Plume -a feather you should stick in your hat!

So this culinary experience feels like a lifetime ago. Unfortunately I am by no means a professional food writer, or at least not in the sense that I will whip out my handy dandy notebook (even if it is a treasured Moleskin) to start taking notes. This meant, that when it came to reviewing this experience, I must admit, I struggled. You must pardon my terrible impatience, particularly in food related matters, as the only thing I whip out once the food has arrived is the cutlery, and if my co-diners are lucky, I may even go as far as draping the napkin across my lap. In this instance, it appears I was able to contain myself just a few seconds more, and had in fact whipped out the camera, prior to our demolishing the culinary creations. So I could at least make up some of the details!

Firstly a bit about the place. Overlooking the Heron's Flight Vineyard, Plume began as a joint venture between the current restaurant and Heron's Flight owners. However due to reasons that will remain unknown, the venture soon ventured down separate paths. Resulting the Coopers becoming the sole owners of the restaurant, they have put in a lot of extra money, thought and effort, to really push Plume into a Fine Dining League of its own in the Matakana Region. Fair call, this isn't hard to accomplish amongst the rest of very average, dinner options, however one gets the impression that they genuinely strive to make one's dining experience special, with pressed tablecloths, fresh flowers, and fine tableware.

Now to the meal. We began to tickle our tastebuds with the Ahi Tuna Sashimi with Vietnamese dressing, fresh spring roll $26 (sorry no image available, all gobbled up!) But I can tell you, it was presented in true Japanese style, purely and precisely. Each perfect cube of Tuna sitting on crushed, neon green wasabi peas. This combination seemed the winning element of the dish, as the wasabi heat crackled in your mouth and was smoothed down by the silky, cool tuna. The spring roll, was also tasty in itself, but the pungent peanut sauce slopped over it, was unecessary, and took away something from the clean, fresh flavour of the springroll and presentation of this dish.

As I didn't really experience their mains, I can't write more about Mama SoulFood's dish the

Fish of the Day (Hapuka)

tomato water risotto, mushroom confit, fennel and lime sauce $39

and Beppi's (Papa SoulFood) dish, the

Lamb Loin Free Range

soft herb crust, pomme Darphin, briouats

ratatouille, yoghurt and harissa sauce $39

Apart from them thoroughly enjoying it! I had the

Conchiglie Pasta

filled with ricotta, spinach, pine nuts, baked in Neapolitan sauce, fresh buffalo mozzarella grating $30

Generally I would have hesitations about paying $30 for a pasta dish UNLESS of course the Pasta was homemade, which generally in New Zealand I have found it is not. In this case however, although the pasta was not homemade, it still felt, and more importantly tasted like it had been made with some amore, and not like a dish I would whip up for myself any night of the week.

Now to my favourite part of dining out... Dessert. Usually the SoulFood family will share one or if we're being REALLY greedy-guts two desserts, but this time we went for THREE!

1.

Summer Chardonnay Jelly

$17.00

fresh berries, zibibo foam, pina colada biscotti

2.

Vacherin Glace

$17.00

strawberry and vanilla ice cream, meringue, Chantilly creme, summer berries, vanilla custard, pistachio praline

3.

Chocolate Marquise

$17.00

dark chocolate bonbons, fennel and lavender chocolate tartlets

I wont critique every single detail of these desserts, as we would not only be here for another hour, but also I would be completely exhausted by my having to search for negatives, as they were very hard to fault.

I will however say that #3 was Frauelein SoulFood's fave as she simply cant resist some proper good choccy!

All in all this was a truly delightful evening for the SoulFood's. Sure, you pay a more “special” price at Plume, but for a special night, it is surely worth it!

Yours truly,

Frauelein Soulfood