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Last update February 20, 2004

WINERIES and RESTURANTS

Our First Report

PLEASE NOTE: This report is in no way official it is totally my own assessment of this establishment, I am by no means a connisseur of food or wines.
These are just my own humble impressions.

MORGAN's CORNER

Visited - 18 February, 2004 12.30pm.

Morgan’s Corner, is hidden behind a shelter belt of tall poplars on both the roads flanking the estate.
The entrance leads onto a large gravelled area for car parking in front of the fairly plain square red brick building of unimposing nature. To the left of the car park is a small boutique planting of vines, next to the building is an open play area for children, a pétanque court and a grassed square suitable for outdoor entertaining. A small selection of nursery grown pine trees are displayed for sale.
On entering the building you are aware of the care taken in decorating the interior in French Provincial style. The walls are half bricked in red brick and above which is Mediterranean stucco in a pale sepia colour, the ceiling is a denim like blue. The bar and reception areas are framed in wrought iron with stainless steel bunches of grapes and vine leaves crafted with acetylene cutter to give them a heat produced rainbow colouring effect. Plain varnished dark wooden chairs and tables completed the picture.



From a list of seven entrees we selected:

1. The soup of the day. ‘Pumpkin’. A generous portion served with a warmed Cob Loaf of European style bread sprinkled with sunflower seeds and served with curled butter knobs. At $7.50 a reasonable price for what was offered.

2. The ‘Bread and Dips’, turned out to be the same Cob Loaf offered with the soup and with two dips in fairly small dishes, no butter. The dips, one a spicy, creamy gherkin relish was delicious and the olive oil and balsamic vinegar with herbs was also well flavoured, but also at $7.50. I felt that the dips were poorer value than the soup.

From the selection of twelve filled crepes (A savoury Breton style crepe) with a side salad we selected:

1. ‘Ratatouille’, filled with a French vegetable casserole of aubergines, peppers, tomatoes and onion, flavoured with selected herbs. A light, tasty and well-filled crepe suitable for vegetarians which at $12.95 was excellent value.

2. Smoked Salmon and Cream cheese, also generously filled with Manuka salmon slices complimented with the flavour of a soft cream cheese. At $14.95 also considered to be excellent value.

3. Bacon and Egg, this portion was also well filled with scrambled egg and slices of bacon, but my dining friend thought the crepe to be somewhat bland but at $11.95 was also deemed to be a good buy.

From the dessert selection

(I forgot to record how many selections there were, and the flavours of the sauces and the prices, probably because by dessert time we were too busy chatting. Sorry. This is my first review.)

1. Black Cherries, this sweet crepe plump with a good number of fruit and a sauce and small scoop of vanilla ice cream delicious but also good value.

2. Pavlova, an individual tall pavlova with kiwifruit slices, a new look to this traditional kiwi dessert. All you could expect for its price.

3. Ice cream with a special flavoured sauce. Three small servings of vanilla icecream liberally covered in the sauce seemed a little sparce for the price but the flavour was excellent and a pleasant finish to an excellent meal.

Overall the food was good, hot, well priced. The service was pleasant and geared to our pace of dining.
Although, though the weather was wet and cool, I would have expected there to be other diners at the midday slot.

We didn’t have any wine. I am constantly amazed at the prices of bottles of wine offered at the vineyards and restaurants. As they are the producers I would expect their prices to be competitive with retail suppliers elsewhere. A bottle of wine available at my local supermarket for, say $NZ8.50 can be upwards of $NZ21.50 at the source, this seems unreasonably expensive for the casual retired (pauper or miser) like me.

A delightful place to visit.