Garlic Bread from Reflections Cafe in Tekapo

Reflections Cafe in Tekapo

Reflections Café and Restaurant
SH 8 Lake Tekapo 7987

Tel +64 3 680 6234

Website: www.reflectionsrestaurant.co.nz


www.garlic-bread-from-reflections-cafe-in.html


This would be our 5th or 6th time we have eaten a meal there - seems we like the area and the cafe / restaurant too well!  Looking back at the other times we had been there - this effort has not changed for the last 3 years or so - but it is a change from 2012 - with the original bread longer and on a skinnier plate. 
Anyhow, the bread duly arrived in good time and - was hot to touch. Having learned from my last garlic bread (urm Cromwell I think) experience I grabbed the napkin (ok - so THAT's the reason they supply them????)  and tried to cut the bread - only to fail.  As you can see it was pre-cut and all you had to do was cut the 2 or 4 mm at the base.  Easier said then done steak knife not-withstanding - it was crusty beyond belief!!

 So I ended up taking the bread and turn it 90 degrees and then sliced downward (like a timber merchant) and that worked better.  Debating this with my companion we came to the conclusion it must have been sitting in a fry-pan or girdle and was 'fried' to create such a crust!

There was a good garlic flavor you could taste (and see) - sadly the touch of green herbs was missing.  Crusty on the outside (top AND bottom as previously mentioned), yet soft-fleshy on the inside.  We were not ravenous so probably one slice to many.

Presentation	3.5 out of 5
Quantity	3.5 out of 5
Taste:	4 out of 5
Quality	3 out of 5
Overall score:	14 (out of poss 20)

Garlic Bread from the Lone Star Bar at Spitfire Place - Christchurch

The Lone Star
Spitfire place

544 Memorial Avenue
Christchurch

https://www.lonestar.co.nz/restaurants/spitfire/



It was advertised as:
Lone Star Artisan Loaf
A traditional seeded ciabatta loaf, handcrafted exclusively for Lone Star. Served warm with butter.

We had to ask if they do Garlic flavor or just plain butter - turns out that they will add the "garlic flavor" upon request only - so we duly ordered one.

As you can see from the image it is indeed a loaf.  It came WHOLE - eg NOT half pre-cut; whence the bread board and the bread-knife - which was sharp and nice to handle.  HOWEVER - as the bread was still very warm to hot - one could hold onto the loaf only for so long - usually about a half cut, before you had to release and try again to finish the cut.  (I should add that as a former pastry chef my hands have been 'conditioned' over a long period of time and can hold hot things longer then most people).  I guess I could have used a serviette to cushion the warmth.
 The bread itself was soft so despite the sharp knife we ended up squashing half of it during the cutting- and with the exception of one piece it snapped back 'into shape'.  Now for the butter - which - if you remember from the menu -  was meant to be 'warm'.  It obviously had been pre-made earlier in the day and then chilled.  Thus it ended up in nether-land - neither hard (as butter is once properly chilled) nor soft - and very hard to self-help with the buttering.  It just did not spread and remained a blob for a minute or two before the remaining heat of the bread melted some of it.
We had a mixed reaction with half of us saying it had good flavor and the other half saying " what flavor?"
Three of us managed to eat most of it - so for two people it would be more then enough - to much actually unless you are ravenous to start with.

Presentation	1 out of 5
Quantity	2 out of 5
Taste:	1 out of 5
Quality	2 out of 5
Overall score:	6 (out of poss 20)