We’re just outside Oamaru, a town I described extensively in previous postings. We remember Riverstone Cafe, a gourmet destination recommended by a local, and because we haven’t seen any picnic spots, we decide to stop for lunch even though we have reservations at Fleurs Place, the famous restaurant near the Moraki Boulders that was unable to take us on our last visit. Duncan is pessimistic when we drive into the car park even though it is after 1 p.m. The lot is so full we have to park in a farm field, but this is a centre with gift shop, greenhouses and all sorts of distractions so I’m hopeful. Besides, I remember they have a lovely shop, and we can put together a picnic if necessary. A server greets us with a sparkling smile, asks if we’ve reserved and when we shake our heads says, “No worries, just give us a few moments to clear this large table right in front.” I practically drool around the little shop and peruse the new cookbook by the restaurant’s renowned chef, Bevan Smith.
The servers are so genuinely friendly, I find myself wondering for the umpteenth time why New Zealanders are the friendliest people on this earth. In general people smile and appear so happy to be alive. Is it because the country is relatively sparsely populated? I’ll have to discuss with our Kiwi relations when I see them. If you think about it, countries that are densely populated, say Japan or England, have inhabitants who are intensely polite, but who value privacy to the extreme. Another very pleasant feature is that going to a restaurant is a pretty casual relaxed affair here. Even famous restaurants like this one are unpretentious and welcoming.
We enjoy a superb lunch of fried whitebait (a tiny little fish) with roast garlic aoli and lemon, fresh sourdough bread and fennel and rocket (arugula) salad. We order a side of fries with mayo as they like to serve them here. They are thickly cut with skins still on and absolutely delicious. We rarely have fries, but these are worth the calories, in spite of our dinner reservations. We’re pretty sated and think we really should pass up dessert, but our server assures us that the panna cotta with stewed spring rhubarb on the side is smallish, and we can share so we order it along with two flat whites – double shots. The dessert is perfect, creamy with lots of vanilla bean flecks in evidence and the coffee is the best we’ve had so far. We’re awfully glad we stopped in the first place and indulged in dessert. It was well worth indulging when we had the opportunity. Maybe we’ll pass dessert up at Fleur’s Place, but then again, maybe not!
As we are driving along Duncan who is looking at the road ahead, as he should be as the driver, exclaims, “I don’t believe it, there is a man on a penny farthing (this is a very old fashioned bicycle with a very large wheel on the front and a tiny wheel on the back). As I missed the spectacle completely, he agrees to turn around and using our digital camera, I make a short film of him. We then race ahead and wait for him to appear over the brow of a steep hill. Before too long we see him walking up the hill and he very obligingly crosses the road to mount the bike and turns around to carry on as before. I should mention that he is wearing plus fours (knickers) and a bowler hat. He asks if we are from Oamaru and I shout, “No, Canada!” “Are you coming to Oamaru tomorrow?” When I reply, “No, “ he says, “You should be, it’s our heritage festival, the biggest event of the year!” So we may have to return and as we don’t have far to go to get to Invercargill, we probably will, we’ll see. This explains why we saw some people dressed in Victorian costumes in the car park at the restaurant. I thought maybe there was a special event going on there.Click Below to See Map:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Oamaru,+Otago,+New+Zealand&hl=en&ll=-44.197959,170.969238&spn=6.50665,14.128418&sll=-45.336702,170.859375&sspn=25.528027,56.513672&vpsrc=6&hnear=Oamaru,+Otago,+New+Zealand&t=m&z=6&iwloc=A
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