BEAUJOLAIS BESTIES

Today  we returned to an old haunt  for lunch -  the Wellesley.  It is with out a doubt one of the most beautiful olde world hotels of NZ.  The soft scent of good cigars and old spice ooze from  its dark panelled oak walls  .
A  forever stilled bisons head hangs  over an old wood smoke drenched fireplace. A  baby grand piano sits on black and white checkerboard tiles in   the Hotel lobby waiting for musical fingers to make the keys dance.

  We dined  at a table in the corner of the bar. It seats a spreaded ten or an intimate dozen.
The old McGinnity Restaurant was once draped in starchy  white linen redolent of the sumptuous leisurely  privileged age of last century .  

Now it is a renamed bistro style café - 1815.  It is not well patronised, probably because few people realise it has been opened again post earthquake repairs needed to shore up its weak brick bones.  

A chef came up to the bar and we  all in unison squealed with glee. Chef Anton from our beloved heady days at the now defunct Beaujolais wine bar  in Woodward St was master of the 1815 kitchen.  

Recently lunch in many establishements has become tiresome as plates are over dressed with  all manner of flowers.  Moleculargastrofuckery abounds in the trendiest of food dens. But  I don't want flowers with my meat and I don't want to drink from a jam jar..
And that's the reason we squealed  when we saw  Anton  as he does real food  real good. His plates do not need to be dressed. The substance of the food he cooks with love  is enough get the mouth waters streaming.
The menu was basic  as it appears the hotel is hampered by the last of the earthquake repairs .We opted for a tasty  haloumi and tomato bruschetta to start . We fought over the last one. It was seasoned well  and flavours balanced to perfection.
Then we opted for Chef Antons most popular Beaujolais Dish. A steak sandwich with béarnaise  sauce and chips. It is as wonderful as it is simple. The meat was tender, rocket crunchy and the chips crispy. It took us back to the days where and when deals were done , politicians rolled, rumours started, lies told, truths sacrificed, affairs begun and finished, $1000 bottles of wine savoured over endless afternoon hours and Stump jump red quaffed in the time  it took to ring parliaments bells.

And on that steak were no flowers, no microgastrofuckery  no silly plastic syringes- just good meat, good salad and good chips - food in no need of frippery.

The service was impeccable, the surroundings welcoming and company was just grand. And we welcome back Anton, a man that knows good food don't need no frills. I do hope Anton enters Wellingtononaplate  

BEST SIT DOWN FISH AND CHIPS MEAL IN WELLINGTON

Today we dined at McGinnitys restaurant at the Wellesley Hotel.

It just keeps getting better.And the word is spreading, its starting to get pretty crowded at lunchtime.

In reality, its one of Wellington's best kept secrets. McGinnitys has a wonderful old world feel, and charm.

While the boys dined on rump steak with Mushroom Tapenade and Steak and kidney hotpots - we opted for the battered fish and chips - it was spectacularly good. Tarakihi at its best. The batter was light and exquisitely crisp the fish quiveringly fresh - the chips tasty and crunchy.

And the price? $19.50.

It is the best fish and chips dish of all the good restaurants in Wellington.

And the boys? Well they also declared their dishes some of the best ever.

Its the sort of place you go to get the best food we all love- done exceedingly well.

The Wine? Well it was a great match for the boys sacrifices to the alter of King Carnivore. Aspire Cab Merlot.

REALLY REALLY BAD LUNCH

Me and horsey prawn snuck away for a quick lunch today and we settled on the Wellesley Club cnr of McGinnity and Ballance St. It was once a very superior Gentleman's Club in its day but like many Gentlemen's Clubs it went broke so now its sort of a boutique hotel, the favourite haunt of spooks, a few wide boy lawyers, an unofficial mess for defence types, a popular secondee sleepover and haven for some very well paid Corrections contractors. Anyway when I first arrived in Wellington it was a good place to go for a drink - and a gossip. A Wellington Institution.However the food was always average. You could be a club member and get a discount on services so that made it a bit more palatable.
I had to park up there one nite and the rooms are great examples of olde worlde charm. The bar and dining rooms are a delight. The bar walls are studded with sword fish, real buffalo and boars heads and rumour has it some of the art works gracing the walls are national treasures.

So today was a blast from the past but quite frankly lunch mirrored an episode from Faulty Towers. The waitperson was a she - and she was unfailingly polite but bloody useless. The Wellesley touts itself as a business lunch spot so service should be business like. First up the glasses were filthy - not just spotty - filthy. We noticed the offending grime while waitwoman was pouring a very generous half glass tasting - so we asked for new glasses - We waited 5 mins. out came two new glasses and the same bottle less the half glass ( it was also sold by the glass so i reckoned we should have had a new bottle). We suggested then that the waitwoman should bring a menu. We didn't see her for 20 mins. When she finally arrived we ordered the steak and chips med rare and it came out pretty quickly and it was good- a bog standard meal of frittes, salad and a big new york cut sirloin done med rare. But sadly it was floating in a thin gravy that tasted suspiciously of Maggi gravy stock. Ok at $20 bucks but at $29 - not good enough.
Anyway for what its worth it has a lovely atmosphere, its over priced and the waitwoman needs to go back to waitwoman skool.
Shame really, with a bit of work it could be one of the great lunch venues of Wellington.

LABOUR DIGS DIRT THAT NEEDS CARBON DATED.

The Herald reckons it has a news story that exposes Key in someway - It may be a very old history lesson - but that's about all - Key was about 26 at the time of the supposed " incidents" involving the H -fee issue of two decades ago.

And it appears his biggest crime is that he had lunch with a dodgy bugger who may have been part of the financial scam.

Funny isn't it, how Labour Party President Mike Williams with his fat cat salaries that must total - around $150k plus - has the time to try and dig a bit of mud on John Key - bloody hell Labour must be desperate.

So lets see how many dodgy buggers we have had lunch with over the years. And this list is by no means exhaustive.

Well when BB was a bit younger:

• A couple of wandering husbands, names withheld to protect their children.
• Two bent coppers.
• John Tamihere
• The bloke who used to distrubute the drugs for Mr Suburban the mate of Mr Asia.
  
• A high profile trade unionist who got into a bit of shit in Russia who made Bill Anderson and Sonya Davies very grumpy and who was also a very very close friend of Annette King.
• Winston - often, and he never paid and we have the receipts to prove it.
• Johnny Glozier - with Winston at Nicolinis.
• Vela, Talley, - not dodgy but they are bloody cunning.
• At least three gang leaders , one black power, one mongrel mob and a couple of white power crime bosses including one called Nigger Joe.
• On Friday nights at the Wellesley Club we used to have a few beers and dinner with the odd struck off lawyer or two. ( names withheld to ensure we still get good legal advice for nothing.)
• A murderer or two. - Long story - crimes of passion.

So if having lunch with a few interesting people from time to time is a crime - then string me and thousands of other New Zealanders up on the nearest tree.