So after the crazy monsooning last night, woke up at around 8:00AM feeling great. As I woke up, it was NOT RAINING. In fact, it was pouring sunshine! Beautiful. Really wonderful skies with all different hues of blue. Windy though still for sure.

Did the morning routine and Harry and I decided that we’d pop out to the NZ national museum. Also it is free to enter. Because it was not sideways raining, we decided to walk into the downtown, probably around 30 minutes. After popping into Unity Books and perusing the selection, we made our way to Cafe Neo Eatery.

While the hostel does provide breakfast (a la cereal and milk), y’all know I love my eggs. Got to the cafe and was fiendin for a croissant. They toasted this croissant up and it was so fluffy buttery break apart good.

Then, ordered the eggs benny. They don’t do English muffins, they do it on hashbrowns. Wow. Just wow. Started eating it, told Harry to have a bite, he then got up and ordered his own. The hollandaise sauce was so good. Just everything about it the dish. I don’t even like hashbrowns, but wow, just delicious. Also, had to throw in the first croissant of the trip, be loving some croissants.

Devoured the rest of the dish and then we made our way over to Te Papa Tongarewa, the national museum of New Zealand.

Also saw this store – ama(N)Zing.

Also, remember the movie intro and giving praise and thanks to teachers? Also saw this advert on our walk, clearly there is a thing going on. Im curious to find out exactly what.

OK OK, so museum. This museum is expansive, 5 floors, all dedicated to various aspects of NZ culture, history, politics, and the contemporary moment. It was clear that there were various critical analytical lenses used to guide and frame their exhibits.

First and foremost, there was a large emphasis on Maori culture. In fact, there were several cards related to exhibits I read that related how colonization really f’d with the Maroi, and animal/plant life. Every sign was written in Maori first, and then had the English translation. It was really powerful to see this, as well as all of the praise shown to the various tribes. The museum also had installments particular to migratory history in the past, as well as an entire section dedicated to refugee populations as recent as 2015. They had these boards with all types of quotes from refugees and their happiness at being in NZ rather than countries in the Middle East and portions of Africa.

The art was really amazing too. The museum did a really great job of showing Maori art as well as contemporary artists. One specific exhibit focused on Maori women in the fashion industry and the various clothes they created. Other exhibits focused on contemporary art, with specific focus on appropriation vs. celebration. Here are some of the photos I got when in there, some exhibits prohibited photos.

Afterwards Harry and I were feeling pretty tired. Something about walking around in a museum for almost three hours. We decided to stop for a coffee, and popped into Mojo Coffee across the street from the museum. The barista was really helpful, helping me choose a particular coffee and process, even gave me the friends discount which was really appreciated.

I had asked for some milk, and dude was like “I’ll leave it here, just don’t let me see you put it in”. I was like OK, sure. I didn’t need it. I think the process illustrated in the one photo made the coffee so smooth. It was not bitter, was most certainly creamy as contained in the description, and definitely had the fruit-like notes. Really delicious.

Afterwards we had a couple of hours to kill before dinner. Harry was going to head back to the hostel to have beans and toast. I needed something a little more…not beans and toast.

Also, you cannot tell in the above photos, but the sideways rain began again. So we walked 5 minutes to this cocktail bar Crumpet. Quaint little spot. I ordered a Black Manhattan (it had some café liquor), and then chatted with the owners. They let me try several different bourbons before deciding on Jefferson Reserve. Passed a couple hours, and then Harry headed back to the hostel when I popped out for dinner.

I made my way over to Nobel Rot and Wine Bar. Nice, intimate space, and they sat me in an empty room, I had the whole dining room to myself! Until two more patrons sat for dinner. Nice vibe. They had all types of music playing, most notably some James Brown.

Ok so another thing I discovered/realized. When a place has a tasting menu, I be tasting. My original intent was to get whatever the fish dish was and call it. BUT THEY ARE SO TEMPTING, so I got the tasting menu. This tasting menu was not as good as ParisButter, PB set the bar pretty high. It was supposed to be 5 courses, but they brought a surprise 6th at the beginning. These pictures show the restaurant and the view/solitaryness had.

Ok, so now the food. Ian, my server, was informed that I had been sippin’ on the bourbons, so he recomenneded a white blend (savugingon blanc, chardonnay, and pinot gris) aged in oak casks. It was pretty good, and a nice transition into the dinner. The first dish was the surprise 6th and was a fish with some sprouts and additional accouterments that I cannot recall now.

Then, this next dish I remember for sure. Pumpkin paired with pumpkin infused cheese blend, with some crumbled deliciousness to accompany.

Following this dish came a pate of chicken. Seems like a lot of these tasting menus have some form of pate. The pate was good, but I think I’m realizing that pate isn’t my favorite, I can kind of do without it. However, still tasty. Also forgot to document before taking first bite.

Then, the first of two mains. This dish was really tasty. Filet of some type of fish that I forget with these crispened beets and other such vegetables. Those green things are broccoli that they pan seared and took on an interesting shape and color. Probably one of the favorite parts of the menu was this dish.

Then came the second main, that MEAT. Cut of beef, with some additional beefs underneath the green cabbage leave. Those under the leave had the consistency of pulled meat. Well cooked and seasoned, really tasty.

Server came up and was like “you’ve moved through these dishes pretty quickly, do you want to take a break?” I said sure. Dessert came about 15 minutes later. I got a Bailey’s to go with the dessert as I wasn’t feeling wine anymore. Especially a whole glass with only one more course. Dessert were these puddings, the one in the middle was a Japanese something-or-other that was colder than the other two chocolate puddings. The dessert was really good, and they poured a saffron infused cream atop.

After finishing up, it was not raining! But was still quite windy. I was about a mile and change from the hostel, and after eating such a meal, I wanted to walk back. I put my rain coat on top of my jacket, and I was so toasty warm as I walked back with the wind blowing. It was a really enjoyable walk back. Got to the hostel, hopped in the shower, and after getting très fresh and clean clean, got to writing this post before I promptly slept.