Hello readers! It's been approximately two months since I've left lovely New Zealand and it really feels as if time has passed by rather quickly! It's crazy to even comprehend the fact that I am already at the halfway mark into my first term at LSE. After ten months of no university, it's taken awhile for me to get back into the hang of things! (i.e. How do you write an essay again? Heh). London has been such an easy place to settle into, although I'm disliking the fact that it now gets dark by 4pm! Thanks daylight savings....not.
Re: Food in London....I can safely say that my eating habits have been quite different here in London in comparison to when I was living in Auckland! Through means of attempting to budget (ha!) I've been cooking a lot more than what I used to do. I get sick of making the same dish over and over, so I often procrastinate from my class readings to find interesting recipes to follow instead. Is that normal? Don't fret! I've been recently eating out a bit more, though the added-on service tip has been hard to get used to (kiwis, you don't realise how lucky you are!) I've still got a few more NZ-related posts to go before I start getting into London, so bear with me. Because I've been cooking a lot in London, I've started to really appreciate cooking more. It's a basic life skill that everyone should try to learn and improve on, so I will try my best to do a few more posts like my pesto post to show you that cooking a nice, simple meal for dinner isn't that hard! On a random note, I'm craving Al Brown's Sugar Pie (from Depot) right about now.
Orbit Revolving Restaurant
Cnr Victoria and Federal Streets (Sky Tower, SKYCITY Auckland)
Call (09) 363 6000 to book
My trip to the Sky Tower for lunch was not exactly a planned one. Eight months after their wedding ceremony, two of my good friends officially became husband and wife in the CBD. It was extremely exciting to be a part of, and I was glad that I was able to attend such an momentous occasion for the two of them. Because it was a special occasion, we decided to go to a nice place for lunch. Under short notice, we were able to get a table at Orbit in the Sky Tower. The last time I went to Orbit had been a mixed one – excellent first course, not so good second course – and the most important things that I remember from that excursion (bar the food) was that my face was red (thanks to the wine) and that I nearly lost my bag while the restaurant was revolving (don't ask).
If you ever want to take a trip to the Sky Tower observation deck, then I advise that you go and eat while you're at it. If you eat there, you also receive free admission to the deck. You have to pay a ridiculous amount to go to the observation deck anyway, so you might as well get a meal out of it, right? You can look out at the spectacular views while you eat too! There's a required minimum spend of $25NZ per person per table and admission to the deck is $25, so it pretty much evens out.
I, along with two others, ordered the savanna marbled scotch steak with fat chips, onion rings, watercress, and béarnaise sauce ($27). This left me both disappointed and confused. The disappointment came from the steak. I requested for my steak to medium and what I got was essentially well done. I can eat steak in whatever form, so I wasn't really bothered to send it back. If I couldn't eat well done steak, then I probably would've sent it back. Both of my friends that ordered the same dish requested for their steak to be well done. Well. Heh. Their steaks were pretty much butchered to the point that it went further from being well done. Here's a tip that you may or may not already know: you can often judge the quality of a restaurant/eatery by how well they can cook a steak (most of the time). Another disappointing thing were the onion rings. Seriously, I could (correction: can) make better onion rings. Too much oil was absorbed into the batter, so the onion rings were not crispy in texture. The bottom onion ring was always going to be the biggest disappointment because all the oil from the other onion rings eventually made its way all the way to the bottom. The fat chips were probably the best thing on the plate. The béarnaise sauce was nice with the steak, but béarnaise sauce always makes me feel guilty!
The confusion from this dish was in the form of the onion rings and the chips. It doesn't really make sense to have both on the plate. Rather than adding more processes to the dish (that statement alone makes me sound like a snob), just put more onion rings or fat chips on the plate? I've had two months to process the disappointment and confusion, so don't mind my rant...
Two of my friends ordered the chicken linguini dish, which had confit chicken, cinnamon pumpkin, crispy prosciutto, spinach, and rosemary butter ($22). I had to laugh when I explained to one of them that linguini was a type of pasta, subsequent to giving her order to the waiter. Bless her. I vividly remember that she rated the dish a 6/10, stating that it was pretty average.
One of my friends ordered the red roast duck with cos leaf, maori potato, crisp, pear, roasted hazelnuts, and plum dressing ($27). How hard is it to say kumara chip? That's what it was. If I had my time all over again, I probably would have ordered this dish. The duck did look rather inviting. I remember the dish had bits of jelly – which at the time I thought was cranberry – but now knowing the full name of the dish it could have been plum. Regardless, the jelly was really tasty. No, I wasn't allowed to try any duck...
Last of all, the groom ordered the salt and pepper calamari with chilli, lime relish, frisee lettuce, and smoked paprika oil ($21). I'm pretty sure he liked it! (A rather vague comment as my memory has become a bit unreliable after two months....).
Service was rather interesting. While the waiters were attentive towards our table (most of the time), you tend to ignore attentiveness when you're waiting 30-40 minutes for your meal to arrive. It wasn't just my meal, but my whole table were still waiting. It also feels awkward when three people receive their meal, while the rest of the people at the table are still waiting. I sort of sympathize and understand if a restaurant has a full house...but it wasn't full. Not even halfway full.
Overall verdict: Orbit is pretty much an issue of style over substance. Sure, the decor looks simple and sophisticated, but the food does not seem to match towards those attributes most of the time. (The smoked duck confit and mushroom tart that I ate from my first visit was extremely good, so it's a shame that they can't cook or can't think of more fabulous dishes like that one).
Next blog: Two for the price of one! Torchon (in Elliot Stables) and Hulu Cat (on Anzac Ave).
