Page 14 Advertisements Column 3

Press, 16 September 1987, Page 14

—A— Garnish Wctawe to our w«eHy cegtetM on wine, food and penomlNtt, We've had a busy and social « week yet again; we can feel the bwldtrw up of spring fever In the air and it's going to make for a lively spring! . Dinin* with us this week was the Australian soapie actress Conwli* Frances, dining with friends Mrs Beverley Weisen and FMfo Bfc, whose hairdressing salon in Merivale she is here to promote. Also spending time with us ths last week were Mr Winkte. . manager of Noahs Hotel and his - lovely wife.: H And talking about Noahs, we hosted an a-la-carte dinner for 1 S' •enter'* people last Friday night • They had come from a cocktail patty for 140 at the leading hotel — a much publicised social event in local papers. On the table for ’ the celebratory dinner we placed a crystal cylinder which was filled with dozens of peach coloured roses, and they were a beautiful sight — quite made everyone's night! Guests, many of whom were English, thoroughly appreciated the roaring lire and the festive air. On Friday we celebrated an anniversary of our own — Grimsby's is five years old and so beautiful with itl We decided on reflection that instead of us giving you presents, our presence here is quite enough in itself!!! (Knew you would forgive us!) Also dining with us was Mr Greg Stanaway of Auckland, who is in > Christchurch supervising the staff training of the new Quality Inn which opened on Monday. Seen enjoying Grimsby's ambience and food one other nigh t this week were Messrs Robert Jones and kick Keeling and their respective and respected wives. They drank very fine champagne and had a delightful evening. Starting a world cruise in great style were German-bom Mr Grant Neiuwenhuyzer and his soon-to-be-announced fiancee Miss Debbie O'Keefe. We wish them well, God speed and fine • dining! .. ' : Be calm whitebait fans! Our orders are about to materialise l and then we can all get down to some serious gastronomic feastingllll /’ I feel I must mention our bread this week, which has been commented on so many times in . the last seven days by guests. As you know, it is fresh each day from our own ovens and variety and excellence of flavour is the standard demanded by our baker. Special favourites lately have been pecan and orange and the scrummy curry and pumpkin. Our pasta too is worthy of mention. That too is made fresh every day in our small, hand-held pasta making machine. Time consuming and fiddly, it Is definitely worth it as revealed in the delicious ravioli stuffed with fish, and the vegetarian tortellini. Enough to make any red blooded Italian cry, "Mama miall" But onto cooler things... It appears that snow this year was the cause of more than one heartache. Dining with us recently was a property "name", his very lovely wife, daughter and European visitor. It seems that 1 fl-year-old Mademoiselle has been seeking snow in the nether regions with young friends and while frolicking, fell heavily "in lurve". The lucky man? A large, (hulking), tow haired, Teutonic, Lothario who, how shall we delicately phrase thi5...?... is closer to 40 than 20 in years lived on our fair planet? Mummy and Daddy have not been very impressed one iota, we believe, especially since he was . invited to slay with the family by the flaxen haired beauty. What he cannot say in English, he makes up for in "other commufiication methods" has been the general ,H complaint, a little bird told us. ~f Certainly the atmosphere was ■ strained upon the party's arrival, to celebrate Mademoiselle's birthday. She looked radiant in 5 peach coloured dress of silk, and her mama looked very elegant in a cream coloured soft wool suit with pearls. Pappa ordered champagne and settled back stoically determined to enjoy the evening. They did try hard, even we could see that... Mamma did her best to explain the history of Grimsby's. Trying to describe what the building was used for ■ before, metre thick walls and the wide use of neo-Gothic - i’ architecture in 19th Century Christchurch with only a grasp of a strange European language, did all but defeat the lady's diplomatic prowess. Gentleman father then tried to discuss the s. ■ merits of New Zealand wines in comparison to their European counterparts, and at last seemed to strike a sympathetic note with this visitor who seemed to hear nothing while gazing into Mademoiselle's eyes and fondling her hand and thigh. He proceeded to demonstrate his penchant for our wines by ' consuming copious amounts of the fine stuff and fixing his eyes of cornflower blue increasingly on to the face of his lovely hostess!!! This unfortunately did not go unnoticed by either his host or his young beauty. Our Christchurch Sir got increasingly curt (get the pun??... sorry!) and Madame increasingly flustered, bright eyed and rosy cheeked!! She started to warm to the "conversation" and started to emphasise the necessity of transoceanic relations, much to the alarm and chagrin of her daughter and husband. Slurping, I mean a their coffee, we were and saddened to see an outraged host ("Do not mention the warll") a furious and petulant daughter, a starry eyed matron and an amorous, intoxicated skibum!! Our special house coffees did not seem to make the slightest effect on warming anyone's mood (except the ageing Beau, whose tan by now was a Tit tie grey and revealing the wrinkles one buys 25 watt bulbs to hide!!). I don't know who drove who home, but if Madam and Lothario had been found on the roadside, casualties after being thrown out of a car, I wouldn't have been the slightest teeniest bit surprised!!! We are most pleased to announce we're putting together a new wine list for all our "civilised palates" out there. On our connoisseurs list we're thrilled we've managed to acquire some 1985 Matua Valley Cabernet Savignon, which our sommelier says is "going to prove itself to be one of the finest cabernet savignons New Zealand has ever produced." Our sommelier is constantly testing new releases and coming upon special bottles of prize vino in his travels and he regularly vists wholesalers and vineyards. This last week we sold a great deal of champagne, so pleased to see the taste buds of Christchurch are being nurtured!! Next week we'll have details of a special dinner for a big multi-national, scintillating titbits and much, much morel!! Cranmer Square, Cnr Kilmore and Montreal Streets. Open from 7 p.m. except Sundays. Phone 799-040.