Riverstone Kitchen is one of my favourite cafes. Just north of Oamaru, this is one of those rare cafes that does everything well. The food is simple and delicious, it is one of those places you can feel confident that anything you order will be good. I had duck confit on jerusalem artichoke puree with spinach (a bargain - $17!). Mum had the beef pie (which came with champ and caramelised onions) and is one of the best around, we took a couple of extra away with us...The chocolate tart with vanilla bean ice cream was stunning. The filling was like that used when making molten chocolate cakes, and is baked to order, resulting in a light crust on the top and a lovely gooey inside that melts out onto the plate when broken into. Perfect.
At Riverstone they have large gardens and orchards where lots of their produce is grown. Here is an autumnal looking pile of pumpkins piled outside the front door to the cafe.
Then it was on to Dunedin for a cooking class with Judith Cullen (more later...) and a stop off at the 'Friday' shop at Highgate Bridge to collect several chicken and mushroom pies on order from various Friday shop pie lovers in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch! This place is fantastic. They bake all week, quite traditional french things - terrines, braises, confit and pate. Pastry is definitely the star of the show however with sweet and savoury tarts, quiches and pies of all kinds on offer. You need to be in early for the pain au chocolat but the pear tart with frangipane = divine.
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