The first grandchildren for ourselves and son-in-law’s parents, the arrival of Blake William Gundersen has been the cause of much celebration in our households.
Already eight pairs of willing hands have been quick to embrace this little fellow who is really not so little. At 3.87kg (8lbs 8oz) and measuring 55cm in length with a dusting of dark hair he is well rounded, alert but amazingly contented. I marvelled that he was still awake but not crying after two hours of arm rocking.
Naturally, his birth, and of course, hubby’s birthday provided perfect reasons to dine out. However, after a long night followed by an even longer day we were almost too tired to think about food. But not quite.
So on leaving Auckland City Hospital at about 7pm we decided to head for The Abbey on Great South Rd at Greenlane. Now it’s only six months since I last wrote about this restaurant, which has always rated highly with me so I am not going to wax lyrical about its many attributes.
But I must comment on the ambience – which is half the appeal. The lighting, the décor, the prudent placement of tables and the easy mix of eating on one side of a large central bar and casual drinkers on the other side makes for a very upbeat environment.
While The Abbey prices tend to be at the top end of the market, and vegetables, which for some meals are necessary, an extra, I have always left feeling well pleased. On this occasion two seafood platters for two was shared by several of us and while shellfish can sometimes be bland, we found our generous and varied fare to be full of flavour. The mussels had a particularly delicious smokiness to them. Son, on the other hand, opted for a starter of tomato soup, a thick, flavoursome concoction full of chunky vegetables including celery, onion and carrot. He gave it a big thumbs up.
Between us mains included chargrilled beef tenderloin with melted blue cheese, smoked potato cake and bordelaise sauce; roasted half duck with pineapple dumplings and blueberry ginger jus; crisp pork belly with roasted Moreton Bay bug, glazed root vegetables, lemon butter and ginger jus and tortellini with smoked mushrooms, olives and aubergine on spinach puree. There were absolutely no complaints although we did, as an after thought, order two sides of vegetables, one steamed, one roasted. Although we could have done without we just felt a need for “greens” to balance our meaty meals.
We would have liked dessert but could manage no more. Tiredness began to take its toll and though normally the warm ambience of The Abbey would have enticed me to linger, it was time for bed. In total the account came to a tad over $300 for five of us and included a bottle of Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc ($46) and three beers. We felt we’d done well indeed for a celebratory meal marking two birthdays on the one day and the arrival of a precious new family member.
