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)