Garlic Bread from Wilsons Hotel in Reefton

Wilsons Hotel
Hotel, Pub Bistro & Restaurant

32 Broadway
Reefton 7830
Buller
West Coast
New Zealand

Phone: 03-732 8875
       03-732 8800
       0800 468 351

Email:  hjmjfoster@xtra.co.nz
Email:  wilsonshotel@xtra.co.nz

In Reefton Township on August 1888, about 12 years after the discovery of gold in the area had bought about a population, wealth and technological boom, street lighting was switched on for the first time.
By “switching on” Reefton had not only beaten the rest of New Zealand to this luxury, they had also beaten the fashionable suburbs of London and New York and become the first town in the Southern Hemisphere to have a street lighting system!
1886 a young gentleman named Walter Prince arrived in the town with his small electric generator in tow and held public demonstrations of its use. These demonstrations amazed the public and sparked the locals to form a company and build the Reefton Power Station.
The Reefton power station became the source of the first municipal power supply in the Southern Hemisphere supplying electricity to the booming town of Reefton for over 60 years before being decommissioned in 1949 when the town was connected to the national grid. The station was a hydro scheme generating electricity through the steady supply of water from the nearby Inangahua River.   Initially power was supplied only to the street lights and selected shops and then on Mondays to every house (Monday = Washing day) and due to increasing demand Tuesdays (Ironing day) was added.

Anyhow - nowadays Reefton is still a small sleepy provincial town = and it sports 3 pub's / hotels.
Not sure how the local population can support all three.
When we arrived for a meal there were only 3 yes three other patrons and eventually another couple arrived for a meal.  We wondered what we let ourselves in for!

The bread arrived in quick time - still hot and survived the travel = very nicely artistically arranged!
The three slices were just enough and had plenty of flavor! No timber dish - with the napkin underneath the garlic bread being the only minor distraction!
Otherwise this particular dish had everything going for it! We rate this effort very highly

Presentation	4.5 out of 5
Quantity	5 out of 5
Taste:	5 out of 5
Quality	4.5 out of 5
Overall score:	19 (out of poss 20)

Garlic Bread from the White Pub in Fox Glacier Country

Heartland Hotel Fox Glacier
The White Pub

11 Cook Flat Road
Fox Glacier 7886

Tel: +64 3 751 0839


Website:  The White Pub
Email:  fox@heartlandhotels.co.nz

The Garlic Bread arrived in good time and was very tasty - good layer of flavor!  The baguette was crusty on the outside and soft on the inside and still being warm to hot - the last piece we ate had still some warmth left!
  The size could be misleading whence the image of the cutlery added! It was just the right amount for two people with the bread not being overly THICK!
The presentation was sabotaged by the napkin underneath - pity as it had everything going for it otherwise.

Presentation	4.5 out of 5
Quantity	4 out of 5
Taste:	5 out of 5
Quality	4 out of 5
Overall score:	17.5 (out of poss 20)

Garlic Bread from New Orleans Hotel in Arrowtown

New Oleans Hotel

27 Buckingham St,
Arrowtown 9302

Phone: 03-442 1748
Website www.neworleanshotel.co.nz/index/
Email:  info@neworleanshotel.co.nz

The bread turned out to be a loaf - of large proportion.  It arrived and at first glance you could be forgiven to think you had to butter it yourself! The little dish on the side was there just in case you needed more " flavor"! For all that it arrived luke-warm, so by the time we had eaten  the first slice, the rest was more or less cold and the additional butter no longer melted into the bread.
  sighs
Yes it was a large loaf - and 3 of us struggled to eat it all, let alone leaving room for the rest of our dinner.
The upside was a sprinkling of fresh herbs - not often seen.

The Loaf was semi crusty (at least on the top - the bottom was very hard and you needed a steak knife to cut the slices fully of!) soft on the inside.

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

Garlic Bread from the Tin Plate in Tekapo

Tin Plate Kitchen & Bar Restaurant

Lake Tekapo 7999
Main Street
Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

Phone: 03-680 6677

Email:  info@tinplate.co.nz
Website: facebook -- > Tin-Plate-Kitchen-Bar







The place had undergone 2 renovations since we visited first.  The menus stayed the same though.
Mostly a casual place to enjoy pizza's and a few other meals and it doubles as a drinking bar - presumably post visiting the Church of the Good Shepard.

In any case since we had been there previously we were keen to see if there has been any improvements.  Sadly they went backwards - almost unbelievingly so.  The bread arrived in good time - although luke warm. There must have been garlic in there somewhere  -  but it was drowned out by the Cheese flavour. The melted cheese (yes Pizza cheese) of course let go of its oil and so it became a challenge to eat this without dripping fat anywhere.  In fact we would almost have been better of using fork and knife . . . .
Served on a wooden platter with enough (butter) on the plate that would have been enough to RE-OIL several platters - enough said there!

The last effort rated a miserable 6 and we will have to lower todays effort, sadly!

Presentation	0.5 out of 5
Quantity	1 out of 5
Taste:	0.5 out of 5
Quality	0 out of 5
Overall score:	2 (out of poss 20)

Garlic Bread from Reflections Cafe in Tekapo

Reflections Café and Restaurant
SH 8 Lake Tekapo 7987

Tel +64 3 680 6234

Website: www.reflectionsrestaurant.co.nz


We have been there twice previously and were keen to find out if this time we would get the same bread - or something very different.
Guess it is the same - kind of.
Instead of a foot long baguette (along with the long plate ) we got a shorter version on a wider shorter plate.
Unlike the previous edition they also added a napkin underneath - which showed the butter having soaked through.  To the bread itself - it came in good time and was luke warm. While the outside was crusty the inners lacked flavors. The herbs were missing in action too.
All in all this is a step backwards.  One got the impression they were trying to save on the cost of the bread / garlic etc. 






Compare this effort too:

http://garlic-bread-critique.blogspot.co.nz/2012/01/garlic-bread-from-reflections-cafe.html

Presentation	4 out of 5
Quantity	3 out of 5
Taste:	2 out of 5
Quality	2 out of 5
Overall score:	11 (out of poss 20)

Garlic Bread from Monteith's Brewery Bar in Hanmer

Monteith's Brewery Bar
Amuri Avenue,
Hanmer Springs

Tel 03 315 5133


www.Monteith's Hamner

We had been there before - mainly cause the food in general is good - typical pub-fare!

The bread itself turned out ok - was reasonably fast to the table and still warm to hot!  The arrangement suffered during transport and delivery to the table. 
Once again - a wooden platter - sighs - an immediate 2 points down!
Plenty of flavor - a redeeming feature and more then enough for 2 people.
The bread itself was crunchy on the outside and soft-ish on the inside. Almost wondered if this was an older (as in days old) recycled bread!
I'd have to look it up - am sure we had better there before!

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