant and Take-away.  Wines are byo.
And the queue's for the takeaway where always 6-9 people deep - this on a Saturday from 6.30 pm onwards right through to 9pm.  Turnover must be fantastic.

To cut a short story long - we had a great time out and the meal was enjoyable.
I didn't think a Indian would have garlic bread - but they did - in a manner.
Basically it was a traditional Indian Naan bread (oven baked) - that had some fresh cut garlic on top. It was semi crunchy and had little taste and it also arrived as a side accompanying bread - as opposed to a starter.  It costs $3.50 and is meant to serve one, but somehow we got a little bit more, not sure how this worked on the night.
While this writer rates the actual bread lowly, due to the fact that this was just a dressed up Naan bread, he has to stress that the rest of the meal and company was superb quality.



 

Presentation	2 out of 5
Quantity	2 out of 5
Taste:	1 out of 5
Quality	3 out of 5
Overall score:	8 (out of poss 20)

Garlic Bread from Spagalimis

356 Main North Road
Redwood
Christchurch
Phone:
0800 113 113

http://www.spagalimis.co.nz/

Yes well - the expectations weren't high on this one.  Take-out Garlic Bread never lives up to the expectations and by the time you drive back home and sit down it usually is lukewarm at the best of times.  Sometimes if you are lucky and get delivery's they put the pizza and garlic bread into those special heat retaining bags and you get a better deal.  So for NZ 3.50 it wasn't too bad, there was flavour just big enough to taste and a good sprinkling of herbs.
As for style - well a paper bag - hmmmm - not much to say there.  Between Mamabear and myself we could have had another half of it again.

Presentation	1 out of 5
Quantity	1 out of 5
Taste:	3 out of 5
Quality	2 out of 5
Overall score:	7 (out of poss 20)