My lunch yesterday was not Vegan, I was breaking the journey down to Tauranga, and eating out Vegan is seldom a rewarding experience (except at Cosset, and even there it is mainly the baking rather than a hearty meal that I expect).

I stopped at Waharoa, at the Kaimai Cheese Factory shop and cafe (thinking to combine buying nice cheese with a pleasant lunch). I chose the “cheese-lovers’ platter” thinking that a cheese factory platter should be superb – a chance to display their products at their peak.

The cafe is in the front part of one of the factory buildings with viewing windows into the factory. The space is pleasant, spacious and airy. The platter was a series of disappointments. It was presented crowded onto a small board, Cheddar, Brie (or was it Camembert?), a washed rind and some blue, also on the board were slices of bread and a few crackers, and a little bowl with pickled onions and some marinated Feta, and another with chutney. Nice, but overcrowded.

The cheddar was a pleasant enough young cheese. The Brie or Camembert was so young and hard that I was not only unsure which cheese it was meant to resemble (when it grew up) but wondered if the cheddar was softer. It did get better, the washed rind had begun to develop some flavour (what a shame I did not come a few days later, and what a pity the cold of the fridge tried to mask what flavour was developing) and the blue was soft and sharp. The pickled onions were lovely, and the Feta fine… but overall what a disappointment! I almost did not stop to buy cheese for home, but remembered that I could ripen that and allow the flavour to develop before eating.

Someone, at least if anyone who is a professional in this business reads this, is sure to say: But they are only giving customers what most want. Kiwis on the whole like their cheeses immature! If that was the case why not offer a choice Cheese-lovers’ Platter (Fresh or Mature). Then everyone could be happy!

If your experience differs plase let me know, as I have had other meals here and enjoyed them, and the coffee is not at all bad usually. (I did not have coffee yesterday as I was meeting someone over the hill for coffee a bit later.)

One of the local daily deal sites offered a $50 voucher for a restaurant in our city for $25. Sounded like a good deal, but we are new to the city, have no idea what the restaurant is like. So, I hit Google. The usual Web 2.0 users review the places sites came up. It really does sound like a great deal, all the top few reviews were excellent, saying things like: “All in all we had a fabulous evening. Next time we are around it’ll be our first stop. Fantastic service, fantastic fresh food and a fantastic atmosphere.”

There were three or four reviews in the same vein, and the next two sites were similar. Sounds a great deal, I wonder what such a popular restaurant gets out of it?

And then I spotted the fly in the ointment. None of these top reviewers had ever reviewed any other restaurant on the site. I looked further down the list. The next reviewer has reviewed a number of other places in the city, points out a number of failings, though is complimentary about the service, and sums up: “The overall food experience was poor!” The first few gave 5 or 4 stars, this guy gave one. But he’s the one that has actually written other reviews…

My conclusion? It looks to me as if the restauranteur has padded the “Web 2.0″ collaborative review sites with puff pieces from their friends. Now, if the rev iew sites want me to come back they’ll need to start prioritising people who have done a number of reviews, and even more those with well liked reviews… as it is the sites are useless.

A country as small as NZ does not need half a dozen restaurant review sites. It needs one or two that actually attract real reviewers, till they get them its back to assiduously cultivating the grape vine in our new city…

There are lots of interesting things to watch at the Areo Club Cafe

When we went out to Ardmore on Thursday for me to enjoy my 30 minutes at the controls of a small trainer, we had a light lunch at the Cafe there.

The view from the Aero Club is great, not great scenery, but the people getting into their aricraft, doing the checks, then taxiing away to take off, or the reverse. Across the airfield fromk time to time there will be someone practicing flying a small helicopter in a straight line following a taxiway… In short there’s always something different to watch.

The coffee was not bad, not the very best, but average to good compared to cafes in our part of Auckland. Service was friendly and quick, even though the cafe was a busy place, nearly as busy as the aero club office next door ;)

The food menu was unadventurous, but also workmanlike. Barbara’s corn fritters were tasty but almost too corny and unusually came with the bacon cut up and mixed into the mixture.

Executive summary: come for the view, not the food, but worth a visit if you are in the neighbourhood and want a cup of coffee or a light meal.

River Haven Cafe is on SH1 entering Huntley from the N

The Riverhaven Cafe is set between State Highway One and the Waikato River, on the long straight as one enters Huntley from the north, where the road runs between the railway and the river. For many years it has offered restaurant and shopping facilities to tourists and coach parties.

The cafe sits behind the shop, so benefiting from views across the river to the power station, which is much more attractive than it sounds (see photo, right :) The cafe offers decent coffee. The food is unusually cheap and the portions are also generous. The quality overall seems somewhere between what one expects from a cafe and from a coach stop. It provides excellent value.

The coffee was fine, good but not excellent. We both had corn fritters, which (as seems often the case) would have been tastier with more corn and less batter, and could have benefited from more seasoning. The bacon was delicious and there was plenty of it :) It was also pleasant to have a small salad beside the fritters and bacon. A sharp salsa might have been a more interesting topping than the sour cream, though this also worked nicely.

View from the River Haven Cafe

Our neighbours were somewhat put out that the dishes from the coach party, which was still leaving as we arrived, had not been cleared quicker from  the prime tables by the windows. My take is that (if you avoid coach parties) the service is good. Their helping of scrambled eggs was huge, and we all enjoyed the views.

Coffee: Fine.
Food: Fine, excellent value.